“Let’s see this picture of Brandon.”
Hesitantly, she pulls her phone out of her clutch. As she scrolls, I can tell when she’s reached the picture. Her whole face lights up. She hands it over. There, with a smirk that spells bad boy, is the object of Jenna’s affection whether she wants to admit it or not. “He’s hot.”
She shrugs and I take in the flop of dark hair and sleeves of tattoos. The boy has a face that would make girls lift their skirts, that’s for sure.
“You like him,” I say, because it’s not really a question based on her body language.
She sighs again. “I’m in like with him,” she finally admits. “Now it’s your turn. What did you do at the party, because you look like Louise finally got hammered and not in an alcohol way?”
At least she admits she may have a thing for this Brandon guy. So I tell her about dancing with Kenneth’s friend, then Ted. “He was there,” I whine.
“Who was there?” Her face is screwed up with confusion.
“Andy.”
Her jaw drops … and stays there.
“Exactly. One minute I’m dancing with Ted, the next I’m doing the Tango with Drew. Then there is this freaking sexy song and I’m on fire. I want him so bad, so what do I do? I run.”
“Not again,” Jenna sighs.
“I couldn’t help it. My heart was on fire and it hurt from all the pressure. I swear I wanted him and hated him in the same moment.”
“And then what?” Her eyebrow lifts in question.
“I let him screw me on the balcony. Who does that? It was hot and dirty and freaking right out in the open where anyone could see.”
A giant puff of air whooshes out of her lungs. “Whoa. Sounds more than hot.” She raises her hands toward the ceiling and grins. “Thank baby Jesus, Louise finally got serviced.”
I grab a pillow and toss it at her. “It’s not funny. He gave me the best orgasm I’ve had in ages and walks away. Why would he do that?”
She purses her lips and I can tell she thinks I should know the answer. “Oh, I don’t know. To teach you what it feels like to be the one left standing when someone runs away from you?”
I close my mouth and drop my head. “So this is my fault.”
She moves over and wraps me in a hug. “I love you, Catie Bear, but Drew…” When I give her the evil eye, she corrects herself. “Andy has to be fed up with all this running you do.”
“So I’m wrong.”
She pulls back and glances at me. “It’s not a matter of being wrong. You need to decide what you want. You need to forgive yourself and give him a chance or move on for good. You can’t keep hiding away and not going out because you’re afraid to love him or anyone else.”
“I need some wine,” I say, because she’s right.
“I need some ice cream. So let’s have both.”
After filling our bellies as we teasingly man-hate, I toss and turn so much during the night that Jenna ends up sleeping on the couch. When morning comes, we spend the rest of our day together down on the National Mall and that’s not code for shopping. We take selfies making it look like the Washington Monument is in our hands and we give Abe the he’s looking good eye wink in our selfie with him. It’s so hard when we grab an Uber to take her to the airport. I glue myself to her until she promises another visit soon if I just let her go.
The other reason for the Uber is that I’ve decided to go see Andy at work. He has rounds at the hospital today. Thanks to Jenna’s detective skills by calling his office and feigning an emergency, the call service gives up his location. God, I love that girl.
The Uber ride to the airport and then to see Andy is a bit long, but I realize it’s something I must do. Andy is a great guy and I’d be stupid not to take this second chance with him.
Channeling my inner Jenna, I manage to find out where the Oncology Department is from the person at the information desk at the hospital. More importantly, I procure a visitor’s badge so I won’t be accosted by security as I roam the halls. It is a matter of a tiny lie about surprising my brother, the doctor, on his birthday that does the trick.