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"What?" I ask dumbly staring at Emma and pretending like I don't feel the scrutiny of every person at this table. Why me, Lord? Why? Emma gives me a knowing look and then says again as if she's speaking to a particularly slow child;

"What have you done to poor Connor?"

Maybe she should speak slower because I still don't understand what she means and I tell her as much. "Huh? Wha- Nothing. Why?" Eloquent. My eyebrows are slowly lowering on my forehead, I feel my nose scrunching in confusion. Then I realize she's said something has happened to Connor. "What happened to Connor?" I demand, maybe a little too aggressively.

She smirks and my internal alarms start going off.

Oh, no. I know that look. Whenever Emma gets that look in her eyes, it's usually followed by something either embarrassing or painful for me. Often, it's both.

Belatedly, I realize I'm seated at a table with my ex-boyfriend and his family. His family who basically treat me like a daughter and might be really mad at me for what happened two weekends ago. "You know, for someone who's not interested in him; you sure sound concerned." She's smiling like a Cheshire cat. Her shiny pink lips stretched wide over perfect pearly whites. It's eerily reminiscent of the Joker's smile. Perhaps, that should serve as my warning that she's about to demolish whatever peace of mind I have in keeping all of our friends out of my personal life.

It's not that I hide things from the people close to me, it's just that there are some things I don't exactly feel comfortable with Haider and Zahra knowing. Like my dating habits, for instance. Especially, since I don't really date; not in the tradtiotinal sense of the word, anyway, and seeing as how I was once romantically involved with their son I just don't feel comfortable sharing it with them. I know they'd never judge me but it basically feels like telling your parents about your body count; not cool.

"I'm not interested." I tell her. It's partially true, I'm not looking for a relationship. I am however, definitely interested in Connor. That's a weird thought for me, I haven't been interested in a guy outside of a brief fling since… well, since Dastan.

"I call bullshit," Zahra says, raising one thick black eyebrow at me. Traitor.

"You don't even know what we're talking about," I remind her. And I'm fighting the blush I know is going to start spreading across my entire face soon if they keep talking about this.

"I don't need to," she retorts looking triumphant "you're blushing." Without thinking my fingers shoot up to my face to feel my overheated skin.

"I knew it!" Emma exclaims throwing her fist up in the air dramatically. Shit. I drop my hand from my face like it burned me.

"We had one innocent conversation, would you give it a rest?" I roll my eyes and poke around in my water with the straw, I'm avoiding looking at anyone right now.

"There was nothing innocent about that conversation," she says incredulously. I give her a look I hope conveys 'Shut up, please, before I rip your tongue out.'

"I don't know what you're talking about." I'm evading. Clearly, I need to work on my 'Shut up, please, before I rip your tongue out' look because Emma raises one brow challengingly.

"Oh, really" she drawls, "You're far too stunning to be a real person." She makes air quotes and  affects a deep tone, mimicking Connor's velvety voice. I slap my palm against my forehead and squeeze my eyes shut, groaning. This is mortifying.

"I hate you" I say and the seat next to me jostles with her giggles. "Why are you so obsessed with my non-existent love life? I don't even date, It's not that interesting. "

"It's not non-existent," she offers, "And you date all the time. What about that lawyer guy you went to dinner with last month." Dear God, is she really doing this in front of all of them.

"I thought you said that was for information on a story," Haider says accusingly. My eyes shoot up to meet his and I have to swallow the ball of emotion fighting to come flying out of my mouth.

"It was," I say straight-faced.

"You went home with him!" Emma accuses and now I'm face is definitely flaming. Seriously! Right here? In front of Haider and Zahra? In front of Dastan? Thankfully, Zia is preoccupied watching The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on her tablet and has her earbuds firmly in her ears to protect her from this conversation.

God, can this get any worse?

"Emma!" I turn my face away from her shielding myself from the adults across the table. But I've unintentionally turned right into Dastan. He's already looking at me and I don't know how to take that. I clear my throat and look at Zahra. His eyes are still burning into the side of my head. Zahra's fighting a smile. "Please, help me."

She raises her hands in a leave me out of it gesture and shakes her head at me. "So, is this Connor the reason you've been ignoring me?" Haider asks, and guilt bubbles in my chest. I'm the actual worst.

"No, we've had like one conversation." I remind him and everyone else at the table, "I've just been super swamped at work." I tell him and I'm staring at a point past his shoulder. I can't handle seeing him disappointed with me. "Trust me, there's nothing more."

"So, you're saying if Connor asked you on a date right now; you'd say no?" Emma interrupts. I'm going to stab her with this fork. I can't believe she'd bring this up right now. I don't answer just look down at my drink.

"I think he sounds nice and you should definitely go on a date with him," Anne offers kindly. I glance over at her and she's smiling a genuine smile at me. Dastan's giving her an inscrutable look.

I smile, "Speaking of dates," I begin tentatively, "How much of the city has this one taken you to see?" I ask jerking a thumb at Dastan.

"Oh," and there's sincere excitement in her face now, "We've been to a few restaurants, a couple clubs, and the major tourist stops."

"Broadway?" Emma enquires.

"No," Anne makes a disgruntled expression, "Dastan doesn't like the theater. That gets my attention.

"Since when?" I ask him without stopping to think about the fact that he now hates me and probably doesn't feel too inclined to answer my questions. He just shrugs and picks at his food.

"Theaters are the best places to go on dates in the city," I tell Anne. "I've had some of my best dates there." I feel a note of guilt dancing across my conscience. Dastan and I had a date at the theater. It was arguably the best date I'd ever had and I know he remembers because he goes still as a statue carved into the side of a mountain.

"I'll let Connor know," Emma adds sagely with that ever-present hint of mischief in her voice. "After one date I'm sure he'll be planning your wedding."

"Poor dude, I wouldn't wish that on anyone." Dastan says in a mock sympathetic voice. For an instant my body tenses for a fight and then with one big huff of breath it all drains out of me. He has a point.

"There's that bit too," I concede.

"Connors not like that!" Emma protests. I can see she's not the only one who wants to say something. But they all refrain from getting involved this time. Whenever Dastan is around they treat me like some juggling seal that's part of a circus act. Everybody just watches the entertainment unfold.

"No, Dastan's right." I say cutting off her arguments. "Connor's a good guy, and I come with a lot of baggage. He doesn't deserve that." I look down at my hands on my lap, fingers tangled together and pick at the fraying thread in my jeans.

Emma speaks over me, "Look what you did, why do you have to be such an ass?" she's talking to Dastan.

"I didn't do anything-"

"Can we not," I cut them off. "I just want to have a nice, normal dinner and go home." I tell them both and now they've turned their heated gazes on me and I hate the prickly feeling of having their eyes on me.

Dastan scoffs, before facing forward in his seat. "Well, since that's what her Majesty wants." He says, sarcasm is thick in his rich voice. I hate that tone on him. I'm so used to hearing him talk to me like I'm everything he's ever wanted in this world and suddenly he's treating me like the mud under his shoes. That's your own fault, you don't get to be upset about that. No, but I can still miss what we used to be.