Ian stopped mingling with the gang after that. I didn’t know if I should be relieved or afraid. On one hand, he’s out of my hair. On the other hand, I’m still stuck with Bethany. And falling deeper in with my lies. I don’t know what I would do when she stops being contented with making out and decides she wants to have sex.

Thankfully, she believes in all that marriage before sex nonsense.

“Dex!” It was Bethany, shaking me out of my reverie.

“Huh? What were you saying?” I asked her as I saw her sporting an annoyed look.

“You weren’t even listening to me,” she pouted.

“I’m sorry Beth, I was writing a poem in my head,” I said as an excuse.

“Hmp!” she replied. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were thinking of another girl.”

“You’re the only girl in my head,” I told her, pulling her close to me, before kissing her. “And you should always remember that,” I said, kissing her nose before I let her go.

“Oh you two love birds,” Rosie exclaimed as she loudly dropped her books on the table.

“There’s my favorite person in the world,” Bethany exclaimed as she left me and went around the table to sit beside Rosie.

“Hey, you okay?” Bethany asked, as she nudged Rosie who was near to crying. Rosie erupted into tears. Bethany hugged her. “What’s wrong Rose?” She asked repeatedly, while Rosie continued crying silently on her shoulders. Bethany motioned for me to leave them alone. So I did.

I gave them a good two hours of alone time before I went back to get Bethany and drop her off at her house.

“We’re taking Rosie with us,” Bethany told me.

Great. I thought. Now I have to drop her off, double back, drop Bethany off, then double back again. Bethany seemed to have read my mind.

“You drop me off first Dex. I wouldn’t want you doubling back and driving all that way just so you could drop me off last.”

The drive to Bethany’s was uneventful. The two were silent and were unwilling to talk to me about what they talked about. I was perfectly okay at leaving whatever that was alone. Let sleeping dogs lie, as they say. Far be it for me to stir a potential hornet’s nest which could just fuck everything up.

Bethany leaned her head on my shoulders and switched the car’s radio on. Kenny Loggin’s voice came on. “Christopher Robin and I walked along…”

“I love that song,” Bethany whispered, as she clung tighter to me and kissed my shoulder.

“Me too,” I whispered, gripping her hand back and kissing it.

I drove on as the music played. In a serendipitous twist, the song ended just as I was pulling across Bethany’s house. As she was getting off, she opened the back door of the car and hugged Rosie, whispering something to her, before pulling her out of the back seat of the car and pushing her into the front seat.

“Now sit there and stop making my boyfriend look like a chauffeur,” she says to Rosie, as she leaned past Rosie to pull me in for a kiss. When we were done, she turned back to Rosie. “Now, I trust you to keep Dex on his best behavior and make sure he goes straight home after dropping you off.”

“Yes ma’am,” Rosie grinned. The pall in the car seemed to have lifted with this exchange and the two hugged again before Bethany closed both doors of the car. I waited for her to get inside her house before driving off.