Page 8 of True Sight

“What?” I sneer.

“Conrad—” Bailey starts as Magnolia exchanges a glance with Kolbi.

“Dude,” Malcolm barks out a laugh.

“What?” I cry out, not getting why they were all acting like I’m crazy.

“Darling, that girl wasn’t being weird, she was hitting on you,” Ophelia points out, raising her eyebrows at me.

“I know what she was doing, I just don’t know why she was askingme.”

“What do you mean, you’re a good looking dude,” Malcolm remarks, slapping me hard on the shoulder and gives me a leering smile. “I’d fuck you, that’s for sure.”

“The only person you’re fucking isme, pretty boy,” Ophelia snaps, wrapping her arm around his neck a little more and pulling him into her.

“Damn straight, little fox,” he murmurs into her lips.

“Alright, please just relax,” I beg, pressing my hands into the top of the table. “I’m fine, we’re all here, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can we please start now?”

“Yes, brother, we can,” Kolbi sighs, chuckling to himself. All the women around the table kiss their respective partners, Malcolm slapping Ophelia on her butt before she gets too far out of reach, and finally leave to watch a movie in the other room.

An hour or so later, Hank and I are crafting a tool to help us repair a bridge we need to cross to reach the next town over in our game. I’m waiting for him to roll when Malcolm breaks our focus.

“So was she hot?”

The three of us look at him, Hank’s hand frozen in midair above the board.

“Was who hot?” he asks, shaking his head skeptically at our friend.

“Thegirl, Connie, the girl from the coffee shop. Was she hot?” He runs his fingers through his dark hair, pushing it out of his eyes before glaring at me.

“I mean, I guess.”

“You guess? What the hell does that mean? You don’t know if she was hot or not?” he scowls.

I feel the back of my neck start to get warm. “She was pretty, sure. I don’t know if I would label her ashot.”

“Well was she like any of the women currently in this house? ‘Cause I would define themallas hot.” He pops the ‘T’ on hot and casts a cocky glance at our other two friends.

“Unless you want me to break your knees, you’ll never call my wife ‘hot’ again,” Hank demands with an edge in his voice.

“Yeah, mine either.” Kolbi shoots Malcolm a threatening look.

Malcolm rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Why didn’t you get her number?”

“Why? Do you want it?” I jab, annoyed that he won’t let this go.

“Connie,please, I’m a happily attached man now. I get everything I need and more from my girl and have hung up my playboy hat for good.” He looks so full of himself sitting next to me and I want to deck him. Before Ophelia came along, Malcolm would hit it and quit it before the girl he was with even knew what happened. Now he was so wrapped around Ophelia’s finger that I don’t think he could look at another woman if he even tried. “Now why didn’t you get her number?”

“I don’t know, Malcolm, because I’m not a little man whore like you are?” My voice feels hot in my throat.

“Malcolm, leave him alone dude. He doesn’t need to explain himself to us,” Kolbi says, giving our friend a look.

“What? It was just a simple question, he doesn’t need to get so testy about it.”

“I’m not being testy, you’re just being a dick.” I snap my face to look at him and nearly shout. As my chest rises and falls I realize that I just proved his point. He looks at me with his brows pressed into his hairline. Without saying anything, Hank finally releases the die he’d been holding and Kolbi strings along more pieces of the story we’re playing.

As my friends and I carry forward in our quest without any more questions asked, I realize a few things. One, that I’m not really sure why I wasn’t interested in getting Allie’s number or why I don’t constitute her ashot. And two, that I have plenty of material to talk about in my next therapy session.