Page 14 of So Not My Type

“You good?” Maya asked.

“Yep.” Sophie rolled her ankle and kept moving.

Higher and higher, the air turned thinner, the light fog like a smoke machine. The top was within sight. Hundred feet, fifty… twenty.

“My God. Look at that.” Maya threw her hands on her hips and stared out.

Sophie unzipped her nylon raincoat, flopped down on the earth, and guzzled one of two water bottles. Her heartbeat pounded so hard she could feel her neck skin stretch against the vein. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her shins.

From up here, she could see the world. She swore if she could stretch just the tiniest bit, she could touch the clouds. Mountains surrounded her, evergreen trees touched the sky. The lake below was an oasis, so peaceful it looked as if it wasn’t moving.

Sophie had never been a believer. Agnostic, maybe, but she never put too much thought into spirituality. But up here was God’s country.

“Here.” Maya passed over a protein shake. “Got to keep those blood sugars regulated.”

Sophie downed the chalky chocolate, feeling the mucky substance slide down her throat.Ick. “Your obsession with blood sugars is truly remarkable.” Maya would know she was kidding. Maya’s younger sister, Harper, was a type 1 diabetic, and Maya was almost a year into her master’s focusing on diabetes. Besides her family, friends, and Remi, Sophie swore Maya’s true love was plasma and platelets. “Well, catch me up on the latest. Howare things with you and Remi? Ben? I feel like I’m so behind on everything.”

“You are.” Maya wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand. She leaned back against her palms and her gaze followed the outline of the trees. “Remi. God, I love that woman. So much. I know we U-Hauled pretty quick?—”

“It wasn’tthatquick. I mean, you were together, what, like, six months before you all officially moved in together.”

Maya crossed her legs and leaned on her elbows. “I’m going to ask her to marry me?—”

“What! Maya, that’s amazing. I’m so?—”

“Whoa. Slow down, tiger.Someday. SomedayI’m going to ask her to marry me.” Maya laughed. “She’s my everything.”

Her voice turned soft, and sincere, and Sophie’s heart pinched. Yes, of course she was happy for her friend. Maya deserved love and companionship more than any other human on earth. But a tiny part of Sophie couldn’t help but wonder…Will that ever be me?

“And this is super on the DL right now, but Ben is talking more and more about settling down with someone or a couple. Remi said she’s never seen him like this before.”

“Oh yeah?” She’d gotten to know Ben over the last year a bit, and had liked him immediately. Quick with his bright smile, funny, loyal to his core. But admittedly, the stories he told made it seem like he loved living in single-land.

“Yep. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for him that he just finds some happiness, whatever that looks like.” Maya readjusted her ponytail. “So… how’s it going training the newbie?”

Sophie flicked her tongue against her lip ring. “Shitty.”

Maya lifted a brow. “Really? Have you still not let go whatever it is you have to let go?”

No. “I’m over it.” Of course that was a lie, and yes, Sophie knew she needed to move on. But feeling disrespected was a poison that burrowed deep and infected everything. Once you knew someone didn’t respect you, the urge to change their mind felt all-consuming. “I really hate that the boss’s daughter got a shot that took me four million years to get, just because she’s the boss’s daughter, you know? It’s not fair. I’ve given up so much. Time with you and Harper, friends, relationships…”

“Sex.” Maya released a puff through her nose.

She wasn’t wrong.

“When was the last time you got laid?” Maya asked.

“You already know.” Sophie picked up a stick and drew circles into the ground. “You love to grind my dry spell into me, huh?”

“Well, I do like grinding.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “Sorry, I don’t have the time like you to get tongue blasted every day by my hot girlfriend.”

“Oooh, Remi will love that you said that.” Maya unwrapped a peanut butter sandwich and bit into a chunk. “And you’re not wrong. The stamina with that one. Last night?—”

“Nope.” Sophie shuddered. She loved her bestie. But she had absolutely no desire to know her bedroom details. “Not another word.”

Sophie’s gaze followed a bald eagle soaring through the clouds, its wings flapping so effortlessly, yet with so much power, moving the majestic creature through the air. Deep breaths pulled through, and the silence of nature allowed her mind to drift. Maya might have been teasing, but Sophie knew she needed to make some changes.

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