JAY:See you then, Claire.
Smiling, I close out our chain to type out the text I planned on sending.
ME:Be here tomorrow to shop for a new outfit. Guess who finally has plans Friday night.
Almost immediately I get a response.
CHLOE:IT’S HAPPENING!
I send a thumbs-up emoji as another text comes in.
CHLOE:Jay boy wants to rev your engine, doesn’t he?
Then another.
CHLOE:Tap your bumper?
And another.
CHLOE:Flick your headlights?
Laughing to myself, I set my phone down again and roll back into bed.
I drift off to sleep humming the tune toI just had sexand thinking of shooting stars.
I get backfrom my run to see Chloe sitting on the steps to my apartment with two coffees from Busy’s in her hand. I feel bad that she’s starting to sweat from the morning sun, but to be fair, when I said I wanted her here to go shopping, I thought she’d come when the stores were actually open. I should have known better.
Chloe and I treat our summers very differently. Where I like to keep routine, she is very muchgo with the flow.Sometimes the flow means sleeping in until 10 am and sometimes it’s hitting hot yoga before the sun comes up. Today, the flow led right to my apartment door when she realized I have a date (are we calling it that?) and she is lacking details.
She hands me my iced butterscotch latte, slurping up the last sip of her mocha cold brew.
“Were you waiting that long?” I ask, signaling to her empty drink.
“Nah, I was just super thirsty. You’re lucky you got here in time. Yours was next.”
Fake gasping, I pull my drink back. “Never!” I take a long sip of my latte and close my eyes in bliss. “These truly are the best.”
“I know I am. Now tell me everything.”
I fill her in as we walk into my building and to my apartment. Starting at the beginning I tell her all of it, from pizza at Enzo’s to our text chain last night. She listens intently, nodding here, gasping there, and asking for step-by-step details of our kiss including sound effects and role play.
When she finally sets me free from my story, I leave her in my bedroom and step into the shower. From the bathroom, I hear her yell.
“So let me get this straight. You get this mysterious,sexymechanic if I may add, to feed you, openly admit to liking you, and kiss you up against the wall like the intro to an adult movie?”
“Okay, I wouldn’t take it that far.”
“And now youare going to Neon Nights with him and a bunch of his hot, greasy friends?”
“I never said his friends were hot or greasy so I’m not sure…”
“And you’re just telling me about it now!”
“I’m sorry! It all happened so fast.”
I hear her scoff, and I can picture her eyes rolling as clearly as her being in here with me. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re forgiven. But I better receive regular updates from here on out.”
Laughing from the shower I stick my head out of the curtain. The view from the bathroom leads right through the door to her sitting on my bed. Her grumpy expression would look right at home on a toddler who hadn't been allowed ice cream for dinner.
