I agree to go back with Jason to his place to find Lincoln. The car ride back is quiet.

"Are you alright?" Jason asks.

I shrug. "I don't know. I guess I should've expected as much, Lincoln was way out of my league."

"Hey don't say that," he says softly, reaching over and touching my thigh, "you're great Katie. It's his loss."

I smile weakly.

__________________

Jason unlocks the door and we walk in.

The living room is a mess, but I see Lincoln. He's sitting on one of the bar stools by the kitchen island, which is covered with bottles and cups. His hair is a mess, his shirt is unbuttoned, and he's holding his phone against his ear, looking terribly stressed.

His attention snaps to us when we shut the door. Before anyone says anything, we see his bedroom door open, and a tall blonde girl wearing just one of Lincoln's shirts comes out. She yawns and pushes her slightly messy hair out of her face.

My eyes widen.

"Katie! It's not what you think," he quickly says, getting up from his seat.

"How could you?!" I shout. "You ditch me on my birthday and embarrass me in front of my friends because you partied and cheated?" I feel tears well up in my eyes but I refuse to let them fall. I turn towards the door and open it. "I don't want to see you Lincoln."

"Wait!" he calls, and I hear his footsteps come closer.

"Don't follow me," I hiss, shutting the door without turning back.

Katie slams the door, leaving the three of us in an awkward situation.

"Jason what the hell?!" Lincoln turns his attention to me, "You set me up!"

"What are you talking about?" I ask calmly.

"You threw a party and made me join even when I didn't want to! You knew I was tired from work and you let the party last till 4 am so I'd sleep in," he replies angrily. "I woke up hungover 5 minutes ago with tons of missed calls and texts from Katie."

"Hey no one 'forced' you to join," I retort.

He gives me an icy cold glare. "We both know about your history with manipulation."

I'm slightly taken aback. The usual cheerful tone in Lincoln's voice has been replaced with pure raw heat, I can't remember the last time he was this mad at me.

"You even purposely left Becky here without a ride so she'd be here for Katie to see?!" he demands.

"I didn't know you had to wake up early today," I lie, "I only knew it was Katie's birthday." I managed to figure out when Katie's lunch was because I have a friend who works at Garden Tea Salon. I got them to look up her reservation for me.

"I didn't know Becky wouldn't be able to get home either," I lie again.

I picked up Becky because I know she doesn't accept rides from people she doesn't know well, so no one would be able to drive her home except me, which is why I left with Stacy.

Stacy wasn't originally part of my plan though, just a lucky bonus.

"Did anything happen between..." I begin to ask.

"No of course not," Becky says from the side of the room, I had almost forgotten she was there. "I accidentally spilled my drink on my clothes so Lincoln let me borrow his. He also let me sleep in his room last night, and he slept on the sofa."

I feel the faintest sense of remorse, but it quickly goes away.

"We both know exactly what you're doing," he narrows his eyes at me, "grow up."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I shrug calmly.

He frowns and leaves the room without saying anything.

"Come on Becky, I'll drive you home," I nod towards the door.

__________________

A couple hours after dropping Becky off, I hear a knock on my door.

I open it, and it's Ray. He sighs, leaning against the door frame. "Jason, why did you do this?"

"It's not my fault," I say defensively, "it's his fault he slept in."

"Is it really though?" Ray asks, giving me a stern look that says he definitely doesn't believe me. Ray really is the mature one among the three of us. "We made the agreement to not interfere with each other's girlfriends for a reason," he continues.

"It's not like I have feelings for Katie though."

Ray groans in exasperation. "That's my point! Look, Lincoln is really angry, and we decided it might be time for him and I to find somewhere else to live."

"Wait please no, I'm sorry," I stammer, "look, I'll stay at one of my parents penthouses for a bit."

He pauses to think, "Alright sure, I guess that's fine."

"So do you know how things are going between Lincoln and Katie?"

"Apparently she's been ignoring all his messages and calls," he sighs.

"Oh I see. Well, I better get packing, I'll see you in the morning," He nods and leaves as I shut the door.

I make a call.

"Hey Katie? How would you like to go out tomorrow for some belated birthday fun?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oof, fighting with friends sucks 😢.

Thank you for reading!