“Yeah, well, I’m just not comfortable. You need to respect that, okay? And I do have work to do—I’ll just work from home.”
We both knew she had zero work to do. But that was beside the point. Trupti and I had been sleeping together for about nine months or so. At first, it was a secret. My friends had dealt with my anger and douchebag resentment for more than a year after she broke my heart. I finally told them a few months ago, and they weren’t happy. Not at all. But they promised to be civil. Trupti had shied away from seeing them in any capacity—skipping Peter and his girlfriend Maren’s housewarming party, football potlucks, and the Friendsgiving dinner Scott and his wife, Allison, hosted at their place last month. There was always a reason, always a last minute excuse for her ducking out. And it was getting old. Really old.
And I was just about at the end of my rope.
“When is this all gonna end?”
“What?”
“Avoiding my friends.” I wasn’t going to hide the irritation in my voice anymore. I’d had enough.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe when you tell your family that I’m back in your life.” Her words were covered in resentment. But I wasn’t having it. She’d put my family and me through too much, and my memory was too long to allow her to be the resentful one.
My family still didn’t know I was seeing her again. I was worried that if Trupti came near my mom, it might give her a heart attack. My friends helped me deal with my anger, but Mom nursed me through my depression, my sadness, my sullen outlook on life in general. And I know it weighed on her. She spent months reassuring me that love was still possible, that I would find my match one day. If she knew I’d gone back to Trup, it would break her heart. I couldn’t do that to Mom until I knew we were serious, that Trupti and I were both in this for the long haul. And in times like this, I wasn’t confident my mom would ever know.
Or if I was honest, that I wanted her to know.
I shook my head and rolled my eyes, letting Trupti know I wasn’t playing into her trap. “Walk before you run, Trup.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“None of this is real until you can brave my friends. That’s what I mean.”
“Your family means more to me than your friends, Dev.”
“Then it should be easy, shouldn’t it? If they don’t mean as much, you don’t have as much riding on it. C’mon, it’s just four days.”
“Four days with no escape and nothing but hanging out with your friends. I can’t exactly leave the resort, now can I?”
“Why not? We’ll have my car. You can go wherever the hell you want.”
“That’s not the point, and you know it. I’m a terrible skier. You and I both know I’ll end up waiting in the lodge most of the time anyway.”
“Allison doesn’t ski either. You can hang with her.”
“Lovely.”
“Allison is nice.”
“Allison hates me. How do you expect me to ‘brave your friends’ if you’re in denial about how they actually feel about me? About us?”
I sat up, placing a hand on her hip. She was wearing my favorite Yeezus T-shirt. “Rip off the band-aid, Trup. Come on… I want you there, isn’t that enough?”
Trupti rolled to her back and stared up at the ceiling, placing her hand on her belly. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Ugh, stop being such a goddamn drama queen.” I climbed out of bed and walked to my bathroom, pressing my hand into the doorframe. “So, who am I gonna kiss at midnight, huh?”
She sat up and glared at me. “Seriously, that’s what you’re worried about?”
“Well, I mean…yeah, kinda. I want you there. Why is that so hard for you to get?”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head as she swung her legs over and stepped onto the floor. Even when she was being rude, she was ridiculously hot. Her wavy black hair spilled down her shoulders and her bare, toned legs called to me from across the room.
I always was a leg man.
“Grow up, Dev.”
I crossed the room and took her hands in mine. “We were supposed to spend New Year’s together. Of course I want to kiss you at midnight. This was supposed to be the start of a new year—our year, remember? That was why you agreed to come with me in the first place.”
She looked away, gritting her teeth. “Things change.”
“Yeah, I guess they do.” I turned my back to her, no longer wanting to spare her feelings. I was tired of walking on eggshells with Trupti and tired of giving my friends endless excuses on her behalf. I walked to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me before running the shower. As steam filled the room, I inhaled deeply, attempting a calming breath.
It didn’t work.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could be patient with her. As much as I cared about Trupti, this was getting old. And I couldn’t ignore the harsh reality that was right in front of my eyes.
We were at an impasse. One I wasn’t sure we would ever get past.
She wanted my family to know, and I wasn’t ready for that—not until she made an honest effort with my friends. And she clearly had no intention of letting them in.
So where the hell do we go from here?
The scalding hot water of the shower soothed my nerves as I let it pour down around me. I was going to go to Brighton Resort to ski, drink, and ring in the new year with my best friends. And I was going alone.
So be it.
An hour later, both of us eager to get the hell out of my condo, Trupti and I parted ways. No kisses or hugs. No contact at all, in fact. And that was fine with me. I was too pissed to fake pleasantries.
“Text me later,” she said, climbing into her car, not even looking back as I stood with my hand gripping the button on my trunk.
Whatever.
After putting my luggage in the car, I drove out of my parking garage into the street, realizing I hadn’t even looked out my window before leaving on this trip. It was snowing. Hard. But I didn’t care. I needed to get to the resort and blow off some steam. More snow just meant there’d be more on Mount Rainier for all of us to enjoy.
On a good day, the drive from Seattle would take me about an hour and a half. But after driving for two hours, I’d barely just gotten out of the city. I called Peter.
“Yo, how much snow are we supposed to get?”
“Nothing major, but I guess the storm could be turning. Where are you?”
“I just got out of the city a few minutes ago. The farther I go, the heavier this shit is.”
“Maren just looked it up. She said it’s supposed to calm down within the hour. I guess you just left a little too early.”
“Lucky me,” I sneered. “Oh well, I had to get outta there anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t really feel like talking about it.”
“You said I, not we.”
Damn it. Peter was too smart for my own good.
“You’re a quick one, McTavish. You got me; I’m flying solo. Again.”
“Sorry, man. I swear we weren’t going to give her a hard time.”
“Oh I know. She’s gonna have to shit or get off the pot, because she’s pissing me off, and my patience is getting thin. Really thin.”