Chapter 424 - Leave Dylan Out of It

Chapter 424: Chapter 424 - Leave Dylan Out of It

Mason answered after several rings.

"Is Karen okay?"

Roxie paused with the phone against her ear, then smiled down at the food she had barely touched. "Wow. Hello to you too."

"Roxie."

"She’s fine. Still in treatment, still pissed about it, still blaming everybody for ruining her life."

Mason breathed out. "Thought you were calling about her again."

Roxie leaned back against the booth and turned the straw around inside her drink. "You sound relieved."

"Last time you randomly called me, Karen was falling apart. Excuse me for making the obvious connection."

"You worry about her a lot for somebody who hasn’t talked to her since graduation."

"Here we go again."

"Can you even blame me?"

"I have manners when the situation deserves it."

Roxie snorted. "Since when?"

"College changed me."

"Has Karen called you?"

"No."

He answered fast enough that Roxie’s smile widened. "Have you called her?"

"I have college babes now, Jones. I’m busy."

Roxie almost choked on her drink. She set it down before she spilled anything on herself and laughed hard enough that the woman at the next table glanced over.

"College babes?"

"Several."

"Several?"

"My apartment is basically a revolving door."

"You sound pathetic."

"I’m thriving."

"You asked about Karen before you even said hello."

"That has nothing to do with my thriving."

"Does Karen know about these college babes?"

"Why would Karen care?"

Roxie grinned into her glass. "You tell me."

Mason muttered something under his breath, then a male voice said something in the background. She couldn’t understand the words, but Mason told whoever it was to give him a minute before coming back to the phone.

Roxie laughed again. "Was that one of the babes?"

"That was my roommate."

"Very disappointing."

"My life doesn’t exist for your entertainment."

"It used to."

Roxie shook her head, smiling as she picked up her fork. She managed another bite before Mason finally remembered that she had been the one to call him.

"So why did you call?"

Her fork slowed.

She put it back onto the plate and glanced toward the empty chair across from her. The restaurant had gotten busier since she arrived, and the table felt less obvious now, but she still caught herself imagining Zac sitting there complaining about the prices.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"About Karen?"

"No."

"Then who?"

Roxie ran her thumb over the condensation on her glass. She had spent most of lunch convincing herself that calling Mason would be easier than sitting with the question all afternoon. Now that he was actually waiting for her to speak, it felt nosier than it had in her head.

"Dylan."

Mason went quiet for a moment.

"What about him?"

"Does he still like Zac?"

The pause that followed made Roxie straighten slightly.

"Mason?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Because you were the one who noticed it before."

"That was years ago. Who snitched this shit?"

Roxie smiled despite herself. "Karen. She said you told her while you were drunk."

Mason groaned. "Fucking Karen. Zac’s going to kill me."

"So does he?"

"Does he what?"

"Still like him."

Mason sighed, and Roxie could hear him moving around on the other end. "Roxie, I’m in Virginia. Those two are in Tennessee. I have no idea what Dylan does every day now."

"I’m asking what you think."

That kept him quiet for another moment, but this time Roxie waited.

"Last time I was actually around them, Dylan looked over it."

Her fingers stopped moving against the glass.

"Really?"

"From what I saw. He wasn’t acting weird around Zac, wasn’t trying to get between you two, wasn’t sitting around looking heartbroken every time Zac touched you. They were acting like the same two idiots they’ve always been."

Some of the pressure Roxie had been carrying since Zac left eased.

"So you think he got over him."

"I think he did. If something changed after everybody left for college, how the fuck would I know? I’m not hiding under Dylan’s bed."

Roxie laughed softly and looked down at her food.

Mason didn’t leave it there.

"Did something happen?"

"No."

"Did Dylan say something?"

"No."

"Did Zac?"

Roxie picked at the edge of her napkin. "No."

"Then what are we doing?"

The question made her close her eyes for a second.

When Mason reduced it to those three things, she sounded ridiculous even to herself.

"Zac stays at his place sometimes."

"No shit. They play together. They’ve been friends forever."

"I’m aware of that."

"So what happened?"

"Nothing happened."

Mason laughed. "That’s what I’ve been asking."

