The Sun, Moon & Stars [GxGxG]

7. Galaxies Apart

Thursday, October 24th, 2024
(Present)

I'm in trouble.

The rigid silence we ride in is proof enough. Aurora and Xenia occupy the front two seats while I fidget nervously in the back. Nia has us back at Rory's in 15 minutes, where we unload and gather in the living room.

I sit, whereas AJ paces, clearly agitated, and Nia towers over me, her gaze hardened with cold fury.

"I hope you've come to realize that there isn't a force on this Earth that could keep us from you," Xenia hisses. I can't bring myself to look at her, so she helps me, gently gripping my chin and raising my eyes to hers. "You can't hide from us."

Both her words and touch do something to me as I fight to suppress a shudder.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" AJ asks. When I shake my head, Nia drops her hand and sighs. "I fucking knew it. I told you she was-"

"Just calm down for a second. We can't go jumping to conclusions."

"The hell we can. Dev doesn't ditch work to go to bars downtown - she hardly goes out on the weekend!"

Xenia massages her temples. "We agreed to hear her out, didn't we? So that's what the fuck we're gonna do, and for God's sake, Aurora, lower your voice. You know how she feels about yelling."

"Sorry, Dev."

I'm only a little uncomfortable. Most of my focus was on figuring out where this was going. Surely, they don't think I was...

AJ and Nia pull up chairs in front of me.

"Dev," Xenia starts, "can you tell us what you were doing at the bar?"

"I was meeting with someone," I answer vaguely.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see AJ's jaw clench. Even Nia's open hands have become balled fists as she speaks.

"Was this the same person who called you earlier?"

"It was."

"They asked you to meet?"

"I asked them."

"Why, Dev?" AJ asks, her voice cracking. "How could you do this to us?"

Confusion turns into anger, which festers in the pit of my stomach. "To you? I'm doing this for you! For us - but most importantly, for me. What have you done? What have either of you done -besides bringing coffee and donuts?"

"I-"

"No, Aurora, you don't get to do that. You don't get to sit up here and make me feel guilty when all either of you have done these past few months is make me feel stupid and unimportant!"

"You'd justify cheating, then?"

...What?

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Aurora sneers. "All this to say we should just accept the fact that you're cutting off your location and meeting up with people we don't know. Who's to say you're even staying at Roman's - who, might I add, tried to lie for you - and who's to say all those nights you 'worked late' weren't actually spent in someone else's bed."

My jaw drops. "Is that what you think I've been doing? Seeing someone else?"

"We only began suspecting yesterday after you left. It was just so sudden and over something so minuscule," Xenia explains. "When I called Roman, and his story didn't add up with what we'd found, we assumed the worst."