“You’re just jealous because I can order alcohol,” I taunted.
“Trust me, I can get all the alcohol I want,” she said.
It worried me when she made comments like that. “Em, do I need to stage an intervention?”
“Oh stop,” she said. “I only mean that guys at clubs are always eager to buy me drinks. Don’t worry, I only take sealed drinksthat I get to open. I’m not going to wake up in a bathtub of ice with my kidney missing.”
“Damn, you jumped to a dark place with that one,” I said, grabbing the remote and changing the channel to a sitcom. “No more murder mysteries for you! And don’t think I’m not going to mention your underage drinking to Mila. I don’t think she’s going to be happy about that.”
“She already knows,” Em said, unconcerned. “She knows I’m smart enough to keep myself safe. Remember, no losing a kidney here. But, speaking of dating, how’s it going with you?” She raised an inquiring eyebrow at me.
“No, you were speaking of organ theft!” I responded with a laugh.
“I’m referring to earlier in the conversation,” Em said with a huff. “Speaking of our double date with Don’s roommate, do you think we should invite the twins? You know, Danzig and Marduk.”
I gaped at her. “What?”
“Well, they’re into you,” she reminded me. “They showed up every day the first week we moved in until Gio warned them that they couldn’t come onto the condo property unless invited by you. I haven’t seen them since, but I’m sure they’re still interested in you. I mean, they’re super intense about you. That doesn’t disappear because Gio shooed them away.”
The fact that she was suggesting I take both of the men out on a date made me both uncomfortable and excited. That was the real secret: I wanted them both, badly. What kind of woman ended up with twins? Outside of porn.
No, I couldn’t date those two. At least not yet. I needed time to come to terms with them and finish figuring out who the new Bec was.
“No,” I said.
“No, we shouldn’t invite them, or no, they aren’t interested in you?” she asked.
“Drop it,” I said.
“But they’re soooo cute!” Em said. “I don’t understand why you won’t at least go on a few dates with them. Come on, they’d treat you like a princess.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said.
“Huh?”
“Princesses get locked in towers,” I explained. “I lived that life back in South Dakota. I don’t want to be safe and boring any more. I want to be wild and exciting.”
“Was it really that bad?” Em asked. “You and Mila were always laughing when you two were together.”
“She was the highlight of my life back then,” I admitted. “Then she left, and I felt…”
Em filled in the words I couldn’t say. “Left behind?”
I nodded. “In several ways. I couldn’t believe my most stable, responsible friend had dropped everything and moved with almost no notice. It was the jolt I needed.”
“Yeah, she shook everyone up!” Em said with a little laugh. “And the family is way better because of it.”
So much had changed for the better over the last few months that I had to agree. “Very true.”
The sitcom ended, and I flipped through channels until I finally switched to one of our streaming services and put on a black and white movie.
“You’re obsessed with old movies. You know you're allowed to enjoy movies that were made within the last decade,” she said, even as she settled down to watch it with me.
“Color movies have been around a lot longer than a decade,” I said with a laugh. “Don’t worry, this one is a comedy.”
She eyed me suspiciously as the credits for Some Like It Hotplayed.
“Does it have a happy ending?” she asked.
