Able didn’t look happy when he came to the door. I can’t blame him. If I partied as hard as he did last night I wouldn’t be either if I were forced to stand vertically today. He’s not up for small talk, either, as we walk down the hall to Annie’s room. I tried calling her earlier but it went straight to voicemail so I showed up assuming she didn’t forget.
She never forgets about our sessions. That’s one of the things that makes her so amazing.
“Hey,” I say from behind Able when she swings the door open. Able’s body tenses and he doesn’t move.
“Oh my god. I completely forgot we had a study date.”
“Yesterday I told you I’d study with you tonight,” he says quietly to her, sounding pissed she seems to have replaced him with me.
“He’s not here to study with me. I'm tutoring him,” she whispers like I can’t hear her.
“I can come back,” I say, feeling like the third wheel.
“No, Ryan, it’s fine. Give us a minute okay? I’ll be right in the kitchen.” She looks at me then back at Able and waits for me to head to walk away. I grab my textbook from my bag and set up my laptop as quietly as I can while listening to them whisper in the hallway.
“Give me an hour, okay? I forgot he was coming,” she says.
“No big deal, Annie. Take as long as you need. You need me, I’ll be in my room.” He knocks on the wall.
Everyone that knows Able Porter knows when he knocks he’s trying not to pound something. Usually he puts his fist through a wall. There’ve been plenty parties that he’s plastering a hole he just made. I wonder what she did to get him so stressed.
“Able,” she blurts. “We need to talk.”
I wish I could see the look on her face right now. And his if I’m being honest. I also wish I didn’t get so plastered last night that I blacked out, because I heard there was all kinds of drama going on between the two of them.
“Then talk to me!” The dude sounds like he’s about to cry...maybe I should leave.
“After this session. I promise I will. Just...don’t leave, okay?” She sounds like she is crying. Shit.
He huffs. “Yeah. Like I said. Take as long as you need. I’ll always wait.” When a door slams, I raise my brows.
She walks into the room and takes a deep breath.
“You want me to leave?” I ask, torn whether or not this is even worth it.
“No, it’s fine. I need to study, too, so this will help.” She opens the fridge and glances back at me. “You want a beer?”
“Uh...sure?” I keep absentmindedly flipping through pictures of last night to find one to send to Jessica when Annie sets the beer in front of me.
“Those from last night?” She cracks open the beer in her hand and sits in the chair, scooting it closer.
“Yeah,” I mumble, glancing at the beer. “You sure about drinking and studying?” I chuckle nervously. This isn’t like Annie.
“It’s fine,” she shrugs. “It’s one beer. It won’t hurt.” She takes my phone from my hand and starts flipping through the pictures.
“Oh uh...” I laugh, trying not to give away that I think there’s a dick pic somewhere in there. “Maybe you shouldn’t do that.”
“Yeah, why not?” She keeps flipping. “You were busy last night.” She laughs and continues flipping until she scrolls to the one picture I didn’t want her to see. “Oh my god!” She shrieks and throws my phone to the table. “Ryan!”
Crap.
Like a fucking guard dog, Able darts into the kitchen, sliding into the room like he thinks she needs saving.
“What?” he screams and I push away from the table so he can see my hands are nowhere near her. “Dude.” I don’t know what to do but my phone’s in the middle of the table with my dick glowing on that screen. “Is that your dick?” He snatches my phone.
“I told her not to look at the pictures,” I blurt, preparing myself for a fight because I see it written all over his face.
“He did,” Annie blurts, standing and clicking the phone off. “I just wanted to see if he had any pictures from last night. Of...you know.” She chuckles awkwardly. “He doesn’t.”
“Shit, Annie, let it go.” He huffs. “We fucked! So what! It could have been worse, right? Am I really the worst guy you could have slept with?!”
“No, that’s not,” she starts then curses. “That’s not what this is about, Able.”
“Wait, you two fucked?” I grin. “About damn time, Annie.”
“Excuse me?” she blurts, looking at me wildly. “What the hell does that mean?”
“You’ve had it hard for this poor sap for years now,” I say, laughing then look at Able. “I’m happy for you two.”
“Wait... What?” Able looks at her, but focuses on me again. I’m not sure if he wants to fight or wants me to write him a book about why they belong together.
“Uh...” I rub the back of my neck nervously. “She’s got the hots for you, man. Right, Annie?” I look at her and she’s staring at the table like it’s growing a head.
“I...” she looks at me then at Able and back to me. “I do?”
“Oh my god,” I bark, laughing. “You guys are messed up, you know that?”
“Annie?” Able says, but she won’t look at him. She’s glowering at me like she wants to kill me. “Why’s he saying that? You like me? You said you didn’t like me. I don’t fucking like yams!”
Annie’s face morphs into this sad, confused look and she shakes her head.
“I didn’t say I didn’t like you,” she whispers.
“That would have been a stupid thing to say,” I interject and they both glare at me. “Should I go?”
“Yes!” they both yell at the same time and all I can do is stare at them.
“Right.” I chuckle, packing my shit back up. “I hope you guys get this figured out. This is getting a bit annoying.” I down the beer and toss the can in the trash while the both of them watch me. “See you in class tomorrow, Annie. Take care, Able.”
I let myself out. Because from the looks of it they’re not leaving that table for a while.