Untimely Love (Book 3)

♠Chapter 27♠

♠CHRIS♠

"Hey," Thion stage-whispered and nudged my thigh. "You good?"

My head had been thrown over the back of the couch, my eyes closed, and my mind blank. Blissfully blank. There was one thing the yoga I'd been doing was good for.

I opened my eyes and turned my head toward my friend, humming. I was pretty sure I was fine, but everyone else didn't seem to be.

Since we all came in and watched Ariana descend the stairs and freeze at the sight of us before running away, there was an undeniable tension in the air. It was mostly us guys left in the lounge. But it was strangely quiet. What could we even say? Especially since she'd looked sick at the sight of us—of me. That didn't particularly feel good, I'd admit, but I wasn't going to have a breakdown about it.

"Why wouldn't he be?" Angelica whispered back from my other side. She'd only gotten a glimpse of the girl that ran upstairs and since she didn't ask, no one elaborated on it. "What's going on? You're all acting weird."

Angel decided she wouldn't mind travelling with us to Pennsylvania for Christmas and back to New York for the new years eve party. She couldn't afford to go back to Columbia on holidays, which is why if Jules hadn't I would invite her to our get-togethers. She was basically left to her own devices when we all went home for breaks. It wasn't that she couldn't take care of herself—she'd been doing that for two years—I considered her a friend, and I always invited my friends to things.

I looked around at the guys with my eyebrows raised. Carlos and Sean were sprawled next to each other on the loveseat across from the couch Thion, Angel, and I sat on. Nate looked comfortable on the thick black rug beneath our feet. He seemed to be the only one enjoying the silence, even humming to himself while he played games on his phone where he lay on the floor.

"You're the ones acting weird," I said to them. "Except him." I looked at Nate. He saluted me without even looking up.

"Can someone please explain to me why," Angel said. "Was it the girl?"

I turned to her with a sigh. "Yes, that's Ariana."

Angelica blinked about a dozen times in two seconds. "Oh!" I'd never heard her sound so surprised. By anything.

I chuckled. "Why are you so surprised?"

She shrugged. "She doesn't seem like your type."

My mouth opened, then closed.

She was about to say something else but Thion leaned forward and said, "What do you mean by that?"

She looked caught off guard by his question and glanced around the room. We were all staring at her. The way she blushed and stuttered out nothing told me exactly what she meant. We all knew what she meant. However, I tried giving her the benefit of the doubt.

I watched her with slightly narrowed eyes. "I'm trying," I started calmly, "not to assume things anymore. So I'm gonna need you to explain."

"It's nothing," she muttered.

"Well," Sean said, feigning a chipper tone, "no need to explain that!"

The girls walked into the room and Julia's loud groan slash scream drew my attention away from the flustered woman next to me.

"Is... there a problem?" Nate dragged out, the low jingle from whatever game he was playing sounded in the room. It did nothing to ease the tension, though.

"Jules literally went off on Ari," Jess said, throwing a hand in the direction of our friend. They both looked equally frustrated with each other. Mar on the other hand was battling something but I couldn't tell what. She made her way into the room and sat on the rug not far from Nate.