Chapter 3 - No means yes, except when it means no

Rosaline followed the hand on her arm and traced it to the sleepy-looking guy who still had the drunk Pete holding onto his other arm and shoulders tight. 

“He is not always like this. Can you listen to his side of the story? Find out why he treated you so disrespectfully. Please?”

William said with pleading eyes, though his face and tone betrayed no emotion. 

‘I don’t want her to think badly of anyone around me.’ 

William was confused about his thoughts. 

‘Dude, she is probably underage. Calm down! What’s wrong with you?’ he told himself.

‘Wait! That’s not the point. Why am I so bothered that she might be underage?’

‘He is quite good-looking now that I look at him and seems like a good friend.’ Rosaline thought. 

‘WTF? Why would you think about him? Get a hold of yourself,’ Rosaline told herself.

Pete’s sniveling brought them back to their senses. Rosaline looked at him and pointed at his hands which were grabbing her arm with raised eyebrows. 

“Well?” Rosaline said with a ‘Talk! You have 2 mins!’ expression. 

Somehow that made William smile. “Shall we sit by the counter?” 

“Alright,” Rosaline nodded and headed to the bar where William was previously sitting. 

William grabbed Pete and followed Rosaline. 

‘Did she know I was enjoying her misery from the beginning?’ William was conflicted at the thought. 

“All right, what happened?” William pulled himself together and asked Pete while his other friends came to sit behind them. 

William ordered lemonade for Pete, hoping it would sober Pete. He asked Rosaline if she would like anything. 

Rosaline just shook her head and frowned. ‘Why the hell am I doing this? I don’t care about their reasons as long as they leave me alone.’ 

William noticed the conflicted expression on her face and chose to focus on Pete instead. 

“What happened between Supriya and you?” “And details, please. Don’t make me fill in the gaps.”

Rosaline smiled unconsciously. 

“I don’t know.” Sighs. 

”Day before yesterday night, we were making out in my apartment and about to head to bed.”

“Seriously? Do we need to hear this?” William interrupted Pete before he discussed his sex life in front of the girl he was crushing on.

Pete gulped his lemonade, ordered another, and continued oblivious to William’s discomfort. 

“I thought she did not want it, so we made out and slept. She moved around so much that I had to take a cold shower for an hour.” Pete sighed at the memory of his busting balls. 

Rosaline looked at William with unmistakable anger in her eyes, while William could only look at her pleadingly as his face remained impassive.

Pete continued, “I caught a slight cold because I slept on the sofa.”

Pete sneezed at the moment, proving his point.

“Anyway,” Pete continued, “yesterday, I refrained from seeing her, but she fought because of that.”

“I told her I did not want her to be infected, but she just shouted nonsense about not liking her, not taking her seriously, not knowing her, and whatnot.”

“I thought she was cranky and needed to sleep it off.”

Pete sighed and crushed an ice cube in frustration. 

“This morning, I went to her place. I even brought her favorite flowers and breakfast from that hopelessly expensive and deadbeat place she likes. But she told me that we broke up yesterday.”

“I didn't even know that we broke up. So, I asked why.”

“She said because I don’t want her, nor do I know what she wants.”

Pete suddenly got very irritated and punched the counter and crushed a few more ice cubes as if he wanted to tear his ex to pieces. 

“Guess what was the deal with her?” Pete asked vehemently. 

“Apparently, instead of taking a cold shower when I thought she did not want it, I should have begged and pleaded until she finally slept with me.”

“In her words, I don’t know how to coax her. I should know girls mean yes when they say no, except for when they mean no, which I have no idea how to figure out.”

“I should want to, not want to, but actually, be desperate to see her and be with her even when I’m sick. She ought to be the one to control me as the only rational one.”

“Will, tell me what the hell is wrong with her brain?”

Pete growled while gnashing his teeth. All his previous sobs turned into anger and frustration.

William and Rosaline exchange a glance. They didn’t know what to say. 

Pete downed the entire class of lemonade before continuing.

“You never liked her, Will. Tell me why. I know that she used to like you when we were kids. She even went to your school and got you into trouble, but that was all when we were kids.”

“I want to know what I missed.” Pete was practically begging at this point, trying to regain some level of sanity. 

Rosaline looked at William inquisitively.