Page 96 of Mr. Red

The girls are about to file in any moment now. I told Matt I was having them over for some girl time. He told me to call him once they left so he could come get me after it was over. Little does he know, these things last all night. I’ll have to send him a sexy picture letting him know I’m thinking about him.

Heis the main topic of conversation tonight. I’m excited to see my friends; it feels like I have to split my time these days. Although the renovation and additions at the gym are coming along, we still have work to do. Tonight, we’ve decided to take the time off and have some fun.

A knock at the door sounds. “Come in!” I yell.

“Hey, hey! Guess who we found!” Paige announces.

Three people enter through my front door and one of them isnota girl. It’s Jason. Maybe having a male’sperspective about this move will be helpful.

“Hello! Please tell me you brought supplies!” I say, giving them all a hug like I haven’t seen them in a decade.

“Who do you think you hang out with?” Paige asks as she holds up rum in one hand and soda in the other.

“You know I love you most of all, right?” I whisper into her ear.

“I heard that!” Jason glares. “You tell me I’m your favorite all the time, babe.”

I hold a finger over my mouth. “Shhh, don’t tell Paige!”

“Tell us how Texas went!” Paige shakes my arm, excited.

“We need drinks before we dive into this conversation,” I tell them.

We all venture into the kitchen. Jason and Lana sit at the breakfast bar while I grab glasses. Paige opens up the bottles and puts ice in each glass.

Jason talks between blending. “So, guess who I ‘Bumped’ with last night?”

“‘Bumped?’” I crease my eyebrows. “I thought you were ‘Playing.’”

“That was like a month ago, Scarlett.” He swishes his hand at me.

“Oh, right,” I say.

“If anyone is ‘Bumping’ they aren’t looking to commit,” Lana tells us.

“Well, good thing I just want a ‘Bump’ every now and then. Preferably abig‘Bump.’” We all start giggling.

“Isn’t a bump, like, cocaine?” I ask. “When you signed up for ‘Bumping,’ did you think it was for drugs?”

“No. There are guys making out as the icon,” Jason tells us.

“Oh,good,” I say.

Once the drinks are successfully mixed and I have downed about half of mine, I begin. “Okay, so, Matt asked me to move to Texas with him.”

“Oh my gosh!” Paige screams.

I pause to ensure the screaming is over. “I said yes.”

“Oh my gosh!” Paige screams again.

“Would you guys understand if I left? I’m not going to leave you hanging, of course. I’m going to come up with a plan. I just couldn’t say no. You should’ve seen him in Texas! He was relaxed, made jokes, slept in. Suddenly, the idea of asking him to stay here, where he’s on edge and doing something every second felt so wrong. Of course, that now puts me in a huge time crunch. I have to figure out what I would do in Texas, plus not leave you guys without a plan or a partner. What the hell am I going to do without you guys? I know everything that’ll happen here. It’s where I’ve always lived and it’s scary to move out of my comfort zone, but if I don’t, I’ll lose Matt.”

“It’s best to just follow your heart. If I had a choice to move with my ex, I would have,” Lana says, with resentment seeping into her voice.

“We know you wouldn’t leave us without a plan, Scar. We’re a plane ride away. No problem,” Paige gives me a half hug.

“Okay, so you don’t hate me?” I hug her back.

---