The evening was calm, the kind of night where the city lights twinkled softly through your apartment window. You’d been best friends with Jamie forever — like, since forever-ever. You could talk for hours or not say a word and still feel connected. But now, things were… different, since you started dating Oscar.

Oscar had been a bit quiet lately whenever Jamie was around, throwing you those looks like, “Are you seriously still besties with him?” You knew the jealousy was there, even if he never said it out loud.

So you decided to fix it. “Hey, Jamie’s coming over for dinner tonight,” you told Oscar earlier. “Just us three. It’ll be chill, you’ll see.”

Oscar just shrugged, but you caught the slight twitch in his jaw.

When Jamie arrived, he plopped down on the couch with his usual grin. Oscar was standing by the kitchen counter, arms crossed, watching.

Jamie nudged you, “So, uh… he jealous or what?”

You rolled your eyes. “He’s just protective, I guess.”

Oscar finally spoke up, “So, Jamie, tell me — what’s so great about being best friends with her all these years?” His tone was half teasing, half serious.

Jamie laughed, “I guess I’ve just been annoying enough not to get kicked out of her life.”

You smiled, watching the tension ease. Oscar cracked a smile too, “Okay, that’s fair.”

As dinner went on, the three of you swapped stories — Jamie sharing embarrassing childhood moments, Oscar talking about his crazy race weekends.

At one point, Jamie looked at Oscar and said, “Hey, I get it. You’re the guy now. But I’m not going anywhere.”