Chapter Ten
Ali understood that the point of having JT come over was to empty the boxes and put away all her stuff.
But she hated looking around her house and feeling embarrassed by the boxes and the mess.
It wouldn’t get better until after they put things away, broke down boxes, and probably bought a bunch of new furniture, but that didn’t stop her from wanting it to look better now. Before JT arrived.
In the spare moments she’d had since the night before, Ali’s mind had drifted to kissing JT.
The way it’d felt to lean across the center of the car and touch her lips to JT’s that first time.
The way she could barely contain herself on the drive home, even though it had only been a few minutes.
The way JT’s body had felt pressed against hers in the entryway.
And then her mind always found its way to the screeching halt when Ali remembered she’d invited a woman back to her house that was in no shape to receive guests.
Ugh, this was so stupid. She wasn’t someone obsessed with having a clean house. She knew people who freaked out if they had anything in the sink or clutter on counters. She wasn’t one of those people.
But last night she’d felt embarrassed. The more she thought about it the more she realized it was because she was embarrassed that she’d let her house look like this for so long.
She hadn’t moved in a week ago. It had been months without her completely unpacking.
That was the thing she hated anyone to see.
But not just anyone. She had to admit that having JT see her messy house, and her messier life, bothered her more than she’d thought it would.
Before last night, she wouldn’t have been able to articulate it, but it occurred to her that she liked the way JT looked up to her when they were kids.
JT had been a kid who was genuine and kind even when the people at school or in town weren’t.
She’d always put Ali on a bit of a pedestal, and Ali tried not to ruin that.
Last night, she was afraid if JT saw that she wasn’t the picture-perfect girl that people expected, Ali might lose that respect.
To have JT bring her home, where Ali had every intention of keeping their night going as long as possible, only for Ali to look around and imagine what JT would think of her had been awful.
Not that JT had given her any indication that she’d judged her at all.
JT was lovely. And her lips…
No. Ali couldn’t keep getting distracted by JT’s mouth and strong hands. Fuck. She needed to get her house in order, literally, if she was ever going to get laid again. And after making out with JT, she was sure she wanted to get laid. Soon, if possible.
She shifted a few boxes to the side to make a walkway through her living room. She might as well have been rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. JT knocked on the door. Ali found her standing on the step looking hopeful and pink-cheeked.
“I’m taking Toby for a little walk. You want to come? I just have to take her back home and then I can help you get all your stuff put away.”
Ali crouched to rub Toby behind the ears and was greeted with kisses all over her face.
“Toby, no! I’m sorry.”
Ali laughed. “I quite literally was asking for her to do it. God she’s sweet.” The puppy wiggled and turned on the spot, unable to control her enthusiasm.
“We’re working on her manners,” JT said, crouching to try to corral Toby. Instead, Toby ran through Ali’s legs and into the house, pulling the leash enough to knock JT off balance. She fell forward, unable to catch herself, and landed on Ali.
Stunned, she looked down at Ali. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Here, let me…” She reached down, her hand grazing Ali’s boob before reaching the floor. “I’m sorry. Jesus. Toby, no!”
Ali cackled. JT was so flustered her cheeks had gone from pink to crimson. Ali lay on the floor laughing while JT scrambled to get up. She helped Ali up and then raced to find the dog. Ali was still trying to catch her breath when JT returned with the puppy in her arms.
The dog wasn’t small. JT must have very strong arms to be able to carry this puppy. Ali allowed herself a moment to imagine what JT’s arms might look like under her coat.
“Are you okay? I’m so sorry. Did I crush you?”
Ali smiled. “I’m fine. You didn’t crush me. That wasn’t the first time I was flat on my back under someone, you know.” Ali had a momentary thought that she’d gone too far, but the way JT’s face, ears, and neck reddened and her eyes bugged out told her she’d gone just far enough.
JT stood, holding Toby, her mouth opening and closing. Finally, she said, “I don’t remember you being this…”
“Forward?”
JT nodded. “Yeah, when we were in high school you were definitely not making sexual innuendos when I was around.”
Ali tilted her head to one side and let her hand find Toby’s soft ears. “Maybe if I had been I wouldn’t have wasted a decade on Kyle.”
JT gently put Toby on the floor. “Do you want a little walk, or do you want me to take her home and come back?”
Ali grabbed her coat and boots. “I would love a few minutes outside. How could I say no to that face?”
Toby wagged.
They walked her back to JT’s parents’ house in relative silence, watching Toby wander through the clumps of snow and leaves.
“So, this contest,” JT said on the way back to Ali’s house after dropping off Toby. “How badly do you want to win?”
“Chickening out already?”
JT shook her head and looked offended. “Hell no! I want to kick everyone’s ass, but if you’re not into that I can dial it back to a normal-person level of competitiveness. At least I think I can do that. I’ve been told I take stuff like this a bit too seriously.”
“Good. Because after Kyle was such a smug goober earlier, I want to win this thing without him.”
“A goober? Seriously?”
