Page 106 of Someone Like You

‘Of course.’

Then he does something that may be my undoing. He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it. ‘Thanks, Gabs,’ he says, his eyes boring into mine. ‘You really are thebestfriend.’

Heart: Swoon. Tingles. Kiss me.

Libido: Kiss me everywhere. Then do whatever else you want with me.

Head: He said ‘friend’, Gaby. Get a grip.

‘And, actually, Julia said something similar when I last spoke to her.’

I gasp. I can’t help it. The mention of her name – especially in this moment – is like a sucker punch to my gut.

Confusion flickers over his face. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Mmm-hmm,’ I murmur, stretching my mouth into the fakest smile since Melania at the 2017 Inauguration. ‘I’m glad Julia agrees.’

He gives me a warm smile, then with a pat on my leg, says, ‘Good night, Gabs.’ He rolls over and I do the same. This time when the tears come, they’re for me.

I am in love with my best friend. And he’s falling for someone else.

I know I agreed to the see-how-it-goes-with-the-blonde-bombshell plan, but it’s way harder than I expected it to be.

Tomorrow, I’m letting Mom rejig the sleeping arrangements. I can’t do this any more.

After a restless night, I climb out of bed a little before six, leaving Raff to sleep, and go downstairs still in my PJs.

Mom and Dad are in the kitchen, having a hushed conversation over the rims of their coffee mugs, Dad on one side of the kitchen counter and Mom perched on a stool opposite him.

‘Good morning, sweetheart,’ says Dad. ‘Sleep well?’

‘Yeah,’ I lie.

Mom catches my eye and I can tell she’s scrutinising my bloodshot eyes and dark circles. I don’t even have to look in a mirror to know they’re there. I know exactly what I look like after a shitty night’s sleep.

‘Coffee?’

Dad pours without waiting for a reply and slides the mug across the counter. I take it gratefully. ‘Thanks.’

I sip from the mug, then sit on the stool next to Mom’s.

‘So, you know that snow we were expecting?’ asks Mom with a wry smirk.

‘I’d forgotten about that, but yeah.’

‘It stuck,’ says Dad.

My eyes fly to the kitchen window but it’s pre-dawn and all I can see is darkness. I get up and cup my hands against the window,so I can see out. The back yard is blanketed in white, my parents’ outdoor furniture forming large white lumps on the deck. I grin, then turn back to them.

‘Maybe we will have a white Christmas!’

‘You might be missing something,’ says Dad.

Then it hits me. ‘Oh, shit! The wedding.’

‘Mm-hmm,’ says Mom.

‘Fuck, Aunt Christine is going to freak.’

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