Page 72 of Just Bromantically Invested

Lisa nods, looking terrified. “Okay. Will you stay with me?”

“Ah, yes, of course. First, you shower, then I’ll … I’ll sit by your bed and sing you nursery rhymes or … something.”

Lisa lets out a cute laugh and, with help from Lana, makes it into the bathroom.

Lana pulls the door closed behind her and turns on us.

“What the fuck, Penn? You did not mention that your favor involved bringing the hottest woman I’ve ever seen in my life into my apartment for a sleepover.”

“She’s hot?” Penn asks.

Lana face-palms. “She’s basically the female version of Madden. Genetically perfect, big sweet eyes, and that kinda dopey vibe that makes you want to protect them forever.”

I tilt my head, trying to figure out if I’m still getting compliment vibes from her. “Genetically perfect, I’ll take. Dopey?”

Lana waves her hands, something she does a lot when she’s talking. “Not dopey, like dumb. Wrong word, sorry. More like … this aura. Of sweetness. You both look like you’d be good at cuddling.”

I’m liking Lana more and more now that I know she’s not fucking Penn, and her complimenting me is helping things. “I am good at cuddling.”

“But that’s not the problem here.” Lana pitches her voice lower. “The problem is that I want to know ifsheis good at cuddling, but she won’t want to know ifIam good at cuddling because there’s no way in hell a girl like that isn’t straight.”

“You shouldn’t assume,” I say. Though, when I first met Lisa, I got very Southern belle vibes from her, despite the fact she’s not Southern. She looks like a wholesome blond-haired, blue-eyed missy whose daddy is guarding her virginity with a shotgun.

Nothing creepy about that.

Lana plants her hands on her hips. “I didn’t assume with my best friend, and it led to my entire world crashing down around me. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again, thanks. A woman can dance naked in front of me, and I’ll still ask her if she’s straight.”

I screw up my face. I don’t have that kind of queer trauma, but it’s all too common. Especially for women who have to navigate overly affectionate straight friends.

“There’s one difference now though,” Penn says, stepping forward to hold Lana’s shoulders. “Your world won’t crash and burn. You can take a chance on people, and it will be okay. We’ll still be here, no one’s kicking you out of your apartment, and as long as you don’t go after anyone from your work, it’s not their business either.”

I’m surprised by the “we’ll still be here” part, considering I barely know Lana, but I like that Penn makes that assumption. That he knows I’ll support anyone he considers a friend, and judging by how they’re both leaning into each other, they are friends. I didn’t even need to help him with it.

I wait for the jealousy to hit, but it doesn’t. It feels good.

Lana lets out a shaky breath, and something about getting to witness this moment has me softening to her some more.

“Penn’s right,” I say as the shower cuts off. “In the morning, if she’s feeling better, see how she feels about gettingcoffee. While you’re out, you can tell her that you’re attracted to women and would like to see her again if that’s something she’s interested in.”

Lana’s face has gone pale.

“The worst she can say is no,” Penn points out.

“I feel sick.”

“Considering I thought my best friend was straight the entire time I knew him, I get how you feel,” I say. “But he’s also a testament to the idea that taking chances might turn out okay.”

Lana glares from me to Penn. “Tell me you both don’t think she’s straight?”

I try not to assume anything about anyone, but in this case, I don’t think Lisa is the kind of girl to think of anything else as an option.

Penn gets in before I can. “She probably is. Or, at least, she probably assumes she is. I don’t know much, if anything, about her except her family wants her to move home, and it sounds like there’s some gentle pressure there. But that’s our point. No one is a sure thing. Lisa’s probably straight, and you’ll probably have to get okay with being told no, but you said you want to find someone. You want to know what it’s like to live as an out woman. This is what it’s like. Navigating friendships and relationships.”

Hearing Penn talk tells me he’s remembering all the conversations we’ve ever had about the differences between straight and queer people. Everyone assumes straight. Straight people can be attracted to others and know they have a good shot at something, but when you’re queer, it’s all a crapshoot unless you’re somewhere specifically designed for you.

“For what it’s worth,” I add, “I have my fingers crossed for you.”

“Thank you. Argh, okay. I can do this. Just have to get her into bed—the spare bed! Get her into the spare bed so she cansleep off the alcohol, and then maybe tomorrow, we can get talking. Maybe she has a boyfriend already, and if she does, that’s okay.”

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