Chapter 91 The boyfriend
Chapter 91 The boyfriend
Charlotte smiled suspiciously hard.
It was definately not a normal smiling neither was it a happy smiling.
This was the kind of smile people had before announcing pregnancies, pyramid schemes or terrible ideas.
“There’s someone I want you guys to meet,” she said excitedly, clasping her hands together.
I adjusted myself deeper into the couch.
Please don't let it be another social interaction.
I had already done enough socializing for the day. I hugged people, answered questions, danced against my will and survived small talk with strangers discussing cryptocurrency.
I deserved compensation.
Charlotte turned toward the hallway dramatically.
“My boyfriend!”
Footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Then my entire nervous system malfunctioned.
No.
No freaking way.
Because standing beside Charlotte looking equally shocked was the stranger from the plane.
The stranger from MSA.
The panic attack guy.
The alphabet guy.
The stress ball guy.
The guy that had somehow appeared in my life enough times to qualify as suspicious.
His hazel eyes widened.
Mine probably looked like they wanted to resign from my face.
“Stranger?” he asked slowly. "Tessa"
“Oh hell no,” I whispered.
Maya whipped her head toward me so fast I genuinely feared for her recovery.
“What?” she whisper-yelled. “WHY DO YOU KNOW CHARLOTTE’S BOYFRIEND?”
“I don’t!”
“You clearly do!”
Charlotte blinked repeatedly between us.
“You guys know each other?” she asked
I pointed at Jay immediately.
“What are you doing here?” I asked
He frowned.
“Dating my girlfriend?” he said in the obviously manner
Right.
That was a stupid question.
A beat of silence passed before everybody laughed.
Everybody except Klaus.
His arm slowly slid around my waist.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Charlotte practically bounced with excitement.
“Oh my God wait this is amazing.”
“No,” I corrected. “This is concerning.”
She ignored me.
“This is Jay,” she introduced proudly.
“We gathered,” Maya muttered.
Jay rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“You never mentioned having friends here,” he told Charlotte.
She crossed her arms.
“You never mentioned random girls calling you stranger.”
My soul almost left my body for the second time that night.
“It’s not what it sounds like,” I defended quickly.
Maya leaned forward.
“Actually what does it sound like because I know about the plane and the panic attack and the stress ball and—”
I snapped my head toward her.
“How do you know all that?!”
“You trauma dumped in the hospital.”
Traitor.
My own mouth was genuinely my biggest enemy.
We all moved toward the bigger couch area while Charlotte forced Jay to sit with us.
The music around us remained loud enough to feel alive but quiet enough that conversations didn’t require screaming.
People danced near the kitchen island.
Someone dropped chips.
Someone else spilled juice.
One guy had been trying to impress girls with card tricks for twenty minutes.
Nobody cared.
I tried pretending Jay wasn’t sitting directly opposite me.
Failed terribly.
Because Charlotte immediately started interrogating.
“So how exactly did you guys meet?”
Both Jay and I opened our mouths.
Then stopped.
“You go,” he said.
“No you.”
He sighed dramatically.
“We met on a plane.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened.
“Oh my God.”
“Then again at MSA,” he continued.
“And then?” Maya asked like she was watching reality television.
“He helped me during auditions,” I admitted quietly.
Maya gasped dramatically.
“You skipped details.”
“There were no details.”
Jay looked offended.
“I literally stopped you from passing out.”
“That feels exaggerated.”
“You were reading alphabets like your life depended on it.”
Because it did.
Slightly.
Charlotte turned toward him.
“You never told me any of this.”
Jay shrugged.
“You never asked if I rescued anxious art students.”
I laughed.
Unfortunately.
Because the moment I laughed, Klaus shifted beside me.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
You know when someone moves one inch but somehow says a thousand words?
Yeah.
That.
Conversation drifted naturally after that.
Mostly because Ethan arrived balancing three plates of food like a divorced father at a buffet.
“You people talk too much,” he complained sitting down.
“You disappeared.”
“I was networking.”
“With chicken wings?” Maya asked.
“Yes.”
Fair enough.
Jay eventually started talking about filmmaking.
Actual filmmaking.
Not the fake “I once edited a TikTok therefore I’m Spielberg” type.
Real projects.
Short films.
Commercial work.
He talked about starting young because he hated waiting around for adulthood to magically grant permission.
Which sounded very motivational and very annoying at the same time.
“You started directing at sixteen?” I asked.
“Technically fifteen.”
I blinked.
At fifteen I was busy hiding during lunch breaks.
Life was unfair.
Ethan interrupted.
“Wait people willingly network?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds horrible.”
“It is,” Jay answered.
Maya laughed so hard juice almost came out her nose.
Somewhere during the conversation, I noticed Klaus getting quieter.
At first I thought I imagined it.
Then I noticed he hadn’t teased Ethan in thirty minutes.
That alone was medically concerning.
He stared at his cup longer.
Smiled less.
Talked less.
When Jay asked about MSA, Klaus stayed silent completely.
That tiny uncomfortable feeling returned.
Charlotte eventually dragged Maya away to show her room.
Ethan followed because apparently expensive apartments fascinated him.
Leaving me, Klaus and Jay.
Wonderful.
Jay leaned back into the couch.
“So how’s the stress ball?”
“Oh.”
I forgot about that.
I smiled slightly.
“I still use it.”
Klaus looked at me.
“You kept it?”
“Yeah.”
Jay smiled.
“Told you it would help.”
Klaus stood abruptly.
“I’m getting drinks.”
“There are drinks here,” I pointed out.
“I want different drinks.”
Then he disappeared.
I watched him walk away through dancing people and loud music.
Jay noticed too.
“He doesn’t like me.”
“He does.”
“No.”
“Okay maybe not currently.”
He laughed.
“I should stop accidentally appearing in your life.”
“Yes please.”
“Can't promise.”
Hours later while music blasted and everybody laughed around me, my eyes kept drifting toward Klaus standing alone near the kitchen.
Watching everybody.
Quiet.
Smiling when necessary.
But not really smiling.
And for the first time since Charlotte introduced Jay—
I stopped worrying about how weird my life was.
And started worrying about Klaus.