Page 53 of Going the Distance
“You did just have sex with Rachel and then run out on her.”
He winced, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah…but she’ll understand. You needed me. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be here, Shelly. Listen, how about this: I’ll drive, go get us some ice cream, and we’ll go back to your place. Watch some movies.Mean Girlsor something. Huh? How about that?”
I could only nod and sniffle. Lee dug around in his pockets before starting the engine to hand me a crumpled (and he swore unused) tissue.
I stayed in the car when he got to the store, and when he came back, he thrust a plastic bag with two large tubs of Ben & Jerry’s, marshmallows, some nail polish, a couple of sheet masks, and a large box of extra-soft Kleenex.
“What’s all this for?”
He just smiled brightly at me. “Shelly, over the years, you’ve made me watch enough chick flicks to know exactly what to do when someone goes through a bad breakup.”
“I think you’re confusing a breakup with a slumber party.”
He just laughed.
• • •
The house was empty.
“Hello?” Lee called as I poked my head around the living room door and then into the kitchen.
“Nobody’s home,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Huh. Where’d they go?”
I shrugged. “I guess they’re out somewhere.” It wasn’t that late yet. Maybe they’d gone to see a movie, or they were at the mall, or Brad was over at a friend’s and my dad had gone to pick him up. Lee brushed past me into the kitchen and dug a bag of popcorn out of the back of a cupboard, pouring it into a huge bowl and setting it in the microwave.
I stood there, clutching my bag of slumber-party/breakup goodies, and watched Lee set out a tray with some empty bowls ready for ice cream with two spoons, make two mugs of coffee, pour two glasses of water, and then retrieve the popcorn, hot and delicious and ready to be eaten.
He picked up the tray, the spoons rattling against the mugs as they were displaced. “C’mon. Upstairs.”
I led the way, pushing open my bedroom door and holding it open for Lee. He set the tray on my desk and took the bag from me. I stood there again, watching as he spooned out huge helpings of ice cream, set up Netflix with the first Bridget Jones movie, and opened the marshmallows. He picked up my comforter from the bed, spreading it out on the floor, and then went out into the hallway, returning with piles of knitted afghans and fleece blankets from the linen closet, piling them at the foot of the comforter ready to be snuggled up in. He threw my pillows and many decorative cushions down there, too, for us to lean against. Then, finally, he sat down and patted the space next to him.
I had to have the best friend in the entire world. Who else would drop everything to do this for me?
Noah wouldn’t. Noah didn’t care. Noah hadherto go back to.
I wondered if he’d cried over the end of our relationship. Some part of me that was still angry with him doubted it. Noah wasn’t the kind of guy who cried much. He hit inanimate objects instead. Had he cared enough to do that? Or was he grateful, because now he was free to be withherand didn’t have to explain to me that there was someone else he’d rather be with instead.
I looked back at Lee. He still wasn’t pushing me with questions about what had happened and why his older brother and I had broken up. He wasn’t acting like it was weird between us now, or even pretending it wasn’t. He was here in his capacity as my best friend, and right now, he was smiling at me and putting his arm around me. It was all the comfort I needed.
“Come on. Let the breakup therapy begin.”
