‘That you’re the person they all go to when things get hard,” he clarifies, shucking off his jeans and heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth. When had his toothbrush migrated to her bathroom? She can’t even remember.
“What?” she asks and waits patiently for him to spit before he answers.
“Your friends – you’re their first call, always, when they need someone. You’re their person.”
“I . . . guess so,” she responds, following his lead and brushing her own teeth.
“You don’t think so?”
She takes her time, thinking it over, and yeah, maybe it’s true. She’s the one Erik calls when he needs help with the twins and who Chloe came to when things blew up with Josh and who Julie wrote a song about for sticking by her side through her ups and downs and who . . . who Frankie basically wants to give her house to, just for being her friend.
She’s their person and they’re hers. It’s like Xavier said. It’s nice.
“I never thought about it that way before, or really at all,” she says, wriggling out of her shorts, fully intending to sleep in the oversized Dodgers shirt Frankie gave her a few hours ago.
“I wish I had more of that.”
“What?” she asks, reaching underneath her shirt and unhooking her bra, pulling it through the sleeve and letting it drop to the floor.
“People.”
“You don’t like people,” she reminds him, tying her curls up at the top of her head. She’ll deal with them tomorrow.
“I likeyou,” he corrects her.
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Like you said, I forced my way in.”
“Nah,” he admits, “no one gets through those walls unless I let them.”
“Why?” The question is out before she can stop it, but now that she’s asked, she’s desperate to know. “Why did you?”
“I couldn’t help it . . . didn’t want to help it, even if I could. You made me feel . . .”
“What?” she asks when he trails off.
“Challenged.”
“Oh God.”
“In a good way, the best way, you know that, right?”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it weird, that I’m . . . I’m glad we did this?” she asks.
“What?”
“The fengagement. I’m . . . glad we did it, even if it was stupid and reckless. And even though I’m pretty sure I’m going to be dealing with the fallout from it for a long-ass time, it’s been good.”
“Not over yet,” he says, sending her a grin, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“No, not yet,” she agrees.
