"You just haven't reached the final act yet," she said, holding up a copy of tonight's a book pick. Maybe I was crazy, maybe it was an optical illusion, but I couldn't help but feel like silver fox's eyes on the cover tracked my every move.
"Huh?"
"Your story. There's still one more act to go." Nessa pointed at me. "When are you going to realize that you, my dearest friend, are living a romance novel dream?"
"Pfft! In what world is my life a romance novel dream?"
"I don't know," June chimed in before crunching down on another chip. She was doing a lot less helping and a lot more snacking. "I might be with Ness on this one. You two are like the most romance novel-ish of romance novels."
"Oh, please."
"Opposites attract?" June suggested.
"Work colleagues," Nessa added.
"Fling-to-lovers."
Dang it, June knew romance novels as well as Nessa. My eyes ping-ponged between the two of them while they listed off my and Soren's relationship tropes.
"Don't forget the sex list." Nessa bit her lip, but it was too late.
June's eyes lit up like a sparkler on the Fourth of July. "Sex list?! Oh, Clarke, please." She placed her palms together and continued to beg. "Please tell me about the sex list."
"Okay, that's enough." I held my hands out in front of me, backing away from them. "I might not know romance novels like the two of you, but I've read enough to know that this thing with Soren certainly isn't the stuff of romance novel dreams. It was fun while it lasted, but now it's run it's course, so that's that."
"And?"
"And we both agreed that it was best to walk away before things get too . . . intense."
"And?!" June probed again.
"And what more do you want?" I hadn't said anything about our night in Asheville. There was no way they could possibly know about that. Right?
"The sex list, Clarke," June practically shouted. "Obviously."
"I'm not giving you that!"
"Come on, we're your best friends. Both of whom are having a dry spell right now." She flicked her finger between her and Nessa. "The least you can do is regale us with your sexploits."
I stopped. "Is that true?"
"The dry spell?" June asked. "Sadly, yes. My vagina has sealed itself tighter than a tomb in the desert."
"Ew." Nessa crossed her arms in front of her body. "But yes. Ditto."
"No, I mean about you being my best friends," I clarified, relaying their words back to them. "Is that true?"
For a minute, they both stared at me. Then at each other, almost as if there was another conversation happening that I wasn't privy to. When they finally came around the display table, they each wrapped an arm around either side of me.
"Of course, it's true," Nessa said around a smile.
"You should know by now that we're pretty blunt with our words," June added. "We love you, Clarke."
My heart skipped a beat. To think, just a few months ago, I was sharing a sterile townhouse with a man who didn't respect me—both of which my parents had handpicked—without a clue of what I wanted. In life, in the bedroom, in a partner. And here I was living in an vintage camper named after one of my favorite film icons, surrounded by people I admired and loved. Nessa, June, Dani.Soren.
Don't go there, Clarke.
And they loved me back. Well, most of them anyhow. What more could a girl ask for?
