“I don’t know,” the oldest woman of the group said. Her name was Mary, and I thought she was awesome because she was a self-proclaimed Sam Girl. Well, she was awesome for other things too, but the Sam Girl thing made her even more awesome. “I was there too. Ryan didn’t seem as pleased as one should with a marriage announcement. And he was staring at Sam for most of the night.”
“Oh, here we go again,” Tina muttered.
“He was?” I said, somewhat startled.
Mary smiled at me. “He was. The look on his face when the King proclaimed the ball to follow was to find Sam a suitor almost broke my heart. It was like he had lost the only thing that mattered to him. He’s totally crushing on Sam. HaveHeart forever.”
I said, “What.”
Tina said, “He’s not crushing on Sam. I don’t know why you continue to insist on such a ridiculous pairing when there is obviously no chemistry between them. Ryan is now engaged to his beloved and will marry him and they’ll have babies and dinner and gaze into each other’s eyes. Epic poetry will be written about their love and hundreds of years from now, people will still speak of the wonder that is Rystin.”
“I don’t know,” a girl named Courtney said. “I think Sam and Ryan stare at each other when the other’s not looking. There’s always this indefinable something there. It’s almost like lightning crackling between them.”
I said, “What.”
“And did you hear?” Mary said, sounding gleeful. “They danced for three straight songs. No one dances for that many songs. He didn’t even dance with Justin that many times. Not in a row. It was like they were in their own little world and nothing could bother them.” She sighed, eyes fluttering.
“He’s a wizard,” Tina said, scandalized. “Justin is a prince. Why in the name of the gods would he want to take so many steps backward?”
“Sam is so mysterious, though,” Nicole said, and I knew it! I knew I was mysterious. I took a bite of a muffin in victory. It was a bit dry. Dammit. “He’s always got this look on his face like he’s working out the secrets of the universe. And when he looks at Ryan? It’s like he is the universe. And he wants nothing more than to solve Ryan’s riddle.”
“I bet he wants to solve Ryan’s riddle,” Mary said. “And then he probably wants to riddle his Ryan.”
I choked on the muffin.
“You okay?” Mary asked me.
I coughed. “Yes. Sorry. The muffin was just far too moist. I wasn’t expecting it.”
“That look isn’t about secrets,” Tina said. “He probably just has gas. Intestinal gas.”
“It’s not gas,” I snapped at her. “Er. Not that I would know. But it’s probably not. And it’s probably not anything to do with Ryan. I’m pretty sure Sam doesn’t even really care about Ryan at all.”
Mary laughed. “Oh, that’s not true. Sam wants to eat him for breakfast. There is something there that doesn’t exist between Ryan and Justin. And what about the date Sam went on? Ryan was obviously jealous the whole time.”
“I was there!” a woman named Griselda exclaimed.
Everyone turned to
look at her and said, “Oooh.”
“Tell us everything,” Nicole demanded.
“It was just… I just…. Oh my gods, you guys. So there I was, eating my meal with my husband, minding my own business when in walks Sam and Ryan. And that guy Sam was on a date with.”
“Todd,” I supplied. “He has epic ears.”
“Yes, Todd,” she said dismissively. “I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Ryan was standing so close to Sam, like he didn’t want to let him out of his sight.”
“He was chaperoning,” Tina said. “It was his job to watch Sam.”
Gross. I just agreed internally with something Tina said. I reminded myself to run tests when I got home to make sure I hadn’t just been possessed by a demon.
“You weren’t there,” Griselda said. “It was more. When those Dark wizards came in? He pulled out his big, long sword and tried to protect Sam. And even when the wizards were standing right there, Sam and Ryan were in their own little world, bantering back and forth and the tension. You guys, the tension was ridiculous.”
“He tried to protect Sam?” I said. “Please. He just stood there and Sam was all badass and trapped all the Darks by himself. Ryan was posing like he normally did. Dashing and immaculate my ass. More like—”
They stared at me again.