“Because we’re dudes. We were bandmates and practically brothers, we were drunk, and believe me, this was not the worst shit we did to each other over the years.”
Danica sighed and took a long swig of her drink, which she’d pretty much forgotten about. “Okay. Daniella told me she never saw the tattoo, that your friend told her you were getting her name tattooed on, but she went back to the hotel with some of the girls and didn’t see you again that night. And she told me that she gave you a fake phone number. So I knew that part. And I’d be glad about it, honestly, if I didn’t feel so bad about the fact that she blew you off like that. As much as I’m thrilled, selfishly, that you guys didn’t end up together or anything… I’m pissed that she hurt you, Ashley.”
“Danica, please get this. Your sister and I spent a few drunken hours together and made out. It took me all of ten seconds meeting her sober to know she’s not for me.”
Danica softened, like she was relieved to hear it. Like this was news to her or something? “Okay. I believe you. And… thank you. It’s nice to hear it.”
She smiled at me and it just made me feel like shit.
“Look, I can drive you back to the city if you want. I brought you here under false pretenses, and I meant it when I said I’ll pay for your time.”
“That’s not necessary, Ashley—”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t totally upfront about why I brought you out here. I guess I just felt the need to bring you here while I still had the chance. I wanted you to see this part of my life. I wanted to be totally open with you.” I scrubbed my hand through my hair and dug deep for the rest of the truth. The whole, painful truth. “Including the fact that I live next door to my best friend, and my former, uh… three-way partners.”
Danica blinked at me, as she probably struggled to process what the fuck I just said.
“Three-way… Next door?” Then she glanced around the deck and up at the house behind us. “You meanthisnext door?”
“Yeah. This. Dylan and his girlfriend, Amber. They’re the two people I told you about. The two I was involved with.”
“Oh…”
“I fell in love with both of them,” I told her, because I had to tell her. If she couldn’t handle this truth… there would never be any future for us. “They fell in love with each other. They’re together now and they’re happy. They’re monogamous. I’m not involved with them that way anymore. But we were together for a while at the end of last year. It was like I told you, Dylan and I weren’t together, sexually. We were both with Amber at the same time.”
“But… you fell in love with him? And her?”
“I did.”
“Whoa.” She took a deep breath, processing that.
“You okay?”
“Just… give me a sec.” She took a swig of her cider, then met my eyes. “And… now? How do you feel about them both now? I mean… is it awkward, living next door to them?”
“Yeah. Sometimes it’s awkward as shit. For me. Other times it’s still pretty great. It’s, uh, been a really fucking interesting year.”
“Holy shit,” she said. “You’re not kidding. And your band broke up? That’s some year…”
“Yeah. Before Dylan and Amber, I had a bit of a thing with Elle, too. I should probably just get that out of the way while we’re at it…”
Man. At what point was I gonna send her running?
“Elle?” She blinked at me. “From Dirty?”
“Yeah. That didn’t end so great either, but we’re okay now.”
“Okay…”
“I just want you to know. I guess I’m coming out of a pretty messy place. I’ve been a fucking mess, honestly. Any of my friends could tell you so. But meeting you has been… unexpected. And unexpectedly cool. I’m hoping I didn’t just scare the living shit out of you, and now I’m never gonna see you again.”
“Honestly,” she said, “I think you did just scare the living shit out of me. But I still want to see you again.”
This girl. Christ, I liked this girl.
She smiled at me again, and funny thing was… I was starting to believe that she really liked me, too.
“I’ll stay,” she said. “You don’t have to take me home. I mean… yet. I feel like we just got here, and there’s all that food…”
