“What? What is it?” Self-conscious, I pat myself down, scanning my body and clothes if something’s amiss. “Do I have something on my face?” I touch my cheeks.
“You…you saidsex!” Aurelia points her finger at me, like she’s seeing me for the first time.
“Never thought I’d see the day,” Kaeli adds, equal parts surprised and proud.
That’s when I realize my mistake. I’ve never cursed in front of them. Aurelia did hear me curse back in college a few times. But from the moment I decided I wanted to switch careers andbecome a teacher, not a lawyer, I’ve worked hard on myself not to let curse words or explicit words slip.
“Who are you? And what did you do with our friend?” Aurelia sits stunned in her chair, staring at me with wide eyes.
I roll my eyes at my best friend. “Stop being weird,” I say, taking a sip of my coffee.
“I’m the weird one?” she scoffs, her hand pressing against her chest. Her head whips to Kaeli. “Tell me I’m not the only one experiencing this new side of Andie.”
“You’re certainly not,” Kaeli murmurs, her eyes boring into mine as she tries to get a read on me, her head tilted to the side. “But whatever it is you’re doing, keep doing it. This,” she waves her hand at me, “suits you.”
My brother’s best friend. That’s who I’m doing.
Though I hardly think Ezra would appreciate it the way she is. Regardless, I plan to keep doing him.
Aurelia nods her head, agreeing with Kaeli. “That’s true. You look nice. Happy and confident,” she sighs, a smile on her face for me.
The kindness in her tone still makes me wonder what she sees in that boyfriend of hers.Jackson wouldn’t understand a good thing if it bit him in his backside. And Aurelia’s is the best thing that has happened to him.
I can’t say the same for Aurelia, though. She’s a badass lawyer and a free spirit, but that seems to get lost whenever he’s in the room. She becomes a version of herself I don’t recognize. And I hate it.
What I despise even more is that she lives in New York with her boyfriend. They’ve been dating for a couple of years now, and she didn’t stay in Boston as she planned. When she met him, she decided to follow him to New York, saying she could practice law anywhere, but Jackson couldn’t play for the Falcons if he lived somewhere else.
Logically, I get her point. And I might’ve hated it less if she blossomed in her relationship. It’s not that I haven’t tried to bring it up, but she has defensively shut me down every time.
Since she’ll go back tomorrow, I try not to think of morbid thoughts and enjoy her company while she’s here.
“Enough about me? How are you? Any interesting case you’re working on these days?” I ask her.
Even though she isn’t fully convinced I’m not hiding anything, she digresses. For the next hour, we chatter about anything and everything. I tell them about how the prep for my year-end event is going.
Kaeli tells us about a new segment they’re working on, in which they film interviews with players and some dogs from an animal shelter. That will help increase awareness and hopefully find them new, loving homes.
That reminds me of Millie, and I almost shared about her before I bit my tongue. Telling about her means I’d have to tell them about Noah.
“How are things with Jackson?” Kaeli asks, unaware of how Aurelia’s smile slips for a second. “And how the hell are you wearing a long-sleeved dress in this weather, babe?” She fans herself as Aurelia hides her hands under the table and pulls at the sleeves.
I notice all of it.
Thankfully, before Kaeli can ask something else, her phone rings. She rummages through her purse for it, and the smile that blooms on her face is enough to tell me that Ezra called her.
“I’ll take this and be back in a second.” She stands up and excuses herself, already answeringthe phone.
Aurelia’s still lost in her thoughts, her eyes shadowed with sadness. So, to distract her from it, knowing she won’t tell me whatever it is that’s eating at her, I blurt, “It’s Noah.”
“What?” she blinks at me, her brows furrowed, momentarily forgetting about her woes.
“I had sex withNoah,” I lean forward and whisper, scared someone might pop up from behind me and spill the secret to the world.
Her eyes widen comically as she looks behind me, probably for Kaeli, and leans into me. “Noah, as in the hot goalie for the Boston Bandits?” I nod, biting my lower lip. “Noah, as in Noah Miller, your brother’s best friend?” she screams the last words before remembering what we’re talking about.
“Yes, the very same!” I bite the inside of my cheek.
A wide grin spreads across her lips as she squeals in happiness. “That is so amazing, Andie! Wait a minute. He made you come, right?” Her eyes narrow. The speed with which her expressions change would probably scare a vampire.