Page 15 of Like First Love, Again

Mia:Let’s meet here at eight. I already grabbed two bottles of wine so we can each bring one.

Tori:I DID NOT SAY YES

Tori:And I want my damn jacket back.

A pause, and then another photo popped up on Tori’s screen. Mia hadn’t just put the jacket on in an attempt to kill her, she was wearing the jacket in bed. Red hair splayed on the pillow and a little lopsided smile on her lips. Mia’s hazel eyes were alive with an unspoken dare.

Mia:Come get it.

Eight

“Okay, maybe it’s more than alittleget-together,” Mia said when they pulled up to Daniela’s house in Tori’s Jeep. Over a dozen cars were packed into the driveway, street, and part of the yard.

Tori’s fingers curled over the steering wheel like they did when she was nervous. The desire to save Tori from her own anxiety pushed Mia to put a hand on her denim-covered lap.

“It’s just people from high school,” Mia reminded her.

Tori’s knuckles turned whiter. Her entire body pulled as tight as a rubber band about to snap.

“Hey,” Mia squeezed her thigh. “If you don’t want to go, we can leave?—”

“No,” Tori said like she could physically will herself to chill out. “It’s fine.” She glanced at Mia. Streetlights did a terrible job of illuminating her face. “Just girls from high school, right?” She said it like she was about to hurl over the side of the Santa Maria.

“Right,” Mia agreed. “But honestly, I can feign food poisoning and we can go get something to eat instead.”

Tori cracked a smile. “No need to reenact getting out of Caro’squinces.”

Mia laughed, the forgotten memory roaring back to life. Tori had been part of one of Caro’s fourteen dancing pairs at her extravagant fifteenth birthday party. Two nights before the big day, Tori confessed in the darkness of Mia’s bedroom that she didn’t want to go. That she didn’t know the dance routines well enough and was worried about embarrassing herself in front of two hundred people. Naturally, Mia concocted a story about bad ham and shamelessly feigned illness for both of them. Pretending to have the shits had been a small price to pay to spare Tori the discomfort.

“I’m going to have to expand my bag of tricks,” Mia said, relieved that the color was returning to Tori’s face.

While Tori looped around the cul-de-sac to park on the opposite side of the street, Mia wondered for the millionth time why Tori had disappeared after high school. Why she seemed so set on cutting off that part of her life. They’d had nearly the same experience during those years. A good group of friends, just enough involvement in extracurriculars to have something to write about in college admission essays. Parties, dating, fun. Why the hell did Tori look like she was being marched toward a guillotine glinting in the sun?

Mia wanted to ask the obvious questions, but she wanted Tori to feel comfortable enough to tell her on her own. Mia didn’t mind being pushy—she rather enjoyed it—but this was the wrong thing to pry about. There was a reason Tori had distanced herself, and she wanted Tori towantto tell her why.

“Here, you got Daniela a very nice Pinot Grigio,” Mia said when they were out of the Jeep and walking toward a newly built house that looked identical to every other house on the block.

Tori took the black bag with the bottle inside. She quirked one objectively spectacular brow, gaze darting between her bag and the one Mia was holding.

“What?” Mia asked with a little grin.

“You got identical bags,” she replied with unusual delight swimming in her endless brown eyes. There was a what-are-people-going-to-say energy to her observation.

“I know your mom taught you not to look a supermarket wine horse in the mouth,” Mia shot back, perspiration already making the thin material of her short, floral romper stick to her lower back. She didn’t know how Tori wasn’t miserable in skinny jeans. Especially ones so tight that they made her modest booty look fantastic.

The moment Tori knocked on the door, it swung open. Daniela, the only tall blonde in their class, greeted them with a booming, “Oh, my God!” She crushed Mia in a hug first, even though they’d seen each other a few years earlier at their ten-year reunion.

“I’m so sorry about Eric and your mom,” Daniela whispered in her ear after kissing her on the cheek.

“Thank you.” Mia gave her a squeeze in return, but didn’t let her words sink in. She didn’t want to think about anything other than hanging out with old friends.

“Victoria Cruz, I don’t believe it,” Daniela said when she turned her attention to Tori, who was still standing on the front step even though Mia had gone inside. “I haven’t seen you in so long.” She flung her arms wide. “You look fucking amazing!”

Olive skin flushed red, Tori smiled and stepped into the house and into Daniela’s embrace. “It’s good to see you, too.”

Walking through Daniela’s house and meeting her silver fox neurosurgeon of a fiancé was a blur. Daniela had apparently invited everyone from their senior year and almost all of them had dates. It was a flurry of bright hellos and shock at Tori’s proof of life.

By the time they got to the smaller gathering on the patio, Mia was exhausted. Surprisingly, Tori looked a lot more comfortable than Mia expected.

---