A thin eyebrow went up, and I knew I was about to be in deep shit with that move. "Did he say anything else after that?"

I ate a few more pieces of broccoli, so I could give myself more time to think about what I wanted to tell her. We had gone to a Tuesday morning hot yoga class and now continued with our routine— which consisted of stuffing our faces. I told Zoey everything normally but a small part of me was worried about what she would say. She threw herself into whatever she was feeling before she completely thought about the effects. Her method was the direct of opposite of mine, considering I had to think and rethink everything. "I told him that if he wanted to hang out with other people I understood, and he just said that he only wants to hang out with me," I repeated as best as I could. "Then, he said that I mattered to him."

I swear Zoey's face went red. If this had been a cartoon there would have been steam coming out of her ears. She squealed and then started wiggling around in her seat. "Oh my god! Oh my god!"

My face flushed at her loud squawking. "What?"

"He wants to be with you!" She slapped a hand over her mouth and screamed into it. "Kat! He's quitting for you!"

"That's not the reason," I said with a roll of my eyes. Don't take her words to heart. Don't take her words to heart, I repeated to myself.

She slapped her small hands across the table like a maniac, her eyes looking a little rabid. "Um, yes it is!" she tried to argue.

I sighed. There was no way. No way.

Right?

"Booger, that guy thinks you hung the moon. I know you don't see it, but I do," she huffed, sliding her plate away from her. "He's totally quitting to be with you, which is the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Seriously. The sweetest thing and you know I watch a lot of TV."

I groaned and shook my head before shifting my gaze from my friend to the plate below me. I had so many doubts in respects to Tristan that I'd bottled up since he told me about quitting. I thought about his words and behavior recently and they reassured me immensely. He had never lied to me. There was no reason to doubt that he wanted to spend time with me and that nothing would change, but the reasoning behind his decision is what I questioned.

I didn't want to even consider having any hopes that he could have me in mind for anything besides friendship, because I didn't want to get hurt. Who would though? It wasn't that I didn't find myself worthy of his attention, but I also stopped believing in the Tooth Fairy at the age of eight, when I caught my mom sneaking dollar bills under my pillow. I liked to consider myself more of a realist than a dreamer, and Tristan having feelings for me was definitely much more of a dream than a high probability in the real world.

Bright blue fingertips danced across the tabletop, getting closer and closer to me. I chanced a glance at Zoey, who was now sitting on top of her folded legs so that she could reach across. Her expression was open and earnest. "Are you worried because he's been with so many people?" she asked softly. I knew this was a sensitive subject for her to consider because of her own past experiences, so I knew I needed to tread lightly with my words.

"I don't know, Zo. Maybe? A little? We don't talk about the porn stuff. He rarely brings it up and you know I'm not going to either. I don't know how many people he's been with, but I don't think I want to know either," I sighed and thought about my words again. "Well, I want to know but at the same time I don't."

Zoey nodded, tenting her hands underneath her chin. "I got'cha," she narrowed her eyes a little again. "So, you aren't being stubborn about this because of the other people. What is it then?"