Western Waves (Compass 3)

I couldn’t help but smile at the whole dynamic between him and his friends. He was so different from Aaliyah and Connor. They were like the bright, vibrant house on a block while Damian was the home dressed all in black. Complete opposites, yet somehow, they worked so well together.

Maybe a person like Damian needed friends who held a bit of light within them. Otherwise, he’d drown in the dark.

“Uh, we totally need a rehearsal dinner,” Aaliyah chimed in. Her tight coils of hair were wrapped up in a perfect bun, and her smile was enough to make others smile. “You know what I’m thinking?” she asked Connor.

“Oh, I know what you’re thinking.” He nodded.

“In-N-Out Burger!” they shouted together, tossing their hands up in the air.

“Oh my goodness, and can we get that one thing that we drove past in our rental car today?” Connor asked.

“Donuts!” they hollered in unison. It was as if they spoke in incomplete sentences and knew exactly what was being said. It was the most adorable thing.

“We aren’t doing any of that,” Damian coldly stated. It amazed me how unmoved his friends were by his dryness. They remained their bubbly selves through and through. We ended up going to a nice sit-down restaurant, seeing how Damian was so anti-fast food. He must’ve never tried In-N-Out Burger’s animal-style fries. A true masterpiece.

“You know, Aaliyah and I started out as roommates, and look at where we are now. So, no matter how wild a situation looks, maybe yours will work out just as well as ours,” Connor said. If he wasn’t the most hopeful romantic, then I didn’t know who was.

Unfortunately, I was the dream destroyer. “While that’s true for you, I actually have a boyfriend.”

“What?!” Connor spat out, having no sense of a poker face. “You have a boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“And he’s okay with all of this?”

“It was actually his idea.” I shrugged. “He’s the one who pushed me to do it.”

“Sounds like a money-hungry man,” Damian muttered.

I shot him a look. “Says the man who’s only doing this arrangement for the money.”

He shot me a dirtier look. I was almost tempted to stick my tongue out at him. Childish? Yes. Dramatic? Also yes.

I stuck my tongue out at him in my mind, and somehow, that felt oddly satisfying.

“Don’t mind Damian. He has bad table manners. How long have you been dating your boyfriend?” Connor questioned.

“Ten years.”

He narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at me. “So, what I’m hearing is it’s not that serious,” he joked.

“Ignore him,” Aaliyah said, placing a comforting hand against my forearm. “He’s been watching a lot of romantic comedies with me.”

“Oh my gosh, I get it. Every night is my romantic comedy movie night,” I explained. “I watch and re-watch one every day. Don’t even get me started on Hallmark movies.”

“Dear God,” Damian muttered, rolling his eyes. Why did he have to make everything so grumpy? I felt as if we were having an actual good night.

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked him pointedly.

“Nothing. Never mind,” he said.

“Don’t take Damian’s snide remarks to heart. He judged me for my rom-com addiction, too,” Connor tossed out, easing up the slight nerves that Damian gave me. Why did I care what he thought anyway? We hadn’t shared one interaction with each other that was pleasant. Clearly, we were far from a match.

“Why are you so grumpy toward me all the time?” I asked Damian, unable not to take his remarks to heart. I couldn’t help it.

“For the love of God, don’t start crying,” Damian said, rolling his eyes.

“Damian! Stop it,” Aaliyah scolded her friend. He looked at her and then muttered an apology and excused himself to the restroom.

I sat back against the booth’s backing in complete dismay. “I’m sorry, but what is it with your friend? He’s such a jerk!”

Connor frowned. “Yeah, he can have quite a chip on his shoulder at times.”

“A chip? Please. He has a whole party-sized bag of Lay’s potato chips sitting on his shoulders. He’s the outcome of Scrooge and Cruella de Vil having a love child.”

Aaliyah smiled. “I mean, he has their grimaces locked down. But, I swear, he’s truly a gentle soul. He’s like hardened hummus.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“You know at a party when you leave hummus out too long? And the top layer hardens over? But if you puncture it, there’s nice soft hummus beneath it? That’s Damian. He’s hardened hummus that you just have to poke a bit to get to the gooey insides.”

“That’s the oddest comparison ever,” I told her.

“Yeah, sweetheart. It’s really odd,” Connor agreed.

“I’m sorry.” Aaliyah’s eyes watered over. “I was just thinking about the hummus I had a few days ago, that I left out, and then I woke up and couldn’t eat it because it went bad, but I still shoved my pita chip into the hardened surface of it and cried when I got to the gooey middle. And ever since then, I’ve been craving hummus.”