A few hours had passed and I still couldn't stop thinking about Colton and I in his car. The passion, the shared proximity, and the pure pleasure...But, like all good things in my life, it had to come to an end.

And what cut it short?

A phone call. From the girl sitting right in front of me.

Brooke.

I was seated across from a beady eyed Brooke Mckailey while organizing papers in a dull backroom at the institution our group worked at.

It was just my luck that Anthony wasn't here today. He said he had his cousin's baby shower that his mom was forcing him to go.

And so I was alone. With the sounds of a paper shredder and a silent Brooke Mckailey who looked like she wanted to stab me.

"You smell different." she suddenly spoke.

I was almost taken aback at the fact that she was talking to me. For the past 2 hours, the only thing we'd exchange would be the stapler when having to staple stacks of paper together. This was new and unexpected.

"Oh umm-" I didn't know how to respond. Did she mean I smelt bad?

"Is that a new perfume?" she tilted her head.

"Yeah. It's --"

"Vanilla Fetale." she finished for me. "Right?" Smiling.

I turned in my chair, slightly shocked that she guessed right. "Uh yeah, it is. You're a fan of perfume, I'm guessing?"

Instead of answering, she leaned over her desk and moved in closer, sniffing my hair. "Mmm. Can't remember the last time I smelt this." she chuckled, taking a seat.

I couldn't tell if I should be weirded out or thankful.

"Um...Thank you?" At the very least, I appreciated her for making conversation. We had about 3 more hours on our time sheets that we had to get done and sitting in silence was not making the time go by any faster.

"Um so..." I tried to start. Awkward. Weary. I couldn't tell if she knew I was making out with her boyfriend just a couple hours ago.

"We should get back to our assignments," she clipped, looking back down to her work, preparing to ignore me once again.

But no. I was sick of this shit.

She had started this stupid conversation, and so she didn't get to decide she just wanted to end it out of the blue.

"Look. We're gonna be working together for the next couple of hours so I'd rather us talk about perfumes than have you stare at me like you want to fucking kill me," I muttered loud enough for her to hear, organizing some papers in front of me.

Wait shit. Did I really just say that? To Brooke Mckailey, of all people?

There was a long silence before I finally found the courage to look up and she sighed, rubbing her hands hands over her face.

She let out a long groan of stress and shook her head, "I'm sorry. I'm not usually like this it's just," she sighed again. I could tell that something was truly troubling her. "I'm really stressed out."

There was another silence.

She rolled her eyes. "This is where you're supposed to pretend you care and ask why."

I could tell she knew I wasn't fond of her and she definitely wasn't fond of me. But at least she wasn't a bitch about it. Oddly enough, she was pretty respectful about our indifferences.

I mean she had every right to, honestly. I publicly announced that I was in love with her boyfriend all over social media.

If I were her, I'd hate me too.

"Wel--why?" I rushed to ask.

She sighed, looking at me, annoyed. Annoyed, but desperate, and willing to share the details of her private life anyway. "Colton's been acting weird lately."

I made an O shape with my mouth.

Was I really about to have a girl-talk session after giving said girl's boyfriend a handjob just a few hours ago? Lovely.

I'm going to hell.

Well, since Colton was today's topic, I figured it was better to clear the air now than never.

"Oh yeah uh about Colton I just wanna say sorry about everything with the posts an--"

"Yeah whatever, I don't really care," she waved me off. Well that was easy. "There's this event that he's had on his calendar for months now and I know it means a lot to him because we use this system at his apartment--"

"His apartment?" I couldn't help but ask, shocked. I had been to Colton's house maybe once or twice, but I had no knowledge of an apartment.

"Yeah, exactly!" she returned the same energy of flabergastedness, but I think it was for a different reason. "He took me to his apartment! His private place! His home, and told me himself he doesn't take just anyone there, so my question is why is he acting this way? Why's he acting like we don't tell each other everything!" she rambled, worked up.

My question was why he hadn't ever invited me to his apartment. A wave of sadness began to stir in my stomach, but I promptly pushed it down.

"Maybe he's stressed out too? T-this thing sounds like a big deal," I stuttered. I knew the event she was talking about was the banquet, and I couldn't help but feel bad as I knew he had already invited me to be his plus one instead of her.

"It is a big deal. It's this fancy banquet where he's being sworn in as the president of his dad's company or something," she explained dully. "It's a whole system with RSVPing and he still hasn't asked me."

Sweat was already beginning to bead at my forehand. I had to be careful with everything I said, as I didn't want her to catch onto anything.

"Maybe he's waiting for the right time?" I offered as a lame reply.

She shook her head with a sad laugh. "Doubt it. I had to look through his email to even find out about it for Christ's sake."

I was silent. Cause I truly did not know what to say. I was sitting here, listening to Brooke as a friend, when in truth, I was the parasite causing her turmoil. The only reason Colton hadn't asked her yet was because he was waiting for my response. And I still hadn't even decided if I should go with Anthony or Colton or just stay home because lord knows I--

"We have sex every time he comes back from his morning runs."

Brooke ripped me out of my thoughts.

Woah.

I looked up and saw Brooke zoned out, staring at her feet. Her eyes were glossed with unshed tears. "But when he came back today he was off. So freaking off and I couldn't put my finger on it. I tried everything like literally everything to get him to just look at me like how he used to -- but no. He went straight for the shower."

"Maybe he was just sweaty or tire--" I started when I was interrupted.

"He was masturbating."

Silence.

"He's never done that before. Not once. And you know what the worst part is? He was trying to stay quiet, but I could hear him. I could hear him. Hear him try so hard to hold back cause he pitied me bu-- Fuck. This is so probably so TMI." The blonde shook her head.

I was at a loss for words, and she took my silence as judgement, rushing to save reputation, "I promise I'm not this insane." she laughed. "Really. I'm not."

"You're not insane," I reassured her. Guilt filled me to the brim. "But hey, I mean well m- it's a a natural occurrence fo-"

"Jerking off when your girlfriend's right there?" She finally looked up at me. Her taupe brown eyes were red and her face splattered with freckles were stained with tears. "Waiting for you?"

That shut me up.

"So it's either I'm totally fucking disgusting or there's only someone else who can satisfy his needs," she chuckled painfully, wiping away tears.

Over the desk, I grabbed her hand and she looked up to me, shocked. Then her eyes relaxed as she saw me smile ruefully. "You're not insane, Brooke.

She sniffled a bit, before removing her hand awkwardly. I could tell she was appreciative though, but there was still a glint in her eyes that didn't quite match up. "Thanks, Asha. For listening."

I nodded, feeling guilt run through me and tug at my heart strings. I felt like throwing up.

Excusing myself to the bathroom, I stepped out of the claustrophobic room then rushed out of the building, the cool air flushing my warm cheeks.

I immediately pulled out my phone and dialed Colton.

As soon as the call went through I collected, my feelings of remorse started bubbling out. "Colton. Listen to me. This isn't right and she's not an idiot. We at least owe her the basic decency of stopping whatever the hell this is--"

"What? Asha what's going on? Who are you talking about?"

I could tell I was rambling, and my voice was frantic and not making sense.

I took a shaky, recollecting breath.

"I'm not going to the banquet."

"Are you crying?"

"Colton. Please just listen to me for once. Ask Brooke to the banquet, okay? She deserves it. She cares about you, and most importantly, she's your girlfriend."

I left it at that and hung up before he could say anything.

Brooke McKailey did not deserve what I was doing to her.