Roxie dropped her head back against the booth. "Maybe I’m going crazy."

"That I can confirm."

"Fuck you."

"Now you sound normal."

She smiled, but the embarrassment stayed. "I just wanted somebody else to tell me Dylan was over it."

"Then there. From what I saw, Dylan was over it."

"And you’re sure?"

"As sure as somebody can be about another person’s brain. I haven’t seen anything that made me think he was still waiting for Zac."

Roxie looked toward the window. She had called because she wanted exactly that answer, but now that she had it, the problem didn’t disappear as completely as she had expected.

Mason seemed to pick up on her silence.

"You think Zac wants him?"

"No."

The answer came so quickly that Mason laughed.

"If you were about to ask me that, I was hanging up."

"I wasn’t."

"Good, because Prescott has been stupid about you."

Roxie tried to stop the smile pulling at her mouth and failed.

Mason caught it immediately. "See?"

"Shut up."

"I’m serious. What else are you looking for?"

Roxie looked at the empty chair again. The timing was fucking her up.

That was the part she kept coming back to. Zac had been free. He had been hurt, angry and completely separated from her, and when Dylan confessed, Zac still told him he didn’t feel the same way. Nothing had happened then, and nothing had happened since.

"I don’t think Zac’s cheating on me."

"Then maybe stop looking for a cheating problem."

Roxie frowned. "I’m not looking for one."

"You called me from Tennessee to ask whether Dylan still wants him."

She opened her mouth, then stopped because any answer she gave would sound like exactly what Mason had just said.

He chuckled. "You hate when I make sense."

"I hate you in general."

"Tell Karen. She’ll appreciate it."

Roxie smiled as she picked up her fork again.

Her food had already gone cold, but she took another bite anyway.

Mason asked, "You and Zac fighting?"

"Kind of."

"Because of Dylan?"

"Not really."

That answer came easier.

The fight had started before Dylan became part of it. Coach had ruined their date. Football had swallowed most of Zac’s week. Roxie had gone to sleep alone more times than she wanted to count lately.

Dylan had become part of the problem because he existed inside all the time football already took from her.

Mason made a small sound but didn’t start digging.

Roxie appreciated that.

"For whatever it’s worth, Zac’s probably too stupid to realize how much he’s gone."

"That was almost useful."

"I have moments."

She laughed again and finally managed to eat a little more while Mason returned to talking about Karen. He tried to sound casual while asking whether she had access to her phone, whether she could leave treatment on weekends and whether Roxie thought she would finish the program this time.

After his third question, Roxie put her fork down.

"You could just call her."

"I already told you, she stopped talking to me."

"And you’re both apparently planning to die before either of you fixes that."

"Sounds about right."

Roxie shook her head.

They talked for several more minutes before she finally glanced at the time and realized she had been sitting in the restaurant much longer than she intended.

"I’m going to let you get back to your revolving door."

"Finally."

Roxie lowered the phone and smiled at the screen for a few seconds before setting it beside her plate.

The call had helped.

Maybe not enough to fix the shitty lunch or make her stop missing Zac, but enough to make her feel embarrassed about how quickly she had started looking at Dylan differently.

Mason had been around them long before Tennessee. If he thought Dylan had gotten over Zac, Roxie had no reason to decide otherwise based on nothing more than how often they were together now.

And Zac had given her even less reason to doubt him.

She had asked to see his phone anyway.

Roxie stared at the table as that part settled heavier.

Maybe Dylan really had nothing to do with this.

Maybe blaming him had simply been easier than admitting she hated how lonely she had started feeling.

That thought followed her out of the restaurant.

She paid, drove home and spent the rest of the afternoon doing everything she had been avoiding. She changed out of the clothes she had wasted on lunch, started a load of laundry and eventually opened her laptop at the kitchen counter.

Zac sent another message sometime after four saying Coach still had them there.

Roxie read it and left a heart reaction instead of starting another argument through text. She had already decided what she wanted to say when he came home.

Dylan could stay out of it.

The problem was between her and Zac, and she wanted to keep it that way.

A little after five, her phone started ringing.

Roxie glanced at the screen, expecting Zac.

Dylan.