“Nell, you can’t be serious.” Wren laughs, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. And in her defense, I probably have, but not because of this.
“Please!” I hold my hands together and stick my bottom lip out in a pout, which only makes her laugh more.
Wren rolls her eyes dramatically, but pulls off the highway, nonetheless. My seatbelt is off, and the door unlocked before she even gets the car fully in park. The air is humid, the fat raindrops warm as they pelt my body. She gets out, rounding the hood of the car, watching me with amusement as I hold my arms out and let my head fall back.
We’re soaked in a matter of minutes, and I can’t help the bubble of laughter that falls from my lips. In the middle of nowhere, standing in the pouring rain, not a single car or person in sight other than us, and I feel more alive than I’ve felt in months. Maybe even years.
“I feel like a wet dog,” Wren shouts over the sound of the rain.
That only makes me laugh harder as I level her with my gaze. “Yeah, but you look beautiful.”
I don’t know where that came from, but I one hundred percent mean it. Wren always looks stunning, no matter what she’s doing.
She gives me a look I can’t quite place as she swallows hard, the rain coming down relentlessly now as we stare at one another. Finally, she shakes her head, seeming to get rid of whatever was going on in her mind. “Let’s get back in the car and hit the road before we catch a cold.”
Laughing, I nod. “That’s a myth, Wren, but okay.”
***
It’s nearly dusk by the time we’re checking into a hotel. There must be something going on in the area tonight because the first three hotels we stopped at were full, and at this one, we got lucky. They had one room left. It’s only a single queen room, so we have to share, but given that we shared a bed last night and we have hundreds of other times, it won’t be an issue.
We were smart and stopped at a grocery store before we found the hotel this time. Grabbed a few bottles of wine and a meat and cheese platter to snack on.
The room is nicer than the one we stayed in last night, even though it’s smaller. Wren hops in the shower right away while I pour myself a large glass of wine and mess around on social media. I still haven’t told my parents I’m coming to San Diego. I’m dreading it. Telling Wren about Anthony was embarrassing enough, and she’s my best friend. The idea of divulging it all to my family makes me want to crawl into a hole and die.
The door to the bathroom opens, steam billowing out as it mixes with the cool air-conditioned room. She’s in nothing but a towel, her dark hair cascading down her back in wet waves. My eyes rake down her body as she digs into her bag, pulling out some comfy clothes to wear, my stomach flip-flopping as I do. Her upper arms are defined, as are her calves. She’s always been into fitness. And it shows.
Tiny tattoos decorate her body; some on her arms, one under both sides of her collarbone, her thighs. They’re beautiful, and I wonder where else she has them. They’re not new, I don’t think, but she didn’t have them back when we were in college. Which, granted, was almost a decade ago.
Wren glances up and smiles before taking the stack of clothes back to the bathroom. She pushes the door shut, but it doesn’t close all the way. The way it’s cracked, with where she’s standing, I can see her entirely from the waist up, but I don’t think she can see me. She drops her towel, and I know I should look away. Give her privacy.
But I can’t.
I watch, enthralled, as she grabs the lotion from the counter, squirting a couple of pumps into her palm before beginning to massage it into her smooth, creamy skin. She rubs it into her arms, her shoulders, before moving onto her chest, where my eyes trail along. Wren’s breasts are small, barely a handful, but they’re perky and round, her nipples a soft pink, and they’re pierced.
A tattoo lines underneath her boobs, along her sternum. It’s small and dainty, and from all the way over here, I can’t quite make out what it is exactly, but it’s hot. It fits her body perfectly. Wren’s eyes lift, meeting mine in the mirror reflection. Shame and embarrassment heat my cheeks and my neck as I look away immediately. I bring my attention back to my phone, trying to look busy, as I down the rest of my drink, pouring myself another right away.
She comes out, dressed in a tiny black tank top that shows off her belly button ring and baby blue shorts that leave nothing to the imagination. Pouring herself a glass, she climbs into bed beside me, reaching for her own phone and turning on some music.
We’re both quiet, clearly in our own heads tonight, but it isn’t uncomfortable. Spending time with her has always been effortless, regardless of what we’re doing. She’s one of the only people I can be around and not feel the need to put on a mask or pretend to be anything I’m not. I can just exist alongside her.
My mind flashes back to a night I haven’t thought about in years. Right before our senior year of college, we were heading to Sedona for the weekend. A little girls’ trip. Things with Anthony were starting to get serious, and it felt like my friendship with Wren was suffering. It freaked me out, so I insisted on a weekend trip, just her and I.
It pissed off Anthony, but it was worth it. We spent the weekend hiking and relaxing, drinking and laughing. The second night we were there, I got into a huge fight with Anthony because I didn’t answer when he called that afternoon. We’d been hiking, and our phones didn’t have service. He was acting like a psycho, so I finally just hung up on him.
I’d already been drinking, so I was more emotional than usual. I broke down, and as always, Wren was right there to put me back together. Except this time, it was different. Instead of just telling me it was going to be okay, she also told me how I deserved so much more than what I was allowing for myself. How Anthony didn’t deserve someone like me. It surprised me, because she’d never once said anything bad about him before. He wasn’t her favorite person, I knew that, but she’d never come right out and said it.
We drank a little more, getting nice and sloshed as we cuddled on the couch, talking and listening to music. To this day, I still don’t know how it happened… One minute, we were talking about our plans for the next morning, and the next, her lips were on mine. We’d never done that before. I always hear about girls making out with their friends when they’re drunk, but it’s never been my experience. Hell, I’d never kissed a girl prior to that.
But in that moment, it felt like that kiss changed my life. Her lips were softer than any lips I’d ever kissed, her mouth sweet, tongue gentle as it glided against mine. It was so different from kissing a man.
When we woke up the next day, we didn’t discuss it. We still have never discussed it, and I chalked it up to a mix of being upset over the fight with Anthony and the alcohol we drank. But now, as I’m sitting here with her, after the way I watched her in the bathroom… I’m not so sure.
Chapter Six
Penelope Boswell
“When did things start getting bad with him?”
