Kevin ran his tongue over his teeth in thought, mulling over my offer. "Y'know," he finally began, "This seems a bit invasive, and that's me talking."
I shrugged. "I want to know what's going on."
I had a revelation when I woke up that morning. Morgan was keeping something from me, and it was clearly something affecting us, and I happened to have the one person at my disposal who I could ask to find it out. I wanted to take control over the revelations in my life for a change, and as long as Kevin could be convinced, I had the means to do it.
"I mean... I can do what I can," he replied slowly after a bit. A sly smile formed on his face. "Of course, that would mean I'd need my finger on the pulse again. Y'know, access to the local social scene and all."
"I thought of that," I replied. "There's a party happening on the seventeenth..."
"The one at Jackson's house? Well, that's great and all, but we still got the itty bitty problem of them not letting me in," Kevin rebutted.
"Taylor's taking care of that," I replied.
Kevin's mouth hung open. "Taylor," he replied in disbelief.
"Taylor," I confirmed.
"Like, Taylor Wise."
"You know any other Taylors?"
"Three, but whatever. So lemme get this straight," he said in shock, shifting where he stood. "You want me to get some dirt on your girlfriend that she's hiding from you, or maybe it's dirt on you and you don't know it, and to help me do this you convinced the hottest girl in school to get Jackson to get me on the guest list of what might be the last party of the summer?"
I gave him a weird look. "Where's the camera?" I sarcastically asked. I looked at the dishwasher and gestured to Kevin. "Did you get all that?"
"I'm just clarifying, man. Like, I dunno whether to fucking kiss you or... uh, decline. Because, I dunno, the situation is a lil' weird."
"Then decline," I replied, not budging. Kevin had been whining to me practically all summer about not having an in on the social circle. He clearly wanted any in he could get.
Eventually, he shrugged. "Well, I mean, it is what I do," he eventually conceded. "But, two things. One, I may not find out whatever the heck is going on. Some things are private, and I can't be blamed if the egg can't be cracked."
I nodded. "That's reasonable."
"Two, uh, keep in mind that you're asking me to find out a secret here. Like, Quinn, this seems like..."
"A bad idea?"
"A hundred percent a bad idea," he agreed. "Like, the genie can't go back in the bottle. What if this hurts you, or it hurts her?"
"I came to you because even after a morning of arguing, she didn't want to tell me," I replied.
"Or maybe especially after a morning of arguing," he noted.
"Yeah, I considered that," I replied bitterly. "Even though she admitted it's hurting me in the meantime."
"Drama," Kevin noted.
"There has to be another word for it," I replied. "Like, drama is just petty nonsense. This is real, and it's something, and it's affecting us and affecting our future together. It feels like so much more than drama."
Kevin thought to himself for a second, then snapped his fingers. "Oh, come to think of it, there is a word for that."
"What is it?"
Kevin leaned in and his expression turned playful yet serious. "Drama," he asserted.
"Whatever," I waved him off, picking up Nuo and petting her. "Will you do it?"
"We already agreed I would, but just... think about what I said, you know?" he asked. "I'm gonna go and, uh, thank Taylor, I guess."
"What, you have her number?" I asked.
He pulled out his phone and started texting one of his connections. He gave me a look and replied, "No," as if it were obvious.
***
"He was actually kinda sweet about it," Taylor begrudgingly admitted. "You still owe me big time though."
"I wouldn't need to invite Kevin if people in this group just talked to each other," I grumbled, then composed myself. "But also, I meant it when I said he was crushed. He seemed way happier for the next, like, full hour I saw him."
"If people just talked to each other?" she inquired.
"Yeah. The, uh, Morgan thing," I clarified.
"Oh" she simply said, then took her head off of my shoulder. She didn't say anything else.
"It could also really help if you even had, like, an idea what it is."
"I really don't, Quinn. I'm sorry," she replied earnestly. "But, like, she's allowed to have secrets too. Inviting Kevin is... like, I don't know if it's a good idea."
I turned to look at her and she put her hands up. "Like, inviting Kevin so he can do his thing," she clarified. "Especially since we hate it when he does that. It'll just be Kevin being Kevin, and people will get mad."
"So then why'd you invite him?" I challenged her.
"Like you said, he was crushed when the school year ended," she answered simply with a shrug. "Plus, he talked to me better when I visited you. That was nice. Maybe he's changed. But, like, the one party he's coming to that I actually approved is just gonna be him doing more Kevin stuff."
I sighed. "I know," I admitted. "But... do you want Morgan and I to break up?"
"...Wouldn't that be 'Morgan and me?'" she asked.
"Huh?"
"Well, like, you take 'Morgan and,' out of it, and you just get, 'would you want I to break up?' It doesn't make, like, sense. But then, if you do, 'would you want me to break up?' Y'know, it still doesn't make sense, but like, it makes more sense."
A smile crept up on my face. "Look at you," I remarked with admiration.
"Yeah, I'm not just a dumb bimbo or something," she teased with a smirk on her face.
I laughed and put my arm around her, and the two of us didn't say anything more for a little bit. By the time we spoke again, I had forgotten the question about Morgan I had asked her.
***
"Hua!" I said with energy, striking a pose. "What do you think?"
Morgan giggled. "It looks great on you," she said. "So that's what you're wearing?"
