I blew a breath out.

“Oh sweetie, are you sure?” Katy asked kindly, rubbing her hand up and down my back gently. “I can stay with you tonight, if you want to.”

I shook my head from side to side, still hunched over. The memory of watching the stars with Aerin did the opposite of calm me down. “No … really, it’s ok. I need to be alone right now. I don’t know what I’d do with company, to be honest.”

Shane bent at the waist and said softly into my ear, “I know it all looks really bad right now. But everything will be alright, Harley. Let me get you out of here.”

She straightened up and gently pulled up on my forearms.

After a beat, I straightened up, and tried to smile at my friends. Most of them looked like they would burst out in tears with me if I started to cry.

“I’ll call tomorrow, ok?” I said. My mind was in a fog so I don’t know how they’d all responded to that. Shane was holding me lightly by the elbow, and was leading me away from the crowd that had gathered around us. News about my drama with Aerin in the dance floor had spread inside the club and a few people had spilled out of the club to look on at the aftermath playing out.

Suzy and Veronica were shooing them away, while my other friends seemed to be debating about whether or not they would gather the rest of our group and head to another place.

I ceased paying attention to what was happening around me. I relied on Shane to keep us on a steady walking rhythm to take us out of there. We walked in silence to the parking lot, with Shane continuing to hold me by an elbow.

“Nothing like relationship drama to spike a Saturday night at the club, huh?” Shane asked and finally broke the silence.

I shot a puzzled look at her, and answered bitterly, “Glad we provided some entertainment for people tonight, then.”

She had the grace to realize that she’d put her foot in it and reddened. She stopped walking and gently turned me around to face her. “I’m sorry about that. It was insensitive. But trust me. You’ll be fine, Harley.”