“Friend,” she blurts. “I’m his friend.”
My heart sinks to my asshole. Thinking we’re in the friend zone is one thing, but having her say it out loud and in front of my friends is completely different. How many blows can a man take to his ego in one day?
I look down at her, masking my disappointment with a gentle smile. She returns it.
Claire comes skipping around the corner, a bright smile on her face, “did I hear we have a new friend?”
“Clarity, this is Sasha. Sasha, this is our residential ray of sunshine,” I pull the raven-haired girl closer to my friends, “she’s the glue that keeps us together.”
August snorts, “more like keeps y’all from ripping each other’s balls off.”
Miller smiles from the centre of the couch, waving towards us. “Hi Sasha, I’m Miller. Don’t listen to these idiots, I promise we’re not all like that.”
Sasha’s shoulders seem to ease a bit at that, and I thank my lucky stars that Miller’s here to offset my other friends’ personalities.
I finally let go of Sasha when Claire takes a couple of steps forward, wrapping her own arms around my Little Pixie and guiding her towards the living room. “I’m so happy there’s another girl, living with this much testosterone really weighs me down sometimes.” She sends a wink towards the boys, who all roll their eyes in dismissal.
Lucas’s eyebrows knit together before he opens that big fat mouth of his, “aren’t you the girl who puked all over Claire’s bathroom?”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“Oh my god, it is” Blair howls, “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.”
Sasha looks like she wants to crawl into a hole. Surprised, but wants to crawl into a hole.
Luckily, my favourite brunette comes to the rescue.
Claire gives the look of death to Lucas before a sweet, innocent smile creeps onto her face. “Did I ever tell you guys about the movie Lucas and I-“
“Shut up!” He yells, “you promised you wouldn’t say anything.”
Everyone takes their eyes off of Sasha, now distracted by whatever story Claire was about to share. It must be good if Lucas is telling his girlfriend to shut up.
They bicker, but telling her to shut up is something he would never do. He loves Claire more than anything, and with everything she’s been through, he tries to be gentle…triesbeing the key word.
August jumps up from his seat, throwing his arms around Lucas and covering the jack-ass’s mouth. “No, no, continue, Claire. We want to know all about the movie you and Lukie-poo watched.”
Muffled curses come from behind August’s hands, and I see Sasha start to relax again, knowing the heat is off of her.
Claire winks at me before turning, saying to Sasha in a hushed tone, “don’t worry, the dogs have found a new bone to chew on.”
Sasha mouths a silent thank you to Claire, letting loose a deep breath and closing her eyes for a single second.
As the guys all yell over each other —desperate to know this new secret— Steph comes strolling down the stairs and looks at all of us, confused, “what the hell is going on down here?”
“Claire was just telling us about a movie that her and Lucas watched,” Miller laughs.
I try not to smile at how utterly stupid my friends are. They’re probably scaring the living shit out of Sasha right now, but at least they’re being themselves. If she has anyhope of surviving in this group, she should know what she’s up against right off the bat.
“Oh, you mean when he cried during The Princess Bride?”
The words barely leave Steph’s mouth before we’re all dying of laughter. I have to physically stop myself from falling to the floor, because oh my god that’s so good.
I would give a fucking kidney to see that in person. I really hope he’s an ugly crier.
August finally lets go of Lucas’s face as he tumbles off the couch, clutching at his stomach, giving our friend the chance to yell at his girlfriend. “You told Steph?” He yells.
“Sorry,” Claire shrugs, “she’s my best friend.”
