"I'll make you sorry," he uttered, then had a moment of second thoughts. If he really wasn't at fault, this wouldn't be a good look for him, but it wouldn't do to undermine himself now, in front of all these people. "Just leave her alone."

Gabriel scoffed at him, clearly unimpressed. Maybe it was the resentment from being a good guy and getting dumped anyways, and then getting confronted for being dumped, but the next words slipped out of his mouth without preamble. "That's what I was doing, dipshit."

"What did you call me?" Kyros, who had taken a step away, turned. "Say it louder."

"Honestly dude, can you just fuck off?" Gabriel demanded, fists curled. "You--"

Kyros's arm whipped around as if to strike the boy, but instead he stopped abruptly, holding up a finger. His gaze was intense, consumed with a buildup of rage that had nowhere to go. "Don't talk to me like that."
He dropped his arm promptly and turned once more, keen on keeping this quickly escalating situation as controlled as possible.

The bewilderment returned, but this time with a hint of disbelieving laughter.
"What the fuck?" someone voiced nearby. Gabriel muttered something in response behind Kyros, but it was too quiet to hear.

As Kyros high-tailed it out of there, his cheeks burning, he texted Pari:
Fucking hell.

What happened? Pari responded. Did you get an answer?

"She dumped him." He texted, then added in another message, "He claims it was because of me. Did you get her to spill yet or not?"

Uhhh... three dots appeared for a long time, denoting her uncertainty. Weird. And no, Simona finally kicked me out. Maybe we can catch her in the evening. I'll text her that we can have a girl's night in and we don't have to talk about what happened. Maybe she'll talk to me then.