Page 45 of Road Trip to Forever
“Dead serious.”
“What the hell is wrong with you? You can’t just throw around money when people’s happiness is involved,” I say, glaring at them. I want to be angry, but curiosity gets the best of me. I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “What were the bets?”
“Henry said before the trip. Noah said never. Neil said three years ago, so he was way off. I was banking for the confession to happen while you two were away and forced to share a bed or something,” Jack says. “You couldn’t have waited another day?”
“I’m so sorry for not aligning the confession of my feelings with your betting schedule,” I drawl. “I wasn’t aware—hang on. Why are none of you acting surprised?”
“Oh.” Henry looks at the other men and shrugs. “Do you want us to act surprised? Say it again. We’ll do better this time.”
“It’s not exactly shocking news,” Noah adds. “We’ve all known for a while.”
“How long is a while?” I ask cautiously.
“For me it was the time she came to visit us at Yale and you threatened to kick my ass if I tried to flirt with her,” Henry says. “I’ve never seen you so pissed off.”
“The first night I met you all, and you spent the whole evening grinning at your phone while you were texting her,” Jack says. “So… years. You’re a moron for not telling her how you feel, by the way. Watching you walk around with your tongue hanging out of your mouth is embarrassing.” He pauses, then smirks. “But also hilariously entertaining.”
“Fuck.” I groan and rub a hand across my chest. “So it’s obvious.”
“Painfully so. We literally call you Lola Lover. You’veheardus call you Lola Lover. Is that not a dead giveaway?” Jack asks.
“I thought you all were being facetious assholes. I didn’t realize you actually knew I was in love with her.”
“We’re well aware. The whole world is aware. How she hasn’t figured it out is beyond me, because she’s a smart girl.”
“What made you want to finally tell us?” Noah asks. “Something must have changed.”
“Kind of. I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. Up until this point, everything has always been very one-sided,” I say. “Lola’s shown no interest in me beyond being best friends. She’s set me up with some of my past girlfriends, and she’s never flirted with me. Lately, though, there have been a couple moments that have me wondering if maybe her feelings have changed.”
“Moments?” Henry takes a seat on the edge of the coffee table, ignoring the ominous creak of the decades-old furniture. He claps his hands together, positively giddy. “What kind of moments?”
“The other night we were on my couch. One minute we were joking around, and the next it felt like I was about to kiss her. I really wanted to kiss her, and I think she wanted me to kiss her too. There was this… this look in her eye.”
“Let me guess. There was a look in her eyes and you still didn’t kiss her,” Jack says without a lick of surprise behind the observation. “Why?”
“Last I checked, randomly kissing your best friend when you’ve never kissed before kind of changes everything, doesn’t it?”
“I think you should tell her,” Henry says. He stands up and puts his hands on his hips, pacing around the room with a dopey smile on his face. “Maybe it’s because I’m about to marry the love of my life, maybe it’s because I just want my friends to be happy, or maybe I’m a little buzzed from the bottle we passed around in the limo.”
“Emma is going to kill you,” I say. “And she’s going to make it hurt.”
He waves me off. “We’ve only got a short amount of time on this earth.” Jesus, heisbuzzed. Introspective Henry is coming out. “I think if it were me, I’d want to take the risk. I’d kiss her. What if it works out? What if it’s the best thing you’ve ever had? The longer you sit here not doing anything about it, the less time you’ll get to really, truly be with her. I don’t know. I’d jump. Leap of faith, right? Love is… love is like a parachute. Emma is my parachute. Lola is yours. She’ll be there to catch you when you fall.”
“Lola is already the best thing to happen to me. Imagining her as something more than a friend—” I snap my mouth closed.
How do I finish that sentence?
I could kiss her whenever I want, hold her hand in public, and spend every night by her side. I wouldn’t have to leave. I could stay. I’d take care of her the way she deserves. Feed her and make sure she gets enough sleep. Buy a pill container so she never forgets to take her medicine. And every time she smiled, I’d know the beam was for me and me alone.
Henry snaps his fingers and breaks my trance. His giddiness has morphed into euphoria. “There. Right there. That’s the look. Did you all see it?”
“What look?” I ask.
“The look that says you just realized risking your friendship for a reward—for her—would be worth it.”
“Yeah… So, what? I spill my guts to her and hope she feels the same? That seems like a recipe for disaster.”
“Go for it, Patrick. You two are best friends. Either you get the woman you love in the way that you want, or you stay friends. Seems like a win-win to me.”
