“Of course.”
“I mean, I know I’m young, but I just got this feeling that this is a chance I shouldn’t let go, you know? It’s priced well for the area, although it is the smallest house on the block, but property values are only gonna go up over time. It has to be now, or never. Only it’s looking like never.” I slump back into the couch, the weight of my failure heavy in my heart.
Lorelei puts a hand on my shoulder and I force a smile.
“Maybe we can help.”
I grab the tub of cookie dough off the table and scrape the dregs from the bottom. “More cookie dough?”
Cassie laughs and gets up to fetch it from the kitchen.
“Well,” Lorelei says over the rim of her drink, “I, for one, have no sympathy for you whatsoever.”
“Lorelei!” Stephanie says, shocked.
“What!?” Lorelei laughs. “Jessie’s been having sex with a guy hot enough to get you pregnant just by looking at you. Every night this week.”
I feel my face flush. “It has not been every night.”
“No, sometimes you do it in the morning. And let me tell you guys, Jessie is loud.”
I cast a stunned look in Lorelei’s direction.
“I am not!” I call out above the laughs of the others. “It’s just…” Everyone stops, waiting for me response. “He’s very good.”
Stephanie screams, Cassie gasps, and Lorelei just nods her head to say ‘I told you so.’
“Do you have a picture?” Stephanie asks.
“Yes,” Cassie adds. “I have to see this guy.”
“No, I don’t have a picture. I mean, it’s kind of a secret.”
They swap a few roguish glances.
“Like Hank was a secret?” Stephanie teases.
“Not at all like Hank,” I say. “Thank God.”
“So not another coworker?” Cassie muses. I shrug, trying not to reveal anything further.
“Come on then! Tell us more.”
“There’s not much to say really,” I reply, causing them all to groan and nod sarcastically. “Okay, okay! He’s a guy I’ve known forever. We pretty much grew up together, me, him, and Kyle. Last week he needed someone to go to a retreat with – a work thing. So I went. I don’t know…I was still kinda upset about the Hank thing and the jail thing…and I guess Nate was stressed about some stuff too. One thing led to another and…”
“Oooh!”
“Wait, you’ve known him since you were young?” Stephanie asks, getting up to go out on the balcony once more.
“Pretty much.”
“That’s like ‘the dream,’” Lorelai says in a tone of agreement. “A super-hot guy who’s been a great friend for a long time, add in some sex and you’ve got the perfect boyfriend!”
“No,” I say sharply. “It’s not like that.”
“Seriously, Jessie? I’ve seen him. You can’t tell me you didn’t have a crush on that guy when he was younger. Even if he was half as good-looking as he is now, he’d still beat out all the guys I knew in high school. And he makes Hank look like a lame-ass hipster.”
“Hank is a lame-ass hipster,” I say, hoping someone will change the subject fast.
Cassie lifts a brow. “So what exactly is going on? Are you guys just casual, or…?”
I shake my head slowly as I feel everyone’s eyes focus on me, even Stephanie, who pulls out her e-cig, takes a long drag, and holds her breath as she waits for my response.
“I did have a crush on him growing up, you’re right. But he’s not boyfriend material. No way. He’s never even had a girlfriend.”
“Bullshit!”
“I’m serious! It’s not that he can’t get a girl – it’s that he gets them too easily. All he’s done since I’ve known him is sleep around. He’s probably been with a third of the women in L.A. – I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d had a one night stand with one of you guys! He hates commitment, hates marriage, and if you even say the word kids around him he starts looking for the nearest exit. I don’t know what this is, exactly, but it’s not what you guys think.”
There’s a silence that seems to pass through the girls after I stop speaking. Lorelei rolls her eyes in disappointment, Cassie shifts some of her Scrabble tiles on their rack, and Stephanie half-shrugs and turns away to blow water vapor at the skyline.
“And then there’s Kyle,” I carry on. “He’s Kyle’s best friend, and you know what Kyle thinks of anyone I try to date.”
“I don’t get it. What’s your brother’s problem?” Cassie says.