3. Chapter 3
I wouldn’t trade my friendship with Austin for the world, but there’s something about spending time with the girls who have been my best friends since we were eleven that is irreplaceable.
Shayna pulls into the parking lot of our favorite biscuit shop that we all go to every Sunday morning to kick-start our week. I’ll never say no to more time with the girls I know will never judge me and will always have my back.
I tap my fingers on my knees in the backseat of the SUV, ready to dive into my favorite biscuit breakfast sandwich and some bonuts—the most heavenly little biscuit donut holes, fried to perfection and tossed in cinnamon sugar.
I’m in need of some more sugar therapy and time spent laughing with my girls after that horrific date last night. We’ve been through it all together. Puberty. Breakups. College acceptance letters. Loss. First jobs. And I couldn’t be more thankful to have them by my side.
After I met Kelsey, Shayna, and Mallory in the front row at a Taylor Swift concert in sixth grade, we dubbed ourselves the Long Live Girlies and have been inseparable ever since.
Every Friday evening, we had our weekly girls’ night, and once we graduated college, we fulfilled our childhood promise to live together.
I know that when I’m old and gray, I’ll look back and cherish these days of sharing a space together with my besties that feel more like sisters.
I get out of the car and spot our friend Tess waiting by the front door.
She waves at us with a smile on her face and her dark brown hair slicked back in a high ponytail.
I don’t know how she manages to get everywhere early and look so good when she’s a single mom to a five-year-old girl, but she makes everything look effortless.
Tess joined our group when Kelsey started dating Tyler, Tess’s brother, who also happens to be our next-door neighbor.
She fits in seamlessly, like the invisible stitch that ties our friend group together.
I pull her in for a hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“You, too.” She pulls back and wiggles her brows. “I can’t wait to hear about your date last night.”
I pop my lips. “Trust me, it wasn’t anything to write home about.”
Tess pouts and threads her arm through mine. “At least we have each other now that everyone else has gone and fallen in love.”
We glance over at our friends who are all gushing over a picture the paparazzi took of Mallory and her celebrity boyfriend, Griffin Reynolds. Yes, that Griffin Reynolds: the mega-famous rom-com movie star.
Then there’s Shayna, who recently threw us all for a loop when she confessed she’s been in love with Mallory’s older brother, Connor, since we were teenagers.
I’m happy my friends found the kind of love they deserve, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wonder why I can’t find the same thing. I don’t know what I did wrong in life to go out with men who take me to funerals or bring their mothers on first dates.
I’ve tried my best to stay optimistic and give any date a chance.
If I’m being honest, I’ve been feeling the pressure to find my perfect match like my friends have.
I know they’d tell me I’m crazy if I told them this, but part of me is worried about not being able to see them as much while they all enter this new stage of life together.
I know everything will fall into place when it’s supposed to, so I need to stop trying to rush things.
But I can’t help but wonder if my many awful dates are a sign that I’m meant to give up on dating for the time being.
I sigh. “Sisters before misters.”
Tess shoots me a mischievous grin. “Baddies before baby daddies.”
I laugh as we walk into the restaurant and get in line. “Okay, you win.” I run my fingers along the strap of my purse. “Speaking of, have you heard from Julian?”
Julian, her loser ex-husband, cheated on her with his assistant.
They moved to Berlin together after he gave up all parental rights to their daughter, Evie.
If I ever meet the man in person, he can expect a quick kick to the groin, ensuring he never fathers another child…
and I think that’s rather mild compared to what my other friends and Tess’s brother would do to him.
Tess shakes her head. “Still radio silence since he left.”
I squeeze her arm. “Any man that fumbles you is a fool.”
“Thanks.” She lets out a dry laugh. “I just feel bad for Evie that she’s never going to know her dad. She didn’t do anything to deserve this.”
“Neither did you.” I knock her hip with mine. “It’s his loss.”
“That’s what I keep reminding myself.” Tess takes a deep breath. “Anyway, that’s why I will firmly be in the baddies-before-baby-daddies group for life.”
“After last night, I’m right there with you.”
Before she can ask me to explain further, we reach the front of the line.
I place my order and pay before grabbing our favorite table in the corner of the restaurant.
I set my phone down on the table and am about to flip it over so I’m not distracted by any notifications when it vibrates with an incoming text.
I glance at it warily, praying it’s not Patrice asking me how the date went with her coworker last night.
My stomach drops when I see the name on my lock screen. It’s worse than Patrice.
It’s her sister.
BIANCA
We haven’t gotten your RSVP yet! Just a reminder that they’re due by the end of the week. We would hate to not have you there since you’re the one who brought us together *red heart emoji*
What my cousin coincidentally leaves out is that the “we” she’s referring to is her and Bradley Vanderbilt.
The same Bradley Vanderbilt she met when I was dating him.
I didn’t know that inviting him to family events when we were dating constituted bringing them together.
But it seems she has a hard time with definitions since she also thinks the word cousin is synonymous with please, go right ahead and date my ex right after we broke up.
At least I had my besties there to help put the pieces back together. The people who have never failed me.
