Page 22 of The Replay

We exit the club. The night is cool, with a hint of Fall in the air. It could have been a perfect September evening, the kind where darkness drops on the city without my knowledge, while I had the time of my life with my friends after another weekend game win. But no. Instead, I had to dissociate from the conversations around me. Now I'm playing bodyguard to Mariana while she tries to tease me.

"You know," I say, "you could just have not come out and joined us."

People stand behind ropes. Some call my name, but I don't respond. Mariana and I stand at the curb and wait for her car. I stop paying attention to the noise around us, caught as I am by the twitch on her brow, and the sudden tension on her lips.

My comment hurt her, even if she's doing her best to hide it.

Guilt snakes its way up my belly.

"I couldn't say no," Mariana tells me. "I didn't want to say no."

"They must like you, if they invited you."

The admission is my apology. It sucks all around, because I know they would all get along amazingly well, if it weren't for me.

"Eventually you will find your people," I add. "This is just a transition."

"The thing is I like them too." She crosses her arms. "And it's not like I can just wish for it on a shooting star and great friends will appear out of thin air."

That snake in my belly coils on itself, cold as it prepares to strike. What is this, the schoolyard and I'm telling her she doesn't get to talk to my friends because they were my friends first?

"At least focus on neutrality," I demand. "And if you're feeling bold, go back in there and find someone on the dancefloor. I heard you want to live your best single life. Go have an adventure. Maybe you'll meet someone to sweep you off your feet and introduce you to people. Two birds with one stone."

She glares at me. "Have you been keeping that in for the past hour, Dom? Is that why you were so stubbornly quiet? Unapproachable all night? Because I said I wanted to date a lot?"

"I was being aloof."

"Sure. A frown is super indifferent."

I didn't realize I had been frowning, but whatever. The snake of guilt is gone, now that we're bickering again.

I scowl. "Don't let a frown stop you from going back in there and finding Prince Charming."

"Who said I'm looking for a prince? I tried royals and found them lacking."

"Whatever your list is this time, I'm sure you'll have luck if you just try a little harder."

"Jealousy isn't becoming, Dom."

"I'm not jealous. Pero un clavo saca otro clavo, and there are plenty of those back in the club. And if you start dating someone else, my friends will stop looking at us so closely. Then we can both do whatever the fuck we want."

She speaks Spanish and French, and she knows the saying I just used. A well-used hammer and nail can get rid of another nail— a new person can make you forget the one who broke your heart.

She shrugs. "I don't need any help getting over Henry. That's done."

"Those dates when you separated must have been a hell of a lot of fun."

"Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. What's that to you?"

I resist the impulse to step closer. We remain side by side, surrounded by people ready to record everything if we so much as give them a hint at drama between us.

I force my voice to come out monotone. "Nothing, of course."

"Glad to hear it, or I would have thought you stopped dating because we'd meet again."

Cars go by on the street, none of them stopping near us to pick up Mariana. The sound of engines is a mild purr in the still-busy night. Streetlights shine on us, with a hint of violet coming from the club's sign hitting Mariana from the back.

Time slows. Disdain tilts her mouth. She gazes up at me with an angry dare in her eyes.