The conversation was over. There was nothing more to say at the moment, although they came to no conclusion. Dean needed to go back to his room and finish the discussion with Cassie, but halfway there, he bumped into Seth.
"Hey, I've been looking for you," Seth told Dean. "I went into your room, but you weren't there. At least I got to know your girlfriend," he noted. "She seems nice."
"She is," Dean uttered, not giving it any importance.
"It was great to finally see her; I started thinking that you made her up."
"Why would I do that?" Dean asked.
Seth shrugged his shoulders, and then changed the topic. "I thought we were supposed to meet up downstairs and go to the gym," he reminded him of their plans.
"Right," he realized, but quickly apologetically added, "I can't make it."
"Great," Seth responded ironically. "So Roman is in his lazy mood; and now you let me down, too? Am I supposed to go alone?"
"Trust me, I'd rather come with you…," Dean said. He didn't even try to hide how desperate he was.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing; I was just talking to Renee," he started explaining. Then he realized that Seth didn't actually know that Dean found out the truth. "Hey," he decided to take a different approach and maybe have a little fun. "What would you do if you learned that somebody had feelings for your friend?" Dean was curious about his reaction.
"Well, that depends," Seth hesitated. "Is it a secret?" he asked. Dean's question sounded too familiar and therefore suspicious to him.
"Okay, let's say it is a secret. But does it matter? He's your friend and he should know the truth, shouldn't he?"
"I really don't know," Seth took his time to give him a rather uncertain answer.
"Imagine you were told this secret and you wanted to at least give him a hint. The girl doesn't want to tell him, but you believe that he should be told about it. I mean, if I were the guy, I would want to know. What about you? Would you prefer not to know?"
It was making Seth uncomfortable, since he really wished he could tell Dean, but it wasn't his secret; he couldn't let Renee down by revealing Dean the truth.
"Look, Dean, I should really go. If you can't come with me, it's all right," he cowardly backed off.
"You dumbass," Dean shouted at him, but he tried not to sound too angry. "You have known that Renee has feelings for me, and you didn't tell me," he accused him.
"Where do you have that from?" Seth pretended it may or may not be true to see if Dean wasn't just guessing. But it was apparent that Seth suddenly got interested in the talk he tried to escape from.
"Renee," Dean replied. "So now you can admit that it's true."
"Fine," Seth sighed. "I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you, but it wouldn't be fair to her," he explained. "So what happened?" he wanted to know, now that there was a chance to have an honest conversation about it.
"Nothing," Dean responded. "I talked to Renee and … well, that's kind of it."
"And your girlfriend is waiting for you in your room," Seth suddenly remembered. "What are you going to do?"
Dean didn't really need to continue with pretending to be mad at Seth for keeping it from him. He understood and knew that if he was allowed to, he would tell him. Now he wished to just talk to Seth, so that he could try to help him find a solution.
"I have no idea. Renee said there's no pressure on me, but I know she waits for me to make a decision. But I'm really not confident doing it. Dammit! Life seemed easier two hours ago. Now I'm just pressurized from both sides," he said tiredly.
"What do you mean?" Seth needed some explanation. He dragged Dean toward nearest chairs because he knew they would be talking for some time, and the orange walls surrounding them didn't give them a good impression. Once they found an open space and sat down, they could continue.
"First, Cassie told me she had an opportunity to move to Las Vegas, and asked me if I wanted her to. Then I realized the thing about Renee, so I went to talk to her, and she told me it was up to me to choose if we should do something about it. So there are two women, and two decisions I need to make, both of which will change everything."
"Huh," was Seth's respond. "I really wouldn't want to be in your place."
"Thanks, man," Dean smiled ironically.
"What's gonna be your next step, anyway?" Seth hoped that Dean had at least some rough idea.
"Well, I've talked to Renee, and now it's time to talk to Cassie."
"Are you gonna break up with her?"
Dean didn't really want to answer all those stupid questions. He didn't know what to do, and so little could he tell Seth. It was pointless to ask. But Seth asked, and Dean had to respond. He chose not to answer directly, though. Instead, he said, "I've got to do something, right?"
"Is that yes?" Seth suspected.
Dean was biting his fingernails while trying to figure out if that's what he wanted. Should he leave Cassie? Should he start dating Renee? It seemed unfair. What has Cassie done to deserve the end of their relationship? And why should getting together with Renee solve anything? If only he didn't have to make that difficult decision. But the longer he would wait, the worse it would get. If there was something like the right time to choose, it was now. There was no way he could take several days or weeks to respond. He sighed at that thought. The situation made him desperate. But he shouldn't feel that way. Two women were fighting for him, after all. Both wanted him, but only one could get him. Either he tells Cassie to take the job, and their relationship gains in importance, or he chooses to take another road, and tries something new. There was no way he could know how dating Renee would end. It was a risky choice.
"I'm gonna talk to Cassie," Dean said out loud, to gain so much needed confidence. "Maybe," he thought, while Seth was carefully listening, "I could tell her about the situation and she can help me make up my mind." It sounded as a good idea, in his head.
"No!" Seth shouted. "Just no!" he opposed. According to him, that was a stupid, disastrous idea.
"Why not? That could actually help," Dean believed.
"How exactly?" he asked as if it was the stupidest thing somebody has ever said. He didn't wait for an answer, though; he knew that Dean couldn't come up with anything logical since there was nothing logical about it. "Do you want to end up with zero girls who wants to be with you? 'Cause I really don't think that asking your girlfriend if you should dumb her to be with somebody else could work out for you. Who would want to hear that their boyfriend hesitates whether he should stay with them, or break up with them and replace them with someone new? In my opinion, that's how you lose a girlfriend. I might be wrong," Seth said. Then added, "But I'm not."
"But," Dean tried to protest but Seth would not let him interrupt his speech.
"I'm not finished. And now, let's take a look at how this stupid decision could be perceived by Renee," he said ironically. "You're not sure whether you want to be with her or not. So what do you do? You discuss it with your current girlfriend. You tell her that there's somebody else who likes you, and you may or may not have feelings for her. You ask your actual girlfriend for advice about your potential girlfriend. How do you think that would make Renee feel? And again, how would that make Cassie feel? I mean, do you know anything about women at all?" Seth concluded.
Dean was not happy with Seth's offensive attitude. "Fuck you," Dean exclaimed tiredly. "So what if you're right? That would help me solve the problem, wouldn't it?" he downplayed the importance of the situation. "And anyway, you don't know Cassie. She's not that kind of girl who gets upset. She's not a girly girl; and, for your information, I'm sure she would appreciate honesty."
Seth sighed when he realized he couldn't do anything to change Dean's mind. He surrendered. "Do whatever you want. But don't say I haven't warned you."