I laugh now and shake my head. “No, not on purpose. Leila’s coming over tonight. We always have a girls’ night this first weekend in October. Long-standing plans.”
Theo nods grimly. “Well then, I can’t intrude. Maybe another night.”
“I’ll hold you to that promise,” I tease.
“Perfect. Enough talk about my mother, please. Let’s see if we can find other things to keep that pretty mind of yours busy today.”
Theo does find plenty of other ways to keep my mind from straying into the dark thoughts throughout the day. He keeps coming up with excuses to pull me off to the side, out of eyesight, so he can kiss me until I’m melting against him. Or he’ll send me funny messages through our messaging application that make me laugh out loud.
I’m grateful for any and all distractions he provides. And they definitely make the day go by quicker. As I’m on my way out, Theo gives me a fond smile and tells me to call him this weekend if I’m missing him.
I wink at him as I wave goodbye, knowing there’s a good chance I’ll be doing exactly that.
Later that evening, when my doorbell rings, I hurry out of my bedroom and over to the door to unlatch it. Leila stands right at my threshold with a wide, beaming grin on her face. In one hand, she’s got a bottle of Rose, and on the other, a to-go bag that is hopefully filled with a wide selection of sushi.
I open the door for her, and she walks into my apartment, going straight to the living space and setting the wine and the food on my small table. Already, I’ve gotGilmore Girlspulled up on my TV, ready to stream.
This is a fall tradition for us—for as long as we both can remember, this first weekend of fall, we always have a dedicated girls’ night, complete with our annual discussion of Jess v. Logan and copious amounts of wine.
“I’ve been waiting all week for this,” Leila says as she settles on the couch. She rubs her hands together excitedly before digging into the food bag and pulling out different containers of sushi. “I got a little bit of everything since I wasn’t sure what you were feeling this week.”
I grab two long-stemmed wine glasses from my glassware cabinet and take a seat next to her. Leila’s already got the lids off each container and has made sure we eachhave our own access to Wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce. As soon as I’m seated, Leila hands me a set of Chopsticks, and we dig in.
We make it through one of our favorite episodes in which the Stars Hollow Gang immerses themselves in a twenty-four-hour dance-a-thon. For these girls’ nights, we always run through all of our favorite episodes rather than watch them in order.
We’ve each seen the show all the way through atleastfive separate times, so we can confidently follow along with the surrounding storyline while still appreciating the shenanigans each favorite episode brings.
When the credits start to roll on the first episode, Leila reaches for the wine bottle to refill. “So—” she says, lingering on the word.
I look over at her questioningly. “What?”
She gives me an expectant shrug. When I don’t respond—still fully unaware of what she’s talking about—she gives an exasperated sigh. “I haven’t seen you in ages. I’m dying to know all the dirty details of you and your guy.”
My mouth goes dry, and I have to set down my glass. “What do you mean?”
Leila rolls her eyes. “Come on, Whitney. I’ve still been hooking up with Chase every other weekend. And he’s not shy about sharing just how infatuated his brother is with you.”
I feel the heat on my cheeks rise, and I know they’re starting to turn pink. “Chase has said that?”
Leila nods, giving me a wicked grin. “Oh, he has. Apparently, you’re all Theo can talk about—Chase says it drives him nuts, but I secretly think he’s glad to see his brother so happy.” I swallow thickly, and Leila tracks the movement. “So don’t be shy, tell me everything!”
“I’m not sure what there is to tell,” I lie. Leila knows about our weekend getaway for his mother’s gala a few weeks ago, but I didn’tshare all the dirty details with her. As far as she was concerned, it was a trip that was strictly business. I didn’t tell her that Theo had invited me specifically as his date rather than his assistant.
“Have you slept with him?”
“Leila!” I gasp, looking at her with wide eyes. I feel the telltale heat sliding onto my cheeks, indicating they’ll be flushing a rosy pink here any minute.
She snickers and raises her glass to take a sip. “I’ll take that as ayes.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations,” I say back, doing my best to keep my tone neutral.
Leila’s lips pull into a smirk. “So then…how many of your things has Theo checked off?”
Again, I’m dumbfounded by my friend’s forwardness. As if she can tell I’m not loving this line of questioning, she pushes even further. “Oh, come on, don’t tell me that all of a sudden, you’ve benched the list. I know you better than that. So, tell me.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “You haven’t told Chase anything about that, have you?”
She flips her hair over her shoulder and rolls her eyes. “Of course not. I would never. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been curious.”
