CHAPTER TWO #2
I resent that. “It fits two people,” I insist. “The other night, Sloan saw a spider crawl under her bed at three in the morning and came in here to sleep. It worked.” Not well.
And I sort of ended up on the floor at one point.
But still. “Besides, my old bed didn’t fit in here and getting a new twin-sized bed requires money.
Plus, I already had the sofa.” Then I remember her snide comment about my lack of sleepovers.
“And also, I’ll have you know, I am currently involved in what may well be the healthiest relationship with a male I’ve ever had in my life. ”
Instantly, she perks up. “You have a man, and you didn’t tell me?”
“Sort of.” This isn’t going to end in my favor. I don’t know why I even brought it up. “His name is Andres. He’s my favorite Instacart shopper.”
Her face falls straight into my pillow and more groans along with long, drawn-out ‘Gaaaawwwd’s and ‘what the fuck’s ensue.
“I’m serious, Arizona.” I sit down beside her attempting to defend my very pathetic but very real position.
“He’s so freaking wonderful. He totally knows what I like.
When the store is out of something, he always checks with an employee to see if they have more in the back, and when they don’t, he gets the perfect substitutes.
Plus, the entire time, he communicates everything that’s going on with me.
I feel more heard and taken care of by him than I ever did the entire time I was with Ebenezer. ”
Arizona surfaces from my pillow. “Holy fuck. I don’t even know which one of you comes off worse in that statement. You or your ex-husband.”
“Um, the answer is always Ebenezer.” I’m not usually catty about my ex, but that shit’s written into a best friend friendship. You get to be judgey as all hell and never be judged. Those are the rules.
“Fine. It’s him. You’re just a little sad.” She pats my head in the most condescending way possible. “But that’s okay. We can fix you.”
“I don’t need fixing.”
“Well, your wardrobe sure as shit does if you plan to go to this concert with me tonight.” She scoots herself off the bed until she’s standing again. “Because I ain’t takin’ you in your pajamas.”
I roll my eyes. “Obviously.”
“How is that obvious? I spent ten minutes searching your closet. All you have in there are three oversized sweaters and two fancy dresses too fancy for tonight, possibly ever in real life. Not to mention, an endless supply of tee shirts you obviously sleep in,” she pauses her rant to make a face at me.
“I have high hopes of getting fancy someday. And we get winter here. I need those sweaters.”
She shakes her head. “Three days of temps in the thirties does not constitute winter.” Then she goes back to her spiel about the contents of my closet, “Though I suppose if you’re not wearing anything under those big-ass sweaters, you might get use out of them.
That bridesmaid’s gown from your cousin’s wedding three years ago, probably not so much though.
And the only pair of jeans in here look like they might disintegrate at any second, so wearing them is probably out too. ”
“Those aren’t for wearing. Those are for confidence boosting.”
She frowns. “Enlighten me.”
“I bought them my senior year in high school. Whenever I’m having a bad day, I come in here and put them on and have myself a little ‘I’ve still got it’ moment.” I shrug. “It’s nice.”
“That’s actually a totally acceptable explanation,” she concedes. “But it still doesn’t leave you with anything suitable to wear tonight.”
“You only think that because you’re looking in the wrong closet,” I inform her.
“You don’t have another closet,” Arizona points out even as she scans my room.
“I do,” I confirm my previous statement. “In my office.”
Her brow crinkles and I think the long drive must be catching up to her.
She doesn’t usually get this frazzled talking to me.
“I thought that closet is used for storing all your holiday shit. Last time I was here I nearly wound up strangled to death by your Christmas lights all because I was looking for extra towels.”
I get up from the bed as well and start for the door.
“It is,” I explain as I tug at her wrist to drag her along to the other room.
“On the right. The entire left side is reserved for clothes. Clothes I love and hope to wear someday.” I turn back to smirk at her over my shoulder. “Hey, maybe today is someday!”
I can hear Arizona let out a frustrated huff behind me. “Why didn’t you open with that when this whole conversation started?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure I was listening then,” I admit, “My head’s still replaying the words ‘We’re going to see Knox Marley’ on a loop.
Hard to hear much else.” I point at the closet now that we’re in front of it.
The left side. “Go ahead. See what you’re working with.
I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
She makes a face, rubbing her palms together in preparation of diving in.
“After the horrors in your bedroom closet, I could find nothing but yoga pants and tank tops in here and be pleasantly surprised,” she remarks dryly.
Then she stops glaring at me and starts flipping through the hangers.
“Oh, hey! Girl, you got some nice stuff!”
“I know. I told you. I just lack nice places to go in them.” I pull down one of the bins I keep on the top shelf and direct her to its contents, “Look, I have nice shoes, too!”
Arizona claps her hands like she’s giving me a mini round of applause, eyes bulging with wicked excitement. “We can definitely work with this.”
An hour and two arguments later (one regarding my hair and whether or not I would let her use a flat iron on it – I would not, and one wrap around sandal flats versus strappy heels.
If you see me stumbling by, you’ll know who won that one), I’ve made my bed, fed my hounds, double-checked on my kid at her dad’s, and we’re finally on our way to House of Rock.
I’m driving. Though, I would think that would be obvious at this point.
“How close to the stage do you think we’ll get to be during soundcheck?
” I ask, nervously tapping my fingers on the steering wheel.
It’s catching up to me now, the reality of what’s to come.
Not that I have any foolish fantasies of actually meeting the man, but just knowing we’ll be in the same room, with limited people and the house lights on, feels kind of crazy.
“I’m not sure. I’m thinking that will be up to Tara since we’re kind of tagging along with her tonight.” I notice she’s messing with the straps of her purse an awful lot. She must be getting anxious too.
“Is that fidgeting business about your big plans to snag a member of Trip Three, or are you just nervous about hanging with this Tara chick?” I ask, nodding at the way her fingers are knotted into the leather in her lap.
She looks down at her own hands. Then stops and sighs. “I’m sure she’s good people, I mean, clearly she is given how she hooked us up bigtime and doesn’t even know us.”
“But?”
She grimaces. “I don’t know. I’ve heard Stacie talk about her for years, and before tonight, she never had a kind word to say about Tara.
So, either I’m related to a twofaced gossip who talks shit about her boss for no reason,” she weighs this option in one hand, “or we’re about to spend our big night out with a woman whose employee calls her The Tarrorizer .
..you know, with reason .” She brings her other hand to meet the first like a scale, moving up and down, trying to decide which way our fates will turn.
“I mean,” I start, somewhat hesitant to put my current thoughts into words, “I haven’t spent much time with Stacie in recent years, but back in the day when we all worked together,” I pause before I decide to just go for it.
“Well, she kind of was the queen of gossip. Twofaced might be a stretch, but I’m saying, there’s a lot of room for this to go in the first direction. ”
“Let’s lean that way,” Arizona decides, hand number one shooting up to claim victory. “Tara will be totally awesome and we’re going to love hanging out with her.”
“Now you’re over-selling it.” Two mega-introverts hanging out with a total stranger? There’s nothing to love here. We’ll be lucky if one of us doesn’t wind up rocking in a corner mouthing the words ‘I want to go home’ on repeat.
“Fine, it’ll be totally manageable.”
Yeah. That’s the magic spot we’re looking for. Manageable leaves plenty of room to panic about the other thing...The Knox Marley being in the same room at the same time with the lights on thing.
It’s annoying how awesome that scenario seems in every fantasy, and how much anxiety it induces in real life. Never mind wishing he was the man of my dreams. Tonight, just once, I wish I was the woman of them.