Wait—love?
I close my eyes and try to think. Yes, I thought I was under the influence of Cupid’s arrow, so I let my guard down. I opened up with him, I laughed with him. I trusted him. But did I really fall inlove? In two days?
My brain is too scrambled to figure it out, but it seems important somehow—like a footnote that brings clarity tosomething you don’t quite understand.
I don’t know. I just don’t know.
I need my best friend.
It’s part of our personal girl code that Janae and I share everything about our lives. She probably knows more about me than I know about myself. But before I left for Vegas, I only sent Janae a very vague text:Driving to Vegas. Last-minute invitation to big conference, can’t miss. If you haven’t heard from me in three days, give this license plate number to the police.
I included a picture of the car and the license plate. I didn’t mention the man who would be going with me because Cupid would have been too difficult to explain via text. But my flight doesn’t board for another hour, and I’ve got time on my hands and the vestiges of feminine rage. So I hunker down and dictate the entire story—beginning to end—in voice notes.
Janae won’t be able to respond to them until after she gets off work, I know that. By then, I’ll be up in the air without service. But at least I got some things off my chest. I feel lighter for having shared this with her. Who needs a man when you have a best friend and voice notes?
The next few hours go by in a blur. From the gate to the plane, from the plane to a different gate in a new airport. From the airport to a cab to my apartment. I spend the time in a daze, replaying pieces of the last two days in my head like a sizzle reel.
Cupid telling some corny joke, and the fuzzy feeling in my chest as I laughed along with him. The slightly lopsided smile and the way his hair flopped to the side when he ran his hands through it. Those stupid fake cigarettes that I found so charming, and still do.
And then there are the memories that came unbidden as I dozed off on the plane. The twin blazes in his eyes as he watched meunravel beneath him. The soft gasp when I kissed him the first time. The press of his body against mine as he thrust inside me, so slow, like he wanted to savor the moment.
When I finally make it to my apartment, Janae is already sitting on the couch with a bottle of wine and pizza at the ready. I will never regret giving my best friend a key to my apartment.
She pops up from the couch and crushes me into a hug. “Poor thing,” she says, pushing me down onto a mountain of cushions. “I got your messages. Didn’t understand half of what you were telling me, but I knew it was bad enough to require carbs and alcohol.”
I look at her through watery eyes and give a shaky smile. “I love you.” My hand reaches out and gives one of hers a squeeze.
“I love you, too, Fee.” She pops the cork and pours me a glass, right to the rim. Then she hands me a slice of pizza and sits down next to me.
“Now spill,” she demands. “Starting with who the hell this Cupid guy is, and if I need to hire a hit on him.”
I laugh around the bite I’m chewing and take a big guzzle of my wine. “Okay,” I say. “Buckle up, buttercup, because this is about to get weird.”
When I’ve finished recounting the details of my last forty-eight-plus hours, Janae is staring at me with wide eyes and an empty wine glass.
“So he was telling the slot machine that he lied to you, and then he called you unlovable? To your face?”
“That about sums it up,” I say, upturning my glass to get the last drops of wine.
“And you didn’t deck him out?”
“Sadly, no. I ran away crying.”
Janae blinks, taking in this final detail. After a moment processing, she reaches for another slice. “I have two questions for you, Fee. And I want you to answer them honestly.”
“Shoot.”
“Did Cupid…” She hesitates. “Did he have wings?”
This makes me laugh so hard I nearly fall off the couch. Janae joins in, but looks slightly bewildered—either by the lingering shock that Cupid is real, or by my reaction, or both.
When I can breathe again, I tell her, “I don’t know, actually. He was kind of touchy about the wing question.”
“Hmm. Interesting.”
“Second question?”
Janae looks me in the eye and asks, “Well, do you?” My head cocks to the side. “Love him, I mean.”
