Chapter 8

Brie

Present

When I walk in from my overnight with little Cassian, Dawn is perched on the couch, still in her pajamas, waiting for Kelsey to wake up.

"My head hurts, and it's not even the good kind of I partied my ass off last night, and I deserve this misery headache," Dawn whines from her spot on the couch.

Apparently, the girls had as sleepless a night as I did with the baby, although theirs wasn't as uneventful. They went out to a nightclub on Sunset where Daniel and his band were scheduled to play as a last-minute replacement.

They just settled into their booth when Kelsey spotted her boyfriend, Bradley, across the room, waiting at the bar. He was supposed to be in Temecula with his parents at his aunt and uncle's thirtieth wedding anniversary party. Confused but happy to see him, she headed over to him. That was when a girl approached him from the side and whispered something into his ear. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her up close before kissing her and handing her one of the drinks he had ordered.

Kels saw red, especially when the scantily clad companion turned her head toward the stage as the band was announced, and she got a good look at her face. Tonya. Kelsey barreled toward the pair. Bradley caught her before her fist connected with its intended target. He picked her up over his shoulder and fireman-carried her back up to the booth, leaving the seething backstabber at the bar. Chaos ensued, and Dawn, Kels, and Bradley were asked to leave halfway through Daniel's band's first set.

I make us a pot of coffee and sit with her as she fills me in on the rest of their night.

"It was a terrible Uber ride home. I felt so bad for the driver. I had hopped up front, and Kels and Brad were in the back. She was screaming mad. He told her that he had gotten the weekends mixed up and the anniversary party was actually two weeks from now. When he realized the mistake, he decided to get some study time in Saturday afternoon, so he could spend Saturday night with her. He lost track of time, and by the time he came by our place, we were gone. So, he headed to Sunset to see if he could catch up with us. He was at the bar about thirty minutes when Tonya came in. He said it was a coincidence. She asked him to buy her a drink while she went to the ladies' room, and that was when we came in. He said he saw us and that he was headed our way when Tonya came by to get her drink. She pulled him into an embrace and gave him a quick, friendly peck to thank him. He swore Kels had overreacted." She takes a break in the story to take a sip from her mug. Then, she continues, "He is such a lying sack of shit. Even if he really did mix up the weekends, why wouldn't he have just called Kels and told her?"

I stop her there. "Why didn't he take Kels with him to his aunt and uncle's party?"

"Oh, that's another thing. He told her his mom had said it was a small event space, and they were inviting family only." She rolls her eyes, as if to say, Yeah, right.

She gets up to grab a bagel out of the box I picked up on my way home.

She tears a piece off and pops it in her mouth as I ask, "Do his parents not like her?"

"They love her. That's why I'm not buying the whole family-only thing. They consider Kels family. So, anyway, like I said, why not call and tell her about the mix-up? Then, he said he came by here and just missed us and headed to the Strip to catch up to us. First of all, how in the hell did he know where we were or where we were headed? We hadn't known anything about Daniel's gig until Saturday morning; plus, he was already at the damn club, ordering drinks when we arrived. We went straight there. No way he could have come here, found us gone, and then beat us to the club, much less in enough time to get there, accidentally run into Tonya-the traitor-and get drinks."

I just sit there, nodding in agreement at the twisted story.

"And, Brie, I saw that kiss, and that wasn't a friendly thank-you kiss. He pulled her into him, and he kissed her. They were there together. It was so flipping obvious."

Damn it, I hate this for Kelsey. She is crazy about Bradley.

They met when she changed high schools after her mom married Uncle Matt, and they moved from downtown Los Angeles to Beverly Hills. Apparently, he instantly liked her, but she was still seeing a guy from her old school at the time, so he was friend-zoned. They reconnected when he started working at the coffee shop his parents opened near the campus of California State. They started dating shortly afterward and have been together ever since. That was over a year ago, and she is now head over heels in love with him. He and Daniel have become friends, and the four of them do just about everything together. When Tonya moved in, she became the fifth wheel, and apparently, she wasn't happy with that position.

Oh God, I think to myself. Am I the fifth wheel now?

Dawn finishes with her story as we both eat.

"So, when we made it back here, I called him out on all his bullshit because she wasn't. He started backpedaling, saying he had heard somewhere that Daniel's band would be filling in, but he could not recall where he'd heard it, so he assumed that was where we were headed, and he hadn't called because he wanted to surprise her. It was all just more bullshit piled on top of bullshit, but I could tell Kelsey was trying to make it work in her head so that she could let herself believe him. She finally told him to leave because she needed a little time to think. He wasn't happy about it, but he got in a taxi and took off at about three a.m. Asshole probably had it take him straight to whatever evil lair Tonya lives in now. That fake bitch. I swear, I wish I had throat-punched her for Kels when we were in the club. I mean, hell, we ended up getting kicked out anyway."

As I sit here, listening to Dawn rage, I realize that maybe the ugly isn't my favorite part after all. My heart aches for my new friend. There is nothing like thinking your life and relationship are perfect and then finding out it is a lie. A girl gets a serious case of whiplash, going from blissfully happy to utterly devastated in a matter of seconds.

We finish our breakfast and watch three episodes of our latest Netflix obsession while we wait for Kelsey to emerge from her bedroom. She finally walks into the living room, looking like the walking dead, a little after noon. She doesn't say a word. She just sits on the couch and lays her head on my shoulder. I reach up and start running my fingers through her hair, and we start the next episode. The three of us watch mindless television for the rest of the afternoon. I know what it is like to need people close but to need them to give you space, all at the same time, so you can figure out your next move. I look over at Dawn, and we silently agree to do that for her.