“Shouldn't it be five now?" Zofi interjected.

“Whatever, I don't give a shit." I held out both hands. "This morning

Sam shows up early for our ‘date’, ends up talking to my mother (which, yeah, I know she's been doing a lot lately), runs me into the ground so

I can barely walk let alone get an erection, and then takes off before

I get out of the shower. So I really only see two possible explanations here."

Zofi furrowed her eyebrows and held out both of her hands, waiting for me to guess.

“First explanation (and perhaps I'm being super-egotistical here):

Sam's in love with me, but she's jealous of my relationship with Neevie because well, we know she's got a jealous-slash-competitive streak. She thought she'd be fine with it, but as time went on, she realized she wasn't as fine with it. So she's withdrawing emotionally and doesn't want to be in love with me even though she is. And when I paid her a compliment after running, she got a little heartache and ran away."

Zofi closed her eyes, held up both index fingers, and wore a slightly pained expression that made me think there was a kernel of truth to what I was saying and yet at the same time had everything completely wrong. The urge to correct me on the things I had wrong was tearing her up inside, given the parameters of her friendship with Sam to not tell me the things her best friend had said in confidence. And finally Zofi muttered, “Ungh, uhhh... okay, okay... I figure I can at least tell you this much: she's not jealous of your relationship with Neevie. She said she'd be fine with it and really, she's fine with it."

I exhaled a sigh of relief.

Then Zofi asked, "What's your second explanation?"

“My second explanation? Uh, actually..." I frowned. "I'm not sure I have a second explanation. I mean... if I'm being paranoid... I guess I might think there was another guy involved.”

Zofi's eyes got BIG.

I frowned at her reaction.

“Wait... IS there another guy involved?"

She winced and shook her head in the negative quite vigorously, but didn't actually reply verbally.

I wasn't totally convinced, and now my mind started churning.

“Well... if there WAS another guy involved... like maybe Sam's interested in him but doesn't yet know where things are going with him so she's kinda slow-playing the BTC still messing around with the rest of us so as not to give up the secret the way she usually tries to get away with this stuff for a couple of weeks before the guilt eats at her and she confesses all."

Zofi's face went a little white.

"It would at least explain why she's no longer using me as a booty call out of Loyalty to some new guy, especially after you just said earlier you were surprised we didn't hook up this morning. Like, maybe she'd talked to you about cutting off the booty calls so she wouldn't feel so guilty about them, but you weren't expecting her to start already. And then when I complimented her, she felt bad about stringing me along and not telling me the truth so she ran away.”

Again, Zofi closed her eyes and started making small gestures with both index fingers, wearing that slightly pained expression that told me there were at least a few things I had right. And the idea that I was even slightly right about another guy being involved made me feel quite... jealous.

I told myself immediately that I had no right to be jealous. I mean yeah, the whole school thought I was the BTC's boyfriend, but that didn't mean Sam was actually my girlfriend. Neevie was my committed girlfriend, on the other hand, so I would have every right to be jealous if she took an interest in another guy. Belle, Likewise, had promised me she wouldn't hook up with any other guys at least until the end of the year. But nobody else had made me any such promises, most especially Sam. I mean, I sort of figured Alice wouldn't promise me her virginity and then go find some other boyfriend. Zofi was still playing the role of my girlfriend and telling me she'd asked her mom for birth control pills seemed to declare her intentions pretty well. And while

Mari had promised me nothing, the way she talked about me being the only man who she felt safe with gave me a certain sense of both responsibility and... quite frankly... ownership.

But Sam had always been her own woman. She'd never asked my permission to hook up with other guys in the past, and nothing ever said between us would lead me to think she would feel the need to do so in the future. We were friends -- friends with benefits, yes -- but just friends. I had no right to feel jealous over her. And yet... I did.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn't just because I'd miss the sex. I really cared about Sam. I really had feelings for Sam. And all of a sudden, I really, really wanted to see her tonight -- not just to get answers for her recent behavior -- but to make sure she was alright.