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“I don’t know. It’s weird because I never realized they all had things for me. I’d always nursed little crushes on them. I mean—they were my best friends. They were my rocks.” If I couldn’t count on my mom, I could count on them, and then… “And even before we started dating, when they asked, and I said I was worried it was going to change everything. This is what I was afraid of.”
Rachel sighed. “That necklace, these earrings, and these bangles.” She plucked two things off the shelf and pressed them in my hand. “Come on. Buy those, and we’re going for ice cream.”
“I don’t…”
“You do and you can.” She turned me by the shoulders and marched me through the squeeze until we found the register. All together, it didn’t cost more than a few dollars.
Outside, the humidity smacked us in the face, and she pointed to her car. “Ride or follow?”
“Follow,” I said almost automatically. I’d been jammed out of my car so much lately. I didn’t want to not have it.
“Okay…we’re going to—” She broke off when my phone buzzed.
After digging it out of my pocket, I stared at the message on the screen and let out breath.
Jake:I’m all right. No charges. With Arch and getting food. You ok?
For the firsttime since I heard about the fight, I could take a deep breath. It didn’t even bother me that Rachel read the message over my shoulder.
“He’s okay.”
“Yeah,” I exhaled. “Archie went to help and yeah, he’s okay.”
“Cool, tell possessive dickhead you’re having a girl’s night, and you’ll kiss his boo boos later. Don’t tell him about Bubba or the rest of it. If he just got out and texted you first, he’s worried about you. You need to figure this out before you see him.” All really practical, if colorful, advice. Jake had enough to worry about.
Me:You have no idea how happy that makes me. Girl’s night with Rachel. No dickheads allowed (her rule, not mine). Will txt when done.
“Nice,”she chuckled. Then with a glance at Rachel, I shifted to keep my screen private and added.
Me:No mom. Sleep over is available.
I hit send beforeI could chicken out. I wanted to see him badly. Not just because he tried to talk to Ian for me and not just because of the fight, but all of it really. As crazy as all of this had gotten, Jake hadn’t wavered. Nor had Archie or Coop. Or maybe they had, and it just hadn’t escalated to me, I don’t know.
I really didn’t want to think about it.
“Ice cream?”
Rachel gave me an encouraging smile. “You got it.”
Once in the car, I sent texts to Archie and Coop, just googly-eyed smiley faces. I added that I was with Rachel, and I’d text them later.
I got back a gag face from Archie, and a wide-eyed one from Coop. I could almost picture their faces, and I laughed. They were okay, and Jake wasn’t in jail. The day was almost fifty percent better. I almost tabbed to Ian, then stopped myself.
Instead of going to a place to sit down, we hit the grocery store. I picked out some double-chocolate chocolate chip, then grabbed a bag of yogurt covered pretzels and another bag of chocolate covered donut snacks. Rachel didn’t say a word, even if all she picked out was some mint chocolate chip and a bottle of Magic Shell. We grabbed a thing of plastic spoons, too.
After, I followed Rachel out to the lake this time, and she parked off near one of the picnic areas. The sun was setting, the breeze off the lake was cooler, and the whole area was empty, our cars were the only two in the lot.
“Okay,” she announced, peeling open the ice cream tub. “Back to shit for brains.”
I didn’t even try to correct her this time. Honestly, it was easier to think about it all if I didn’t think of their names. Ian had been Bubba forever, but Ian for only a few weeks, and I missed him already.
“You broke up with him.”
With a nod, I dug into my own ice cream. “Seemed the thing to do. He couldn’t seem to decide what he wanted, and he was miserable. I don’t want to make anyone miserable.”
“Yeah, I don’t care about him right now,” Rachel said, pointing at me with her spoon. “How do you feel?”
I laughed, but there was no humor in it. I tore open the yogurt-covered pretzels and used one to dig out another bite of ice cream.
