A few fireflies flash within the garden. I watch their soft blinking glow and think back to summer sleepovers, when the three of us would stay up late trying to catch as many as we could. We would whisper wishes and release them all at once with the hope that they’d carry our dreams into the sky and scatter them among the stars.
“Does it bother you?” I ask. “That she asked me, too? To be her maid of honor?”
Chloe mirrors my position, her forearms pressed against the railing. “Why would it bother me? You’re her best friend.”
I shake my head. It might’ve been true once, but now it just feels wrong to call myself that. Not when we’ve put purposeful distance between us. Not when Chloe’s been the one to stick around and pick up the pieces. “No,you’reher best friend. Jules and I are…”
“Are what?” she asks softly.
And that’s the question. One I don’t have an answer for anymore. “Something else.”
She wants to say something. I don’t have to see her to know that she’s holding back. I can feel it. Chloe and I may not be as close as she and Jules are, but I’ve been friends with her long enough to know when she’s about to call me out on my bullshit.
But Chloe stands right as I hear familiar footsteps along the patio. I turn to see Jules rushing toward us wearing an almost pained expression and a set of very low heels. Another act of rebellion.
“You good?” Chloe asks once she reaches us.
“Can you two do me a favor?”
Chloe stands at attention. “Ready for orders.”
Jules leans in and discreetly points to an older woman slowly making her way outside to sit in one of the oversized patio chairs. “That’s Brian’s great-aunt Margaret. She’s…”
“A bitch?” I say before Jules can find the word she wants to use. It makes her crack the smallest of smiles.
“Not a fan of mine,” she says instead. “Can you please make sure she doesn’t sneak up and corner me?”
Chloe takes a sip of her drink, then says, “Abso-fucking-lutely,” at the same time that I say, “I’m not sure she’s quick enough to do any kind of sneaking.”
Jules laughs, but it’s clear she’s still very nervous about having to interact with Aunt Margaret. It makes me wonder how horrible she must be.
“Where’s Brian?” I ask, realizing I haven’t seen him in a while and wondering why he gets to disappear while Jules still flutters around, attempting to appease the masses.
“I told him to go spend time with his friends. Which…” She peers over the railing and off to the side.
I follow her line of sight to a whitewashed group of mensurrounding a firepit. A firepit. In the middle of August. When I go to say as much, Jules is already giving me a pleading look. A sense of dread settles in my stomach. I know what she’s going to ask before she even asks it.
“Would you mind going down there and spending some time with him?”
“Seriously?” I turn to Chloe for help, but she takes a long pull of her beer and looks away, wanting no part. “Traitor,” I whisper.
“Hey, I’m not the one who up and moved to London. I know the guy.”
Ouch. That one stings. But she softens her harsh words with a wink and nods toward Jules, who is still giving me puppy eyes, as if to say “Do it for her.”
“He wants to get to know you. Please?”
And fuck it all to hell. The look and the pleading…I groan, folding like a goddamn lawn chair. “Fine.” I shoot Chloe a glare. We will definitely come back to her throwing me under the Brian Bus later, and I begrudgingly make my way to the steps leading down to the ground level. “I’d rather be on Aunt Margaret duty,” I mutter.
“Be nice,” Jules calls out.
“I’m always nice,” I shout back.
“In what universe?” I hear Chloe add.
My steps slow the closer I get to the huddled group of men and murmur a silent plea for the ground to swallow me whole before I reach them. But either no one is listening or I’m their entertainment for the evening because it doesn’t happen.
Brian lights up when he sees me, although I don’t know why. The handful of times we’ve spent together have never once been pleasant. He’s probably drunk. But I smile and stand beside him, doing my best not to flinch when he drapes his arm around my shoulders.
