“I don’t want to see you go through what happened last time. But Sully doesn’t seem to be like he who shall not be named.”
“There’s a fine line. Sully could hook up with Gigi. I mean his PR rep basically blessed it right before my eyes and turned around to toss me out.” I shove my mug away and cross my arms, resting my chin on top of them. “Maybe it’s true what they say…you shouldn’t meet and then fuck your favorite musicians. It’s too…murky.”
Alice snorts. “That’s not the saying and you know it.” Her face falls as she studies me. “Be honest. Is he worth all this trouble?” For a second, I think she’s being genuine. “How is he in the sack? Do you come or do you fake it?”
And…there it is. I can’t have a heart-to-heart with Alice to save my life.
I stumble away from the table, almost choking on my gasp. “I’m not going there with you.”
She shrugs, running her tongue along her top teeth. “Just something to think about. You’re a real tight ass when you’re not getting any.”
“Screw you.” I flip her the bird, and she chuckles, gathering her cup to grab more coffee.
“So, your brilliant plan is to ignore him forever? You know he’ll show up here again or at work. What will you do then?”
I want to crawl into a hole and hide for a month. “This is all your fault. If you didn’t—”
“What?” Her joy is gone, replaced with red-hot rage. “If I didn’t get tickets to my best friend’s favorite band to cheer her up? Did I force youto hang around an alley to meet the band in the middle of the fucking night?”
“Okay. That’s on me…” I wrap my arms around my waist, shielding myself from her verbal blows. “But you don’t—”
She shoves her finger into my chest and it feels like the barrel of a gun. “No. Don’t you but me. You met the band and you chose to text Sully. Without telling me, you went to meet him at his hotel and then you went to Vegas! You! The girl who thinks serial killers lurk in the shadows and doesn’t allow me to open windows past ten o’clock despite us being on the second floor and the whole city in the middle of a heat wave.”
“Okay, fine.” I rub my chest where her finger dug a hole. “It’s my fault. Is that what you want to hear? After spending all this time with him, I learn he’s sweet and strong. He supports my mermaiding and doesn’t make me feel foolish. Fuck. He’s in some of my modeling pictures now!”
Alice blinks at me for a moment. “I don’t know what that means, but screw you.”
“No…” I tug on my hair and spit my next words, “You didn’t want to hang out at home with your heartbroken best friend but didn’t want to feel guilty going out either. So, if I had someone then you were off the hook.”
“I’m not going to keep doing this with you.” She hits a vase of flowers, and it crashes to the ground, exploding into pieces. “You want to be a miserable workaholic and piss away the rest of your life be my guest!” She stomps on the broken shards and swings open the front door.
Her sudden exit sucks all the oxygen out of the room. I stand there in shock, staring at the gaping hole to the outside world. The sky is a bright blue with no clouds in sight. Birds sing and people honk car hornsdown below on the street. Life goes on, but I’m stuck in this moment. Speechless and glued to the ground.
It’s not unusual for Alice and me to fight. Being roommates and best friends does equal a kind of sisterhood. And sometimes sisters argue and turn nasty at times. But this is different. Alice never got in my face like that. Her words never cut me so deeply that my skin felt raw and bleeding. I didn’t want whatever was going on with Sully and me to ruin the only friendship that lasted more than a few years. We’ve been there for each other since grade school. I’m the first person she came out to. We share a whole history.
After a few crushing moments, I push myself forward and close the door. Alice is too far away to do anything. At this point, I’m not sure if an apology will help smooth things over, but I need to do something. The more time we spend apart angry, the more our friendship cracks and splinters.
“What the hell am I doing?” This is so me. Burn anyone too close. No one can hurt me if I cut off their legs and abandon them first.
With a heavy heart, I scoop my phone off my bed and send Alice a text. Asking her to lunch and sending a white flag emoji as an olive branch.
A moment later my phone lights up with a call. I don’t look at the name on the screen, I just hit answer.
“Alice. Please come back and we can—”
“It’s not Alice.” Sully’s voice slices into me deeper than a razor blade.
I remove the phone from my ear, muttering swear words under my breath. Why didn’t I look before answering? I’m a damn fool.
“Veronica?” he asks, pain leeching into his voice.
Ice climbs up my spine. My thumb hovers over the end call button.
“Sully, I can’t do this anymore. Can wejust—”
“Please. One last date. Then if you don’t want to see me again, I’ll respect your wish.” His voice is rough, thick with grief. If I close my eyes, I can almost see him—the way his lips would pout, the deep frown lines creasing his forehead.
I clutch the phone tighter. “Does Gigi know you’re calling me? Did you ask Amy for permission?” My voice cracks at the end, exposing too much.
