Party at Rob's

After that night, Andrew and Rob began hanging out on a regular basis, sometimes without me, sometimes at my place without me home, invited by Laryssa and Sara. I felt like there was something the four of them weren’t telling me, because when I would enter the room, they all changed the subject of whatever they were discussing, sometimes going immediately quiet, always making me feel like an unwanted part of their circle.

I was learning what it was like to be treated like the “neighborhood loser”, particularly by the way Andrew and Rob looked at me. As if that inner feeling of inferiority I got around Rob and, more recently, with Andrew, individually wasn’t enough, the feeling I got when they were together was downright overwhelming. The way they looked down at me, combined with the smirks on their faces, made me feel like I truly was beneath them.

Driving home from work one day, I saw Andrew walking down the street, and when I asked where he was going, he told me he was on his way to Rob’s, as some of the guys were getting together. I told him Rob must have forgotten to tell me, but Andrew just chuckled, as if he was laughing at something I wasn’t cluing into. Andrew told me to give him a ride to Rob’s house. Once we got there, I was about to get out of the car, but Andrew stopped me.

“Eh…nope-ah,” Andrew said, unfastening his seatbelt, getting out and shutting the door. “You can go home now. Thanks for the ride-ah.”

I interpreted that as instructions to go home, change, and wash up before coming back to Rob’s. When I tried to call Rob, he never answered, no matter how many times I called. Laryssa wasn’t answering my texts or calls either. I decided to crash the party, showing up about 90 minutes later.

I walked right into Rob’s house without knocking. People were surprised to see me, greeting me awkwardly. I saw Andrew walk into Rob’s bedroom behind some smoking hot girl who was holding his hand. I couldn’t get a good look at her as I left my glasses in the car, but she looked an awful like my wife, which told me Andrew and I had the same taste in women. I was rather taken back to see Andrew with a girl at all, let alone pull him into Rob’s bedroom! Laryssa’s plan to elevate Andrew’s popularity really was working, there was no question about it. Rob didn’t let any guy into his bedroom before, and now he was giving Andrew cart-blanche to go right in, which was mind-blowing to me. The coolest guy I knew was letting a beta male bring some girl into his bedroom. Before closing the door, Andrew turned around and gave a thumbs-up to Rob with a smirk. I looked across the room and saw Rob reciprocate back to Andrew with a thumbs-up of his own.

Rob then saw me, shocked at first, quickly looking back at his bedroom door, which was now closed, then back at me. Walking over to me, I thought my best friend would greet me with open arms, but I was wrong.

“You should go,” Rob said to me, without a hello of any sort. I wasn’t sure why he asked me to leave. His tone of voice suggested that he was saving me from something. I obeyed and immediately left, not wanting to disrespect his wishes.

Laryssa came home a few hours after that, and much to my shock, when I asked where she was, she revealed she was at Rob’s house. I told her I was there briefly and didn’t see here there. I wondered why Rob didn’t tell her I was there, or tell me she was there.

“Where were you, anyway?” I asked her, eating.

“Oh, I was with Andrew for most of the party.” She responded, grabbing some water from the fridge.

“Lucky him. I saw him take some girl into Rob’s room.” Laryssa was quiet after I said that for some reason, reading my expression.

“Shit, I forgot my watch there.”

“Oh, I’ll get it for you, where is it?”

“It’s on Rob’s nightsta—never mind, I’ll grab it tomorrow or ask Rob to drop it off.”

“Okay,” I said without putting any thought into response.