Page 39 of Digging Up Love
“Absolutely not as in you know I can’t promise that.”
Alisha laughed and scooted back against her headboard, the varnish sticky between her shoulder blades. Ridiculous, sure, but Meg’s enthusiasm was contagious. For a moment she envisioned letting Quentin in for real, pursuing him instead of running scared.
Blowing out a breath, Alisha said, “Yes, he’s obviously super cute.”
“An understatement, but go on.”
“There definitely aren’t any guys like him in Hawksburg,” Alisha conceded.
“Zero,” said Meg.
“Or in the whole state, more likely.” Alisha spoke quietly, eyes on the ceiling, a grin lifting her cheeks in spite of her efforts to keep her face impassive.
“Ah, the truth comes out! Iknewit, Ali. You’re head over heels for this guy.”
She scowled. Trust Meg to make the leap from not interested to wedding bells in a single bound.
“Okay, but you do like him. In a more-than-just-friends kind of way,” Meg said, to press the issue.
Letting her head fall back again, Alisha spoke in a monotone, like a child copying a scripted apology on a blackboard. “I admit I like him a little bit more than just friends.” A lotta bit, and what did that mean for her future? For her grandparents’ future?
Hands cupped around her mouth like a megaphone, Meg announced to the audience of one, “Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first!”
Jiminy Crickets, she never should’ve chosen a former cheer captain for a best friend.
Meg dropped her hands and sauntered over to the closet. “Ali, coming from you, that’s basically a declaration of love. Should I call the church?” See, wedding bells.
“If I didn’t like you so much, I’d hate you.” Alisha glared up at the bare timbers of the peaked ceiling.
Meg laughed. “And since we’ve agreed you’re going to pursue this guy ...” They hadnotagreed on anything, but yeah, the idea seemed less terrible by the minute. “Because you like him and he likes you, and this fall you’ll be sharing an area code, you know what this calls for.” She opened both closet doors like a magician whipping a handkerchief off a cageful of doves.
Alisha closed her eyes and massaged her forehead. “I refuse to do a rom-com-style outfit montage for you, Marge.”
“Who said anything about you? We’re done discussing your love life for now.I’mgoing to do the obligatory outfit montage.”
The screech of shifting hangers reached her ears. “I’m not even going to ask.”
“I know, because you’re selfish like that.” She opened one eye and found Meg grinning over her shoulder. “I’ve got a date tonight, off Forever Love. And I know you’re so blissed out over Dr.Sexy McDinoBones you’ll let me borrow whatever I want.”
“Ialwayslet you borrow whatever you want. But most of my stuff won’t fit you.” Alisha sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. Despite their difference in physique—Meg was thin with zero hips, the opposite of her muscular curves—their similarity in height sometimes allowed them to swap tops and dresses.
Holding a yellow sundress aloft, Meg asked, “What about this? Is it new? I’ve never seen you wear it.”
“That’s Simone’s. You know she’d kill me if I let you borrow anything of hers.”
True with regard to Alisha, too, if her sister ever discovered she’d taken the dress. Simone had rescinded Alisha’s closet privileges years ago after an incident with a barbed wire fence and her favorite pair of jeans.
“Your sister never needs to know. Besides, I can take Simone.”
Also true. Meg and Simone once had an all-out smackdown over the PlayStation remote. Meg reigned victorious as player one. But then again, she was thirteen at the time, and Simone a gangly nine-year-old.
“I dunno about that.” Alisha crossed her arms over her chest. “She started going to a kickboxing gym.”
Hand on her hip, Meg asked, “Excuse me, Ali, did you just flex on me?”
She blinked down at her biceps. “Not intentionally.” Chuckling, she pointed to a dress. “Grab the polka dot one. I think the color will look great on you.”
Pulling out the skirt of a flowing midnight-blue dress, Meg wrapped the material around her body. Alisha nodded. “That’s the one. I might just give it to you. I bought it a few weeks ago because I loved the print, but I don’t know if I can pull off the small polka dots with my bulkiness.”
