Chapter 11
My car turns down the road and into the parking lot of Ryan’s firm. I am, of course, early. Heavy gray clouds cling to the sky and rain gently patters down onto the pavement and the roof of my car. This is the first time it's rained all summer. I lose the door and pull out the sandwiches I bought for our lunches. I didn’t even call to take their orders; I remember exactly what both like.
It’s been a while since I have been at Ryan’s office, but it looks the exact same on the inside, except Jasmina sits at the front of the desk. Her long blonde hair is pulled into a sweeping braid. Her bright eyes look into mine and a warm smile spreads across her lips.
“Christian!” she shouts in a high, happy voice. She quickly stands up and flings her arms around mine. I wrap my free arm around her and hoist her up to spin her around.
“Hey, Jaz,” I say gently, “You're looking great.” I set her down, and she spins in a small circle for me. I take every inch of her in. “You look lovely.”
“Thank you.”
“Definitely too attractive for this establishment.”
She blushes and looks back at Ryan, who’s head is popped out of the door frame.
“Where are all of your servants?” I ask him, noticing the employees are nowhere to be seen.
“I sent them to go get their lunch on me as a celebration for winning the last case.”
“Well, congratulations,” I smile, resting my hand on Jasmina’s shoulder.
We walk together into the office and sit down at Ryan’s desk.
“What’d you get us?” Ryan asked raising his eyebrows and starting at the large bag of food. “A feast?”
“I know how much Jasmina likes to devour food.”
“It's true. I could eat five times as much as Mark,” she says, taking a large bite of her sandwich. A large piece of lettuce falls out from between the bread and lands on the desk.
“But Mark is not a big eater,” Ryan adds.
“No, that’s true,” she shrugs, “but he does like to drink.”
“That’s true. I will stand behind that statement.”
We sit in silence, except for the sound of us chewing our food. Which is not very like either of them. Ryan and Jasmina can be some of the chattiest people I know. I take a deep breath.
“So how’s work?” I ask, to break the silence. Jasmina’s eyes flicker to Ryan’s.
“It’s great! I really like working here.”
“What do you like about it?” I ask.
“Ah, be careful how you answer,” Ryan raises his eyebrows and laughs through a chunk of food. Jasmina giggles and turns her attention back to me.
“The people here are great, and the job is busy so I don’t get bored.”
“That’s good. So, you think you could be a secretary forever then?”
“No,” she almost coughs up her food. “Don’t be so ridiculous, Christian.”
“Careful,” Ryan answers, resting a hand on her back.
“I know how to eat.”
I watch the interaction for a second. The way his hand rests on her a little longer than normal. The way she looks at him. Is something going on? I clench my jaw and look down at my sandwich. No. There's no way. That would be crazy. I stop and think about it. Would it though? I recall moving Jasmina in and how everything that day felt so different. What if Ryan felt that way too?
“What are you thinking about?” Ryan asks.
I stare at him and smile. He knows me too well. That's the problem with best friends. There is no way to really lie to them, but in this case I don’t have a choice, unless I want to make lunch really awkward for all of us and call them out on what I suspect. Would they go as far as to sleep together? Or am I just jealous and coming up with these irrational ideas? Probably the latter.
“Nothing,” I say, taking another bite. “I’m just happy I finally get to visit both of you at work. Makes my day a bit better.” I am surprised he doesn’t dig for the truth.
“Yeah! It’s nice to finally see you.” Jasmina adds. She’s already finished her sandwich, even though Ryan and I are only halfway finished with ours.
“You’re all done?” I exclaim. She looks at the empty wrapper in front of her.
“Yeah, I guess I am,” she sigh, leaning back, relaxed. “This is the best feeling.”
Jasmina looks so happy, but I can feel Ryan’s presence lurking on me. He’s hiding something. We stare at another for a second, reading each other. He's trying to figure something out about me as well.
After we’ve finished eating, I stand up and say my goodbyes. They both walk me to the door, as the other workers start to head back from their lunch.
“I guess, I’ll see you both pretty soon then?” I say, hugging Jasmina.
“Yes! You should come over again to my place sometime this week for dinner.”
Ryan shoots her a look. I notice.
“Alright,” Ryan sighs, stepping forward and opening the door. “I’ll hit you up about going out this week with Mark.”
“Sounds good! See you.” I wave and walk out.
“Bye!” Jasmina calls out, sticking her head out of the door. I wave back and make my way to work again to finish my day up. The last five hours at work, the idea of Ryan and Jasmina eats away at me uncontrollably. I think about him entering her and feeling her. I let out a low sigh. There’s no way that this is happening, but I guess I should call him out and ask him if I want the truth.
When I arrive home, I don’t even get out of my car. I sit in the garage and pull out my phone and dial Ryan. It rings several times but then is put to voicemail. Maybe it's still too early to call him. There is a chance that he could still be at the office. Ryan is one of the hardest workers I know. I slip my phone into my pocket and go into my home.
After I have eaten dinner and am sitting on the couch watching television, I call Ryan one more. It rings several times. This time he answers.
“Hey, Christian,” he says cheerfully.
“How’s it going?” I ask.
“It’s going alright. How about yourself?”
“Just finished up dinner after a long day of cleaning teeth.” I sigh, flipping through the channels on the television.
“Fun. What’s up?”
I realize the idea of asking Ryan if he is sleeping with Jasmina sounds so ridiculous; when I finally have to say it out loud, I panic. I have no clue how I am going to approach this or clear it up. It is such a bold thing to say, and what if I am wrong and that I just look like the crazy one with the hots for Jamsina? Maybe everything was all in my head and nothing actually was going on except for my overactive imagination. I take a deep breath.
“It was great seeing you today.”
“You too man.” I can tell by his tone that I am annoying him. I am annoying myself right now.
“I was just wondering if everything was going alright with Jasmina?”
“What do you mean?” Ryan asks coolly. “Did she say something to you?” Ryan can be the most difficult person to read, as all good lawyers are.
“No. No. I just - you know - get worried about her since Mark has never been there for her.”
Ryan is quiet. I hope it's not too obvious a diversion. It was true though. I am very worried about her.
“She’s completely fine. She’s way better off than we were when we were her age.”
“You’re right.” I clench my jaw. This was telling me nothing.
“You can always call her and see how’s she doing,” Ryan says.
“I know, but sometimes she doesn’t always tell us if she's having any issues.”
“What do you mean?” Ryan clears his throat.
“She doesn’t want to hurt us. I don’t know.”
Ryan laughs.
“Christian, you have been reading too many of Oprah’s book club books.”
Shut up,” I chuckle. “Oprah is the best.”
“Alright - was there something you actually wanted to talk about, or were you just lonely and looking to jack off to the sound of my voice.”
Yes! I want to know if you are screwing Jasmina, I shout over in my head again and again.
“Oh nope, just came in my pants here. Thanks, bud.”
“You’re welcome,” he sighs.
“I’ll talk to you later.
“Bye, Christian.”
Click. He hangs up the phone. I hold mine in my hand. God, why did I have to be such a pussy sometimes. I should have straight up asked him. Ryan would have asked me. But I suppose that's why he is the lawyer and I'm the dentist. We both make people uncomfortable, but I try to make things better and he just -well, he is just looking for information that he can warp to his benefit. Whatever is happening, I am sure that it would be because Jasmina wanted it. I don’t think Ryan would ever do anything sexual to her, unless she initiates it first. I guess I may never know. I walk over to my fridge and take out a beer, cracking it open. Mark would kill him though if he found out. I smile at the mess it could cause. It would be the most epic shit storm that’s for sure.