“Give him…” I blinked and looked out at the brewery, paying closer attention than I had before.
The brewery was usually open seven days a week, and even if they were a little less busy on Sundays, there were normally more than two cars in the lot. Well, one being Lola’s and the other a very familiar white truck that belonged to one of the owners.
“What did you do?”
“You want the truth or a surprise?” She looked slightly guilty.
“Truth,” I answered, and she nodded.
“Onyx called me and asked me to help him help him.”
“With what?”
“To get you to talk to him,” she shared straight up, and I blinked.He called one of my best friends for help?
“Oh. That was kinda… sweet.”Crazy but sweet.
“And I told him to go to hell and hung up on him.” My head jumped to look at her.
“What?” I laughed. Lola was the sweetest person in the world. She cried when she had to kill a spider last week.
“I told him to go to hell. I’ve seen you and how sad you were after... I’m not stupid.”
“But we’re here.”
“Yeah… we’re here. He called again, and again, and again.” she shared with an eye roll I wasn’t used to seeing her do beforefinally cracking a smile. “Look, babe, the guy I talked to? He’s not going to need more than one chance.”
“You conspired to get me here?”
“I love when you use big words.” She winked. “I did, but I didn’t want you to go in completely blindsided. There’s no one here.”
“I can see that, Lola.” Her eyes shined brightly.
“He shut the whole place down for you. For this.”
“Shut the whole… what? Why?”
“You just have to get out of my car and go in there to see.” I guess she was done sharing now.
“And if I don’t want to?” I asked. My best friend simply shrugged her tiny delicate shoulders.
“Then we drive over to the wine bar and wake up hungover tomorrow and never mention Onyx Trejo or the fact you’ve been in love with him for ages ever again.”
“That easy, huh?”
“That easy,” she promised. I believed her. Lola always kept her word.
“This is crazy…” I mumbled but still reached over to unhook my seatbelt. “I can’t believe you helped set me up.”
“It’s super cute and romantic!” she squealed. “Trust me. Oh, and wait—“ She reached for her purse and handed me lip gloss. “Our favorite,” she pointed out, and I put some on before accepting the mint she offered. “Gorgeous like always.” She winked. “Go.”
“Go? Wait, you’re not coming with me?”
“Nope.” The ‘p’ popped, and then her face changed. “Well… unless you don’t feel safe being alone with him.” Genuine concern flashed in her eyes. I shook my head.
“No, nothing like that.” It was the opposite, really. It was crazy justhowsafe I felt. It was my heart I was worried about. “Fine.” I got out, fixing my white cardigan and pulling the babyblue square necked tank I’d put on when I thought we were going to do something holiday-ish.
“Don’t forget your hat!” She leaned over and handed me the soft pink elf hat we’d bought to match this year.
