15. Wren

15

WREN

I avoided Mal the rest of the day.

Apparently seeing me talk with his teammates made him a little psychotic. Or maybe it was just my presence in general. After practice, he had stormed off into the locker room, but not before giving me one last glare that had me tensing.

I needed to get him alone. Somewhere away from the Orchids' facility where maybe I had a chance of getting him to listen.

But, obviously, today wasn't that day.

I was on my way out the front door of the building when someone had stopped me.

"Hey, Wren, wait up."

Immediately I knew it was Trevor, the nice guy from the other day who introduced himself as the team's physical trainer.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" He stopped a few feet in front of me where I had my hand on the door.

I scanned the area for any sign of Mal, and once I realized he wasn't around, I nodded.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you were busy tonight? I have some cool ideas for content and thought maybe we could discuss it over dinner?"

Dinner?

Shit.

I couldn't remember the last time a guy asked me out. One time, almost five years ago, I had agreed to go out on a date with a man I met at the grocery store. I was apprehensive at first, but I agreed later on that it would be good for me.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

More than wrong, I was delusional for believing that I could move on.

"If you're comfortable with that, of course." His face went red as if he could sense my apprehension.

The last thing I wanted to do was get involved with someone who worked closely with Mal. Better yet, I had no intentions of ever moving on in the near future, so it would be best if I just let him down easy.

If he really was asking me out, that is.

"It'll… It'll just be dinner as colleagues, right? I just don't want you to get the wrong impression."

There.

That was easy and straightforward.

"Yeah, of course." He smiled. Seeming unfazed by my admission. "Just two coworkers getting together."

I thought about it for a moment. I had no plans, and maybe I could get some more insight on Mal.

This wouldn't be a date.

Nothing romantic and finally on a soft chuckle, I nodded.

"Okay, yeah. That's fine with me."

A bout an hour later, we were deep in conversation, while I was finishing off my double cheeseburger.

"So, you're close with Mal, huh?" He switched the topic completely, catching me off guard as I dropped a fry in my lap.

"Hardly."

I picked up the fry and tossed it on my plate.

"Hardly?" He laughed. "The man had death in his eyes when he caught us talking together."

Sighing, I knew I had said earlier that I wanted to talk about Mal. But I more so meant I wanted to talk about him in general and what he was like to be around. Instead, he wanted to know about our nonexistent relationship.

It felt strange putting our names in the same sentence.

They didn't belong together.

"I think nowadays that's his go-to look."

Trevor dropped his head on a chuckle. Blond hair like Hayes's fell over his brow and with a quick sweep of his hand, he pushed it back.

"You're not wrong. I'm assuming he's been the way he is for a while now?"

My appetite was officially gone now with all this Mal talk. So grabbing my margarita glass, I leaned back in the booth and buckled up.

"You could say that. I think he was born with a… complex personality. Angry at the world for his problems." I wanted to continue, but it all sounded too cruel. In all honesty, I didn't know why he was the way he was. I was sure there were certain factors that molded him, but even now after all these years, he was still the same.

Maybe even worse.

"Mal is just Mal." I met the intense stare of Trevor over the brim of my glass. "And I don't think there's a chance he'll ever change."

I took a long, much-needed sip of my drink until the sweetness of it caused me to pull away.

"How long ago did you two date?"

His question caused me to choke. I was struck by a coughing fit that lasted a couple minutes until finally, I felt like I could breathe again.

"Are you okay?" Trevor looked concerned as he went around to my side of the booth and slid in.

Patting my chest, I couldn't help but laugh at my ridiculous reaction. I must've looked crazy, too, because now I gained the attention of a few other tables that surrounded us.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," I repeated as Trevor laid a worried hand on my shoulder.

"Are you sure?" He looked me over with his brows bunched together and anxious eyes. I hadn't realized how close he'd gotten to me until I felt the brush of his thigh against mine. I doubt he had meant anything by it, but uneasiness swept through me.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry." I scooted away from him until we were no longer touching. "It's just… Mal and I never dated. We were never really friends."

His head tilted in confusion.

"Oh, I didn't realize…" He chuckled. "Just, the way he was acting made me think that you two were a thing."

I shook my head.

Though on the outside, others might have seen us as scorned lovers, we were anything but.

"No, he's just someone I once knew."

We went on talking for a little while longer. He asked a few basic questions about me, all the while he remained on my side of the booth. I didn't have it in me to tell him to go back onto the other side, but I was now wishing I had.

"What do you mean you can't cook?" Trevor teased as he put his beer bottle up to his mouth.

"Can't is a little too broad of a word. Like there could be a little wiggle room of a chance, when I in fact have no chance of ever being a decent cook."

We both laughed together, a friendly energy passing between us, and for once, it felt nice being in the company of the opposite sex without feeling the pressure of anything romantic.

"Oh, come on, you can't be that bad."

He continued to tease me about my inadequate cooking skills, until we were roughly dragged back to reality by an infuriated voice.

"What the fuck is going on here?"

Shit.

Not again.