Page 14 of Five Years
“You think I don’t remember you disgustingly telling me all about the best sex you’ve ever had in your life with my sister?” Grace made a gagging noise.
Grace was like an encyclopaedia of information. She had a textbook on gossip hardwired into her brain—and a giant chapter on Leah and Ariana: the most compatible couple that never was, as she often referred to them.
“Okay, fair enough. But still—she invited me, I was lonely, and also a little intrigued as to what she might say. So I went to the bar,” Leah sighed.
“And what happened?” Grace questioned.
“Nothing.” She threw the last of her wine to the back of her throat as though she were dehydrated.
“You expect me to believe that nothing happened?” Leah scoffed.
“Grace, she’s with Hannah now. It’s been five years. It wasn’t that deep,” Leah clarified.
“Five months ago, you stopped dating the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever seen in the state of Michigan because you saw a picture of Ariana and Hannah on my feed and it made you want to pull your eyeballs from their sockets with a pair of tongs.”
“That wasn’t anything to do with Ariana. I had hay fever—it was a reasonable reaction.”
“Please. I know you better than you know yourself.”
“If you know me so well, name three things that I bought from the store on my way home,” Leah challenged. She sat back, smug. There was no way—
“Pretzels, wine . . .and . . .tampons.”
“Okay, that’s weird!”
“We’ve been in sync since like 2010, so that was easy,” Grace said.
It was true—their pheromones became one in the mid-2010s.
“So, if nothing happened, how did you leave things? Are you going to be BFFs now you both live in the same city? I’m not sure how Han would feel about that.”
Leah was instantly enraged whenever Grace called Hannah by her shortened, overly familiar nickname. She wouldn’t admit it to Grace, but she was jealous. Her and Hannah got along famously. Leah had spent years after her break-up with Ariana comparing herself to Hannah—wondering what made her so special. The jealousy still gnawed at her confidence, sometimes causing her to question her own worth as Grace’s best friend.
“She got a phone call and left. We didn’t arrange to meet up again. We had a brief chat, that’s all,” Leah clarified.
“If that’s the case, do you think you guys would be okay if you had to be in the same room? I’m just thinking like Ezra’s birthday parties, my birthday—it would be nice for there to be no tension,” Grace said.
“Yes, of course. I’ve never said I can’t be in the same room as her,” Leah stressed.
“I know, but I also didn’t want to put you in that position.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“I always worry about you. You’re my best friend, and future custodian of my child—it’s my responsibility to worry about you.”
“I’m the future custodian of your child?” Leah laughed.
“Yes. Did I not tell you?”
“Nope.”
“Are you sure?” Grace questioned.
“I think I would remember a conversation where I became the appointed guardian for Ezra.” Leah poured herself a second, larger glass of wine.
“Oh, I blame baby brain! Do you mind taking Ezra should me and Johnathan die in a horrific accident?”
“You would seriously want me?” Leah’s eyes widened, surprise in her voice.
