I frowned slightly, feeling a little unhappy that he didn't want to share with me, but I didn't push the issue.
Of course Derek and I both worked that night, but he worked later, so when Stephanie and I were at work I asked her if she wanted to hang out for a little while after.
"Oh, I would," she said apologetically. "But I kind of already promised Erika I would go to dinner with her."
"I like Erika," I remarked, thinking maybe we could all three go.
She hesitated for a moment. "Kayla's going to be there."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry," she said.
I shrugged, grabbing a cup and filling it with ice, sticking it under the pop machine. "No big deal."
She waited exactly two seconds before deciding, "You're mad at me."
I forced a smile. "I'm not mad at you."
"I hate this whole thing between you and Kayla. I hate being in the middle of it. You're my friend and I love you, but Kayla's also my friend, she's... I mean, we've been best friends since we were five, we're planning to be best friends until we die."
"Well, I hope you are," I told her. "I'm not mad, Stephanie. I don't like her, I never will, but I don't care if you do. I just thought maybe we could hang out tonight, but if you have other plans it's okay, we will some other time."
Luckily I was getting off work just a few minutes after that, because I didn't like feeling like I was on bad terms with Stephanie.
Kayla seemed to be seeping into every aspect of my life. She was causing problems between me and my boyfriend, having his child, hogging my only friend—before long she would probably be coming onto Alex and applying at Wendy's so she could invade the only parts of my life she hadn't yet.
But I couldn't let it get to me, I kept telling myself. I couldn't let her get to me. So what if Derek still hadn't told me what their talk was about? So what if he still hadn't let me see the ultrasound picture? So what if he changed the subject when I asked about baby names? Who was I to care if he avoided my father, but went out to dinner with her grandparents?
I was so not jealous.
Irritated, but never jealous.
I had to keep my focus. I couldn't let Kayla get inside my head—that was exactly what she wanted.
However, I decided that I could temporarily sulk about my situation, just to get it out my system. I curled up on the couch by myself with some popcorn and watched some lame 80's horror movie. There was a dark-haired girl about as tiny as Kayla in it, and of course she kept "almost" getting killed, so that kind of made me happy. Unfortunately, she was also the main character, so she ended up living.
Alex came in unexpectedly before the movie was over, and I wasn't completely sure what to do. I hadn't been overly friendly toward Alex since his talk about Derek cheating on me and my mother's feelings for Mike. Of course it was my fault I let him get to me, but still, if he wouldn't have put the thought in my head I wouldn't have gone up to Burger King.
Apparently Alex was a bit oblivious to my coolness though, because after discarding his coat and cigarettes on the table, he just flopped down on the couch next to me and grabbed some popcorn from my bowl.
"What are you watching?" he asked.
"A movie," I replied.
"I had gathered that much. What movie is it?"
"I don't know," I murmured.
He sat there for a few minutes, watching the brunette "run for her life" a few times. "This is a really bad movie," he stated.
"Definitely," I agreed.
"I feel dumber for having sat here for ten minutes actually watching it."
"It's mind-numbing; that was its appeal."
He glanced over at me. "More drama?"