Page 50 of Class Clown

Aryn: And the kissing.

Meredith: Who is Gina?

Me: Time for a conference call.

It took a few minutes to get all my best friends on the phone, but when we were all there it was worth the hassle.

Meredith kicked things off. “Fair warning, I’m on speaker phone so that Brooks can listen in. His interest was piqued because I was using voice-text and he heard me mention cold medicine, congressmen, and hitmen. But he swears he won’t comment unless it becomes legally required.”

Brooks was Meredith’s incredibly lovely boyfriend, and he had sort of become our resident lawyer once they’d laid down their weapons of war.

“I accept,” I said.

“Start at the top,” Aryn stated. “Gina and Nico. Explain.”

“Alright. You all know how I fell down on a hike and Gina recklessly came to save me but hurt herself instead and Nico had to piggyback her down the mountain,” I began.

Lizzie groaned. “How did I miss this?”

“You’re living in la-la-love-land with Jackson. Do you read your texts?” Meredith asked.

“Brooks, please note her offensive tone,” Lizzie argued. “I read them.”

“Brooks is not mediating our conversation.” Meredith chuckled. “He’s here in case lines get crossed that would put us in prison.”

“Being mean to your best friend is crossing a line,” Lizzie stated.

“Back to Nico and Gina,” Aryn pleaded.

“Alright.” I cleared my throat, which burned, so I had to cough and take a sip of tea. Tea that Nico had prepared. Tingles tea. “Nico carried Gina out to safety. Gina fell a little bit in love.”

“Obviously,” Aryn said.

“Who wouldn’t?” Lizzie agreed.

“It’s a given,” Hailey added.

Meredith, who’d never appreciated a good rescue, remained silent, which made it all the funnier when Brooks piped in with, “Even my heart is going pitter-pat.”

We all laughed, and I coughed a few more times before continuing. “So, now Gina is all over him and a few days ago at the lake she kissed him on the cheek,” I grumped. “It was the worst. I told him it wasn’t okay behavior for coworkers on duty.”

“Valid,” Meredith agreed.

“I was possibly a little annoyed about it, and maybe harder on him that I needed to be,” I admitted.

“Because of the tingles.” Hailey sympathized.

“Exactly.” I sighed. “He accused me of being angry, to which I told him my feelings shouldn’t weigh in, and he told me my feelings matter to him.”

“Alright, that is so sweet.” Lizzie gasped.

“I know. Then I really lost my mind by telling him the only way to fix this mess was by being less attractive either physically or socially, and I’d suggest socially since he was the worst as a teenager. Then, I reminded him about how he’s always hated me. And he said he’d never hated me, but he was shy, and I told him that we could consider the air cleared and be friends.”

They were all thoughtfully silent for a few seconds.

“Okay,” Meredith said. “This is not a big deal. You stated your own personal truth that you two have never gotten along. You gave him solid advice about not fraternizing with coworkers. I think it’s fine. He has nothing to take issue with.”

Aryn laughed. “You basically told him that the situation with Gina bothers you. Translation, you’re jealous.”

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