“Love you too, Mon.”
It’s time to come clean with her about Adrian. No one else needs to know anything but, frankly, I’m going to be in deep enough water as it is for withholding our “first kiss” from her, let alone Saturday night. I can’t make up excuses as to why I need to travel alone to Concord. I like my new route home too much. I stare at the phone in my hand, clenching my jaw at what I’m about to do. When I push send, it’s already a bad idea, and already too late. It needs to be done, however. He can’t be the one tossing balls in my court all the time.
“Hello?” His voice sounds thoroughly confused.
“Hey Bo, it’s November.”
“Hi.” The smile in his voice pricks tiny holes in my heart. Tiny, but holes, nonetheless.
“I just wanted to apologize for getting weird last night. Rae talked some sense into me. You’re lucky to have her.”
“Don’t worry about it—it’ll take some time for us to get used to being friends.” The smile sounds like it’s disappeared, and his use of the word “friends” sounds as smooth coming from his lips as every other word in that sentence. It sounds like he’s already gotten used to it.
“OK, so, I’ll see you Wednesday. We have a few potential donors checking out the site on Thursday.”
“Excellent. See you Wednesday, Ember.”
Click.
My phone stares back at me with an arched eyebrow. You agreed to be friends, what’s with the sinking feeling in your gut, missus? I slide it onto my dresser and shower in preparation for my chat with Monica later. That should be fun.
*
Bo
“Rae?” I holler upstairs from the studio.
“In the living room. Get your ass up here if you want to talk to me.”
Grinning, I take the stairs two at a time. Rae’s matured a lot in the last couple of years, which also means she doesn’t take my shit like she used to. I turn the corner and find her washing the windows.
“What’d you and November talk about last night in the bathroom?” Folding my arms, I lean against the doorframe. Rae pauses her circular motion against the glass, in thought, before resuming her task.
“Nothing, really. Why?” She shrugs but doesn’t look over her shoulder to make eye contact with me.
“Well, she just called me, and—”
“Ember just called you?” Now she makes eye contact.
I nod. “She apologized for acting strange last night but said you set her straight.”
A knowing smile waltzes across Rae’s lips. “I just told her you truly were interested in being friends, and she seemed to understand. What? What’s with that look on your face?”
“So she thinks I want to be friends with her?” The back of my neck screams with heat. I don’t want to be friends with her.
“You do, don’t you? You can’t profess your love for her every day. If she loves you the way you love her, and the way you think she loves you, it’ll happen. Be friends with her and leave it alone, Bo.”
“You know I’m in love with her, Rae. It drives me mad when I’m away from her, but it’s almost worse when I’m with her.”
Rae’s eyes assess my words in the distance somewhere.
“I know you do, Bo. It kills me that this is killing you. But, the fact is, she’s great for DROP, I want to be her friend, and—oh, come on!” Rae’s attention refocuses outside.
“What?”
“The girl’s persistent. She’s got that going for her.” Rae throws the roll of paper towels down and runs up the stairs, slamming her door shut. I walk to the window and see Ainsley coming up the front walk.Great.
I ignore my irritation at Rae for promoting my friendship with November and hurry to the door, opening it before Ainsley has the chance to ring the bell.
“Spencer! You startled me!” She smiles playfully and whips her hair over her shoulder.
She called me Spencer when we were dating in high school, as a way to assert her position on the invisible top-rung of the high school social ladder. I’m not so sure it isn’t different now.
“What’s up, Ainsley?” Her smile fades slowly as she must read the irritation on my face.
“I tried calling you ...”
“Sorry, my phone was on silent—I was in the studio.”
“Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to have lunch.” She fidgets slightly on my front steps since I haven’t invited her in.
“I don’t know, Ainsley ...” I drag my hand through my hair and leave it perched on the back of my neck.
“Look, Spencer, we’re friends. Can’t friends have lunch?”
Her intentions are muddled inside that innocent smile of hers. I can never tell what her angle is. Either way, I give in. I’m hungry.
“Sure, let me just go get my phone downstairs. I’ll be right back.”
As I walk outside, my phone vibrates with a text message.
Rae: Big mistake.
Shaking my head, I climb into Ainsley’s car, and head out for lunch.
*
Ember
My nerves increase with each minute I wait for Monica.