Page 31
“How was your night with Colby?” Mel asks the following morning, taking a dainty sip of the herbal tea I prepared for her. Little non-caffeine drinking freak that she is.
She says caffeine makes her anxiety worse. I should probably try it out next time I have to be social. However, the only thing worse than being in a room full of people you don’t know, is not being caffeinated.
“Night?” I raise my eyebrows. “You make it sound like I slept with him, Mel.”
She giggles into her teacup, then sets it down on my coffee table. I’m happy we can still spend Saturday mornings together most weeks. After being roommates for several years, I miss having her around.
“I don’t think Colby would mind if you did.”
I’m sipping my hot coffee as she speaks, and her words cause me to drink too fast. I splutter and cough, making the hot liquid drip down the front of my pajamas. “Look what your perverse mind made me do! This is my favorite mumu.”
Melanie throws her head back and laughs. “I can’t believe you wear those nightgowns your gram keeps giving you.”
“Hey now, the one perk of not being a newlywed is that I can still sleep in comfortable garments instead of restrictive lingerie. Leave me be.”
She sighs. “You act like I’m wearing a corset to bed every night.”
“Aren’t you?”
She gets a mischievous glint in her eye. “West prefers when I sleep naked.”
Thankfully, I don’t have a mouthful of coffee this time. Otherwise, I would’ve spewed it across the room. “Married life has made you naughty.”
We hear noise coming from the front door, and a moment later it opens. Andie, Mitch’s fiancée, enters my apartment with a smile. Her eyes flit between the two of us.
“Am I missing all the fun?” she asks before tucking the key I gave her into her purse. She’s in her pajamas like me and Mel. Andie’s are white shorts with smiley faces on them and a matching tee. Mel is wearing one of West’s Eagles t-shirts with leggings.
“Nah,” Mel says, getting up and pulling Andie into a big hug. I stand and do the same, then she sits on the sofa beside Mel, curling her legs underneath her.
“Noel was wondering if I wear a negligee to bed every night.”
Andie’s eyebrows raise. “And do you?”
“Not every night.”
The three of us laugh. Getting up from the comfy chair I’m in, I walk to the kitchen and pour a mug of coffee for Andie. I fill it about one-third with caramel creamer, the way she prefers it. I think back to Colby’s cinnamon roll creamer at Pancake Palace and smile to myself.
When I plop down into my seat again, Mel eyes me. “Anyway, you never answered the question. How was your evening with Colby?”
Andie settles into the couch cushions, watching me with rapt attention. “Oh yeah! That was last night, right?”
I shrug, ignoring the weird flutter in my stomach at the mention of his name. “It was fine, I guess. You guys act like I had a hot date or something.”
“Girl,” Andie says with a quirk of one eyebrow. “Most girls would give their left boob to spend an evening with that man.”
I grab my own boobs, gaping in mock-horror. “Not me. I don’t have any to spare.”
“Oh stop, your boobs are fine. Tell us more about what you guys did!” Mel appears slightly exasperated at my hedging.
“Okay, he took me to Pancake Palace, and then he tricked me into bungee jumping.”
They both gasp and I think it’s because of the bungee jumping part, but that’s not what shocked them.
“He took you to the Pancake Palace?” Mel asks.
I glance between them, confused. “Um, yeah.”
Andie blows out a slow breath. “Colby’s crush is more serious than I thought.”