It’s been four years since we dated, and I’ve moved on.
But anytime I remember that Bianca had actually been DMing Bradley on social media while we were still together, it still gets my blood boiling.
Maybe it’s even part of the reason her sister, Patrice, tries to set me up with all these random guys.
Like she’s trying to offer me some love penance on her sister’s behalf.
The worst part wasn’t even finding out that they’d been messaging, but what she’d been telling him.
That I would never be able to fit into his world.
That he needed to be with someone like her—a woman who knows what it takes to step into a prominent, upper-class family.
And I guess her manipulation tactics worked, because now she’s marrying him.
Honestly, I dodged a bullet when Bradley Vanderbilt ended things with me if he’d be willing to toss me aside so easily.
But he’s always been the kind of guy to mold his personality into the people he’s around.
Which is exactly why he’s a massive jerk now, just like my insufferably mean cousin who has bullied me and my friends since middle school.
My phone vibrates again in my hand. I look at the screen with a pit in my stomach.
BIANCA
There’s no shame in coming alone!
I roll my eyes. Of course she would assume the reason I haven’t RSVPed to her wedding is that I don’t have a date, not because I don’t want to be around her mean-girl personality or my ex.
Shayna slides into the circular booth wearing the cutest floral-print top tucked into jean shorts and her signature pearl-studded headband. She meets my gaze with a smile. I must be doing a bad job of schooling my features, because her face falls when she sees me. “What’s wrong?”
I purse my lips. “Everyone’s going to want to hear this.”
We wait for the rest of our friends to place their orders. Once all my besties are in the booth, Shayna clears her throat. “Alyssa got a weird text while we were all ordering.” She turns back to me. “Spill, sister.”
I run my fingers through the ends of my hair.
“Let’s just say I’m already certain both of my cousins are going to be my crappy this week.
” Every Friday during our girls’ night, we share our happies and crappies to catch up on each other’s lives.
Turns out, crap is just hitting the fan early for me this week.
“I don’t know which one is worse, Patrice and her ineptitude at matchmaking or Bianca marrying my jerk of an ex-boyfriend. ”
“Bianca,” they all say in unison. No hesitation.
They’re not wrong. I glance back at my phone and read the text messages to my friends.
“What?” Mallory shouts and smacks her hand on the table. Her messy bun bounces with the movement. Mallory is our blunt bestie. The girl who will stand up for any of us without a second thought.
My face heats as conversations at the surrounding tables come to a halt as people stare at us. A restaurant staff member approaches with a large tray holding our drinks.
“Sorry,” Mallory mouths up to her. The girl nods and leaves all our drinks on the table without a word.
“What?” Mallory repeats, her voice quieter this time but still insistent. “Who does she think she is?”
I lift my iced brown sugar shaken espresso into the air and extend my pinky finger. “The future Mrs. Bradley Vanderbilt,” I say in a haughty tone.
“I’d like to vander her bilt.” Mallory folds her arms across her chest.
Shayna slumps in the booth and leans closer to me. “What does that even mean?”
“I think it’s better not to ask,” I mumble.
“I still don’t get why you haven’t asked Austin to go with you.
” Kelsey tucks her curled brown hair behind her ear and sips on her latte.
I don’t know how she’s drinking a hot coffee while in a sweater in this summer heat, but to each their own.
She works multiple jobs, so she’s gotten used to wearing layers of clothing whenever she leaves the house, especially since there are times in Louisville where it feels like you experience all four seasons in one day.
I groan. “When are y’all going to stop with this whole me-and-Austin thing? It’s like the word fetch; it’s n—”
“Never going to happen,” they all finish in unison.
Probably because I’ve said it to them a million times, even though they continue to bring it up like I have amnesia.
But all my memories are fully intact, even though there are some moments from my past that I wish I could forget.
Like Bianca getting together with my ex.
And the night I met Austin. Maybe if I could forget that night altogether, it would be easier to just be friends with the man.
“I don’t want to bring him into this stupid drama.”
“Isn’t that the whole point of a friend?” Tess asks. “To be there for you through thick and thin?”
“Especially when life is hard and messy,” Kelsey adds. “You all were there for me last year when all that crap went down with my mom. And you kicked my booty—metaphorically speaking—when I was being a complete idiot about everything with Tyler.”
“We’ve known each other practically our whole lives.” I take a sip of my drink, needing the caffeine to stave off the headache I can feel forming. “It’s different when it comes to Austin.”
“Why?” Kelsey asks.
“Because he’s a boy?” Tess muses.
I rub my temples. “No.”
“Is this your way of admitting you’re in love with him?” Shayna smiles widely.
I shake my head, and it’s the truth. I do have feelings for Austin and love for him.
But saying I’m in love with him right now feels like a stretch.
“I’ve only known him for, what, three years?
Our friendship is barely the age of a toddler.
I don’t want to ask him to endure going to a family wedding that also happens to feature my ex. ”
I don’t add in the fact that he’s also met Bradley before.
Briefly.
The night we met.
The night I refuse to think about.