Page 12 of Just Friends Forever
I scrub my scruffy chin with a hand, feeling sick inside. “Stevie …”
She smiles ironically, tracing her finger on the leather arm of the couch. “Aren’t you so happy you came to say hi?”
I don’t even respond because my brain is too busy trying to figure out how she is. How shereallyis. She’s always been almost impossibly optimistic, but I can see the fault line right down the center of her idealism.
But what do I do about it? Stay right here? Go hug her? Four years ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated. Heck, I held her through more than a few breakups in the past. But this? This is different.We’redifferent.
“How are you holding up?” It’s a pathetic question, but it’s the best I can do right now while I figure out what she wants and needs from me.
“I’m doing… good.” She holds my gaze, and her smile weakens, her chin trembling slightly.
Hesitation goes out the spotless, floor-to-ceiling windows. I’m on my feet and by her side in two seconds flat, arms wrapped around her in three.
She doesn’t resist. She just hugs me again like she did in the doorway.
“I’m so sorry, Stevie.” And I really am. I didn’t want her to marry Curtis, but once she did, all I’ve wanted for her is happiness and the best out of life. I really thought that’s what she had.
We don’t talk for the next few minutes. I don’t know if she’s crying or justbeing. She’s always been a quiet crier.
“I really am fine,” she finally says into my shoulder. “You’ve just caught me when I’m still processing the news.” She pulls back and lets out a shaky laugh. “Bet you’re wishing you never sent that text.”
“Best text I ever sent.”
She cocks a brow. “Better than the one you accidentally sent to Blake Frederickson senior year?”
I cringe and facepalm. “You had to bring that up, didn’t you?”
She’s smiling for real now, pink nose and cheeks, lashes clumped together. “It’s only one of my favorite stories ever. How many times have I wished for a video of his reaction to you asking him on a date to seeLes Mis.”
I grimace. “IswearI sent it to Blakely, not Blake.”
“Oh, but you didn’t, Troy.” She’s full-on grinning in sadistic delight now.
“I know. Believe me. I was the one who had to sit through the longestLes Misproduction in history with him.”
“I can’t believe he said yes.”
I shake my head at myself. “I double-check my text recipients to this day because of that fiasco.”
We both laugh until our smiles fade and it goes quiet.
She meets my eye and squares her shoulders, wiping her eyes. “I’m better now. Nothing a good old-fashioned hug from Troy Sheppard won’t cure.”
I take a second before responding. “Stevie, you don’t have to pretend. Not with me. You know that, right?”
Her smile wavers.
“I know we haven’t talked as much in the last few years,” I continue, “but I still think of you as my best friend. You can be real with me.”
She offers something between a smile and a grimace. “Really real?”
“The realest,” I say.
She stands up and walks over to the window, putting her hand on the glass like I don’t dare do. “Tomorrow, that sidewalk will be crawling with reporters and tabloids, waiting for me to step outside or look through the window or”—she raises her shoulders, searching for the word—“I don’t know,blink.”
“Can you just avoid doing any of that for a while until the story blows over?” I go stand next to her and look out over the amazing views. “With some top-notch eye drops, blinking might not actually be necessary.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “You know how they say society’s appetite for gossip is insatiable but its memory is short? It’s a lie. The second half, at least. There are dozens of social media accounts devotedjustto Curtis’s and my relationship. It’s a miracle they haven’t sniffed anything out yet.” She lets out a big breath. “It’s not going to blow over. The surprise will make it that much bigger news.” She looks at me. “I don’t know if I can do it, Troy.”
