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October had just helped a stumbling Maeve back into their apartment - unlocking the door and leading her up to her room. Immediately she collapsed into her bed face first. Laughing at herself causing October to smile. She quickly tucked her in, taking her shoes off and pulling the duvet over her before telling her that she'd be back soon. Then she was returning back to Dolan's car. The engine still running, interior lights on.
The drive back had been silent. Not even the softly playing music could diffuse the tension. She purposefully chose music he liked to hope it would help. Maeve had fallen asleep, Dolan kept his eyes firmly on the road - his jaw tense and hands tightly gripping the steering wheel. October looked out the passenger side window, head turned away from him. Hands resting on her lap as she anxiously picked at her fingernails.
She got back in - he didn't look at her, she sighed. "Why are you so pissed?", she asked. She knew the answer. However, acting aware felt like it would only make the situation worse. If she acted oblivious then she could play the 'I didn't mean to make you feel like that' card. It was manipulative - to pretend like his behaviour was unprovoked, that she was clueless, but she was a coward and liked to try and avoid getting the blame. She hated being wrong and she knew that this time she was. That she knew what she had done.
"Don't act so naive, October.", he told her. Then when she didn't answer he bitterly laughed and then finally turned to her, annoyed, as he explained, "You left me alone with a bunch of fucking people I don't know."
"You're 24 years old and you're complaining that I left you alone?", she argued thinking his reasoning was childish, "And you have met them, I'm sorry that I thought I could leave you on your own. I thought that you'd be able to handle talking to a couple of people without needing me there. I assumed because you talk to people all of the time that you'd be fine, I don't get how this is any different." The fact that he was complaining did annoy her - she felt justified in arguing back. She hadn't realised that it had been an issue. The Elijah thing was undeniably her fault but leaving him alone was hardly anything to moan about.
She had been with him the entire night, it wasn't like she left him stranded. When he took her to parties or to meet his friends he would leave her to converse on her own - and she actually didn't know them, whereas she had intentionally left him with people she knew he had spoken to before. She never complained when he would do it to her because she was an adult, she didn't need someone to hold her hand. It was preferable but it didn't feel worth crying over.
"It's not fucking about that!", he explained angrily, "It's because you left me so you could go outside for an hour and talk to some fucking guy that you claim to not be friends with. You seemed fucking friendly to me."
"I never said I wasn't friends with him, I said that I don't talk to him much which is exactly why we were talking - to catch up. You wouldn't be mad if I was outside with Maeve.", October harshly said. She doesn't remember exactly what she had said before they left - whether she said they were friends or not. She knows she implied that they weren't, she doesn't know if she specifically stated it. If this wasn't a recurring issue then October wouldn't mind Dolan getting mad at her - she'd understand, but because it was something he had brought up multiple times with any guy she talked to and it annoyed her.
