“Yeah, I stayed at her place last night.”
“Oh,” Larissa replied and turned her face toward the blank TV.
“She called yesterday, asking me about something she’d lost. Then, I was at the party, which was lame, as usual, and I just felt like going somewhere.”
“Somewhere like an old apartment you shared with an ex-girlfriend?”
“It was somewhere,” she said and shrugged a shoulder. “Anyway, she was out, so I crashed on the couch. Then, we spent the day together, and it was surprisingly good.”
“You spent the day with Alicia?”
“We had lunch and stuff. It was fun.”
“Good. I’m glad,” Larissa said, still not looking at her. “So, you two are…”
“Oh, no.” She laughed. “Not getting back together.”
Larissa turned to her then.
“We didn’t have sex, Larissa. We just hung out today. It was fun. She was out with friends. I fell asleep on the couch, and she ended up meeting someone. They’re going out next week. When she woke up, we just had coffee and decided to go for lunch after that.”
“I’m glad you had a good time, then.”
“I think we’ll end up being friends, which is good. We just don’t work as a couple.”
“You weren’t here when I woke up this morning, so I figured you…”
Harlow took her in as Larissa swallowed and shook her head.
“Gone home with someone?”
“Yeah. But I like Alicia. I always did. I think it’s good that you’re going to be friends.”
“Me too,” she agreed.
“I wanted to talk to you about something else, though, if that’s okay.”
“What?” she asked.
“I know you’re looking for a new place and that you’ve already applied for the one we saw together, but I was thinking that you could just stay.”
“Stay?”
“Here,” Larissa added.
“Stay here? For how long?”
“No, I mean move in. You could just move in here. You don’t have to sign a lease or anything, but we could formalize it somehow, if you want, since I know you’re always on about paying me something for staying in the guest room. The guest room would be officially your room, and we could work the rest out later. That way, you won’t have to move again and pay a ton of money in rent somewhere else. We already know that we live together well, and it would be nice to have you around. You know I’m bad at getting out of the house, and if you aren’t here, there are some days that go by when I don’t see anyone other than people at work,ifI’m actually working that day, so I thought it could be a win-win.”
Harlow sat back against the sofa. She hadn’t expected Larissa to ask her to move in. She’d never had before when Harlow had needed a place to stay. Part of her – the biggest part, of course – wanted to jump at the chance. The smallerpart, though – and the smarter one, clearly – knew that if she did move in, she’d end up hurt. Larissa would eventually date someone. Hell, it could be Janine. And now that Harlow had decided not to be with anyone until she could either tell Larissa how she felt once and for all, or get over the feelings of love for her best friend, she knew it would be too hard.
“I applied for that place,” she said.
“Yeah, I know.”
“I should hear back from them tomorrow. They had a lot of applications, like the guy mentioned, so I might not get it, but my credit is pretty good, so there’s a good chance I will. It’s closer to the office.”
“Oh,” Larissa said. “Right. I know. I thought you might not mind the longer drive if it meant you’d pay a lot less in rent, or nothing at all if–”