Ali opened the door and let JT in. “I’m a teacher. Sometimes you have to come up with more creative and descriptive ways to talk about people so the kids don’t hear you dropping f-bombs.”
“May I never get on your bad side. I’m not sure I could recover from being called a goober. The horror.” JT stepped out of her boots and hung her coat on the hooks by the door. She carefully stepped between the boxes and into the living room.
Ali lifted her arms and turned. “So this is room one of my disaster house. Welcome.”
JT laughed. “It’s not a disaster. You own a house! No matter how many boxes you have to unpack, you are way further along on the being a grown-up scale than I am.”
Ali smiled. She’d forgotten how kind JT was. It surprised her that JT never got mean even when the people in town weren’t always kind about her. Ali wondered how she did it. “Thank you, but this place is embarrassing. It’s been months, I should be way more put together.”
JT shrugged. “That’s what I’m here for. That, and strategizing about how we’re going to smoke my siblings.”
“And Kyle,” Ali added.
“And Kyle, obviously.” JT looked at the stacks of boxes. “Where do you want me to start?”
Ali shrugged. “Anywhere, really. I guess just open a box and then we can figure out where to put everything.”
JT nodded and used her keys to slice open the tape on the top box.
“I do have knives for that.”
“Do you? Or are they buried in the bottom of one of the boxes?” JT asked with a grin.
Ali swatted her arm. “Oh my god. Did you come to help me or roast me?”
“Both,” JT said, taking three throw pillows out of the box and placing them on the couch. Sadly, none of the rest of the boxes were so easy to empty.
They got into a rhythm where JT opened the boxes and removed items and Ali directed her where to put them. When they ran into something tough, or something that required a table or other furniture to be its home, Ali made a list of what they needed and set the knickknacks aside.
After two hours, the room was cleared of boxes, leaving small piles around the room.
“You need a trip to Ikea,” JT said, scanning the space.
Ali nodded. “Yeah, I kind of knew that. But I don’t want to have to go eight times so for now we should make a list of how many bookcases and stuff we need.” She sighed. “Not that I can fit much in my car. Kyle has his truck but I don’t imagine he’d want to lend it to me.”
“No problem. My parents have that van they use to move art and shit. We can borrow that. I’ll even drive you.
” JT met Ali’s gaze and mistook Ali’s surprise at her offer for displeasure.
“Unless you don’t want that. I’m sure they’d let you take it if you don’t want me to come or you were looking forward to going alone. ”
Ali thought JT’s uncertain rambling was cute. She shouldn’t, but she did. If they were going to do this thing as friends, she couldn’t find all the things JT did so goddamned cute.
“I would love it if you came with me. And borrowing the van would make it a lot easier. I don’t want to have to make multiple trips if I can help it. How long are you staying?”
JT sliced the tape on the boxes so she could flatten them into the growing stack. “I was going to stay a couple days but the contest is all week, right? So at least until New Year’s, I guess.”
She bent to pick up the stack of cardboard and carry it to the garage. Ali snuck a peek at JT’s ass. This competing-as-friends thing would be hard if she kept thinking about their kiss and wondering what JT’s muscles looked like under her clothes.
JT walked through to the garage door, being so careful about not hitting the walls Ali could have kissed her. Again. She waited for Ali to open the door for her so she could add five more boxes to the heap.
“Why are you smiling?” JT asked when she walked back inside.
Ali shrugged but couldn’t help but smile. “You’re cute.”
JT stopped a few feet away from Ali. “Thanks.” She paused. “I might regret this, but should we talk about last night? I feel like we kinda glossed right over it when we decided to do the contest.”
Ali took a deep breath. “You’re right.” She stalled by walking into the living room, now blissfully empty of boxes, and taking a seat on one end of the beige couch.
JT hovered near the other end. From the way she kept looking at the couch and Ali, it appeared that she was having trouble deciding if she should sit, too.
Ali patted the cushions. “I’m not going to bite.”
JT sat and rested her elbows on her knees.
Ali must have really made her nervous. Gone was the relaxed woman who had met her at the bar last night.
Last night, JT lounged. She took up space in the booth at the bar.
This version of JT was different. She looked more like the shy teenager Ali remembered when she rubbed her palms together, adjusted the legs of her pants.
“Why are you so nervous all of a sudden? I’m the one who kissed a woman for the first time!”
JT leaned back to look at Ali. “Sorry. Now that I’ve brought it up, I’m not sure what to say. Are you okay after last night? Do you regret it? Was it okay?”
Ali scooted closer and put a hand on JT’s leg. She ticked off each point on her fingers. “I’m more than okay. I don’t regret it. You’re a really good kisser.”
JT exhaled. “I’m not annoyingly needy, I promise. But you’re Ali freaking Porter. There’s a little bit of pressure not to suck when it comes to you.” JT sat up. “I mean, first of all, Tommy would kill me.”
Ali laughed. “My baby brother doesn’t need to protect me from anything, let alone you. But I understand what you’re saying. Think about how I feel. I kissed Tommy’s best friend.” She waited for JT to look at her. “And I really fucking liked it.”