“You good to go in?” Levi asks gently, pulling away.
“Yes. Let’s see how flexible you are, Little Jonesy,” I say with a soft smile that I know isn’t reaching my eyes.
With one last squeeze, Levi says, “I know you're deflecting, but trust me when I say you have plenty to offer. Big and small. I know it’s easier said than done, but forget about him, he’s not worth any more of your energy.”
Sixty minutes later, we’re leaving the yoga studio sweaty and laughing. I definitely needed that yoga session, I already feel alittle lighter. Not much, but just enough to make this afternoon not so heavy. It’s almost like I’m more comfortable in my body. I’m present in the now and not in the past.
“I can’t believe I fell like that,” Ellie says, still blushing.
“Not your fault sweetie, you’ve never done yoga before.” JJ smooths over, throwing his arms around Ellie’s shoulder, kissing the top of her head, making her blush deepen.
“Considering, you’re six foot three and weigh two hundred fifty pounds, you should be the one falling all over, not me,” Ellie answers, pushing him off of her, making him laugh. And that feeling is back, the more I watch them together, it’s clear to see that I never had that. I always . . .
Before I can go too deep in the rabbit hole, Levi nudges me and says, “Enough of that for the day.”
“Enough of what?”
“You know what. You and Summer are the exact same, you get the same look on your face when your thoughts start getting away from you,” he says with a smirk.
“How about avocado toast as a reward for all that hard work?” JJ says before I can answer Levi.
“Avocado toast?” Lacey asks with a snort. “Since when do you eat avocado toast? What happened to the I-Only-Eat-Meat-and-Potatoes kid I grew up with?” she ends with a laugh.
“He became a man who makes millions on being healthy,” he says. “A man who pays for your education,” he adds with a wink, tagging her around the neck to give her a nuggy.
“Okay! Enough! Enough!” she says, trying to hide a laugh as the rest of us break into an uncontrollable laughter. Once we’ve calmed down Levi says, “Our usual spot?” With a nod of the head from JJ, Levi says, “Perfect, we’ll meet you guys there.”
Once we’re sitting in the car on our way to the breakfast restaurant, waiting at a red-light Levi turns to look at me. “You feeling better?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. I know it’s tough, but you’ll be back to that annoying, wild child you were before you left home. The confident girl who used to Skype home with Summer to keep us younger boys in line.”
“I know. I just wish I could get there faster.”
“All great things take time, Hannah.”
“When did you become so deep, Little Jonesy?” I say with an eye roll.
“Since you moved in with me and Summer sent me a thousand scenarios and what to do and say in each scenario.”
“She didn’t?” I ask, eyes going wide.
“She did. Although, just in point form, so really, half of it is me,” he says with a smirk and a wink. “But in all honesty, I think having Ellie and Lacey will help. Plus, working on that Bucket List will push you out of your comfort zone. You’ll be fine,” he finishes as we pull into a parking lot.
“Come on. Let me buy you unlimited coffee and the best avocado toast you’ve ever had. Then we’ll invite ourselves to JJ’s to use his pool,” he says.
Walking into the restaurant, I can tell you that I am not having avocado toast. How these two come here regularly and eat something like avocado toast has me questioning my friendship with Levi. This place oozes grease. It’s the kind of place where you know the coffee is strong, the bacon is perfectly crispy, and the pancakes are amazingly fluffy. There’s no way I’m settling for an avocado toast.
My stomach growls at the smells, just as I spot Lacey, Ellie and JJ sitting in a red leather corner booth. We wave and make our way over. I’ve barely had time to sit down before JJ says, “So Hannah, about this Bucket List I’ve heard about . . .”
“You’ve heard about that?” I ask, cutting him off, casting a look at Ellie.
“Yeah, Ellie told me you had some interesting things on that thing. Quite a few you could easily do here in Calgary.”
“Oh really? What exactly did Ellie tell you?” I ask, feeling the blush deepen on my cheeks, hoping she didn’t tell him the entire list.
“Yeah,” JJ continues as he takes a sip of his coffee, not noticing how uncomfortable I’ve gotten. “I actually realized that I’ve lived in Calgary for a few years, six years to be exact, and I’ve never been horseback riding, done a pedal pub—even though they're notorious here—and I’ve never been line dancing. So, I got to looking around last night and I found a bar that has line dancing nights on Thursdays. How about it?”
