As I curled my hair, Gretchen knocked and poked her head into the bathroom. “Ready yet?” she asked.
“Almost, but can you curl the back of my hair?”
She assumed the position behind me to fix the pieces I’d missed. “So,” she started, “I have something to tell you that you’re not going to like.”
I sighed. That sounded about right. “Already? I just got here.”
“Sorry.” She twisted her lips, focused on the curling iron. “Apparently, Greg still keeps in touch with your ex, Jordan.”
Jordan Banks. My first real boyfriend, to whom I’d also lost my virginity. “I didn’t know that, but it makes sense,” I said. “Greg introduced us freshman year.”
“Well, Jordan lives in Miami now,” Gretchen said, and met my eyes in the bathroom mirror.
“Gretchen,” I warned. “Please don’t tell me Greg invited him tonight.”
She cringed. “I told him to undo it, but he’s bitching about how rude it would be to disinvite him.”
“Ugh,” I said, glancing at the ceiling. “Davidwon’tlike me having dinner with my ex-boyfriend.”
“I know.” She nodded. “I tried to tell Greg he’d have David to answer to, but it’s like he’s making up for lost time or something. Greg thinks us hanging out will be like ‘the good old days,’ which, by the way, is his favorite phrase as of late, and Iswearif I hear it one more time, I’m going to strangle him.”
I was beginning to think Greg had less desire to atone for the past and more desire torecreateit. Could he be stuck in “the good old days” with a case of Peter Pan syndrome?
“Well, Greg just has to be an adult and cancel,” I said resolutely.
“Jordan’s already on his way,” she informed me. “Sorry, girl. I won’t tell David if you won’t.”
“You’re delusional if you think he won’t find out,” I said to her reflection. “The man knowseverything.”
“Deal with it tomorrow?” she suggested.
“I guess.” Seemed as if it was already time for me to back up my speech about letting me make my own choices. “If I were still with Bill, I wouldn’t even think twice about it.”
“Seriously. It’s been years—it’s just a simple reunion, not a set-up,” she said. “So did you meet Brian’s new girlfriend or whatever she is?”
“No, how is she?”
“Kind of quiet from what I can tell.” She set down the curling iron and half-rolled her eyes. “We haven’t exactly been chumming it up, the group of us.”
“Sorry David and I left you hanging last night,” I said.
“No worries.” She plucked at my curls and drew back to study her work, then gasped as my earrings caught the light. “Whoa. I’ve never seen these before.”
I smiled slyly. “A gift.”
“So let me get this straight—David’s gorgeous, sexy, romantic . . .andhe buys you expensive things?” She sighed wistfully. “You must be a tiger in the sack.”
I laughed. “All evidence points to yes.”
“There must be something wrong with him,” she said.
“Well, he can’t really cook,” I offered with a shrug. “Although he tries with breakfast food, which is nice. And . . .” I hesitated, fixing my watch on my wrist. “He can be a little possessive.”
“So I noticed. And kind of controlling, Liv.” She walked around to perch on the counter in front of me. “Is that something I should be worried about?”
“We’re working through it,” I said. “Ultimately, he means well, and I like that he’s so into me. I’ll take him being a little overbearing when he makes me this sublimely happy.”
“Make sense . . . lucky bitch,” she said with a giggle.
