Who was I kidding?
This wasLexi– she’d tie me to a chair and shoot bamboo slivers under my fingernails until I gave her a detailed play-by-play of each minute I’d spent with Finn. The girl was annoyingly persistent when she wanted something; I’d always thought a career with the CIA as a terrorist interrogator might’ve been a better fit than fashion merchandizing.
Steppingthrough our front door, I set down the bag containing our salads on the kitchen island and looked around warily for her. Right on cue, I heard her bedroom door fly open and slam against the opposing wall, followed by the sound of bare feet rushing across the hardwood floors. I watched as she came into view; rounding the hallway corner at full speed, her red hair whipping around her face, she skidded to a halt directly in front of me.
“Tell me,” she demanded, slightly out of breath.
“Okay, okay, let’s eat dinner and then I will. Calmdow—”
“No!” Lexi cut me off. “You will tell meimmediately. I have been your best friend since thesecond fucking gradeand this is the first time you’ve ever had anything remotely romantic happen to you. I have been totally gypped in the friend department until now! ” Lexi huffed, as if my lack of previous relationships was a direct attack against her.
“Gee, thanks Lex!”
“Oh, shut up, you know what I mean,” she said, smacking me lightly on the arm. “Can’t I be excited, Brookie? All I’ve ever wanted was to see you happy.”
I snorted.Yeah, like that’s heronlymotive here.
“Oh, fine!” She glared at me, but I could tell she was trying not to laugh. “I also happen to be excited about the prospect of double dates. So sue me!”
I started laughing and sheimmediately joined in, throwing her arms around me and squeezing me tightly for almost a full minute.
“Um, Lex?”
“What?” she asked, her arms still wrapped around my torso.
“Cant…breathe…”
“Oh!” Lexi gasped, releasing her hold at once. I gratefully gulped oxygen into my lungs. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Sometimes I forget how little you are.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to pull our salads out of the bag. As I grabbed silverware and plates, Lexi grabbed a bottle of ginger ale from the fridge, poured some into twotall glasses, and topped each off with a healthy dose of vodka and grenadine.
“DirtyShirleys,” she said, smiling in anticipation as she stirred ice into the glasses and handed one to me.
“Cheers,” I said.
“To best friends and boyfriends,” Lexi toasted with a wink at me.
“And really great sex,” I added, gigglinginto my glass as Lexi snorted ginger ale out her nose.
“Details. Right. Now,” Lexi demanded, dabbing her face with a napkin.
I took a big swig of my drink – I was going to need it for this conversation.
***
Several hours later I’d consumed half a Greek salad and three and a half Dirty Shirleys, and Lexi was staring at me with her mouth gaping open. I’d just finished telling her everything about Finn and me, from the night I’d bailed on Landon, to painting my bedroom together, and, of course, the marathon sex we’d had afterwards. She’d been silent throughout the entire story, her only expression one of ever-building astonishment as she absorbed every word that left my mouth with rapt attention.
When I’d finished she didn’t speak for a long time, and as the minutes slowly ticked by I began to grow uneasy. Then, abruptly hopping down from her stool at the kitchen island, she wandered from the room without a word to me. I followed her because, well, what else was I supposed to do?
Lexi turned down the hallway to our bedrooms, bypassed her own door, and threw mine open without hesitation. I waited in the doorway, watching as she entered the room and spun in a slow circle, taking it all in. After Finn had left this afternoon I’d spent some timecleaning up the brushes and paint-covered drop cloths, pushing my furniture back into place and, lastly, hanging the canvas images on the wall opposite my bed. Offset against the sky blue paint, the photos looked beautiful.
Lexi made her way over to them, stopping to examine each one individually before lightly tracing her fingertips acrossthe three smiling faces enlarged on canvas; her own, then mine, and finally, my mother’s.
The faces of my family.
Lexi turned away from the images and, when her eyes found mine, they were filled withunshed tears.
“Brookie,” she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.