Page 58 of Fear of Falling

That I did. Tasha’s parents are…something. I’ve only met them a few times, despite being friends with Tasha for yearsnow. On the outside they seemed cordial, but in conversation they had this talent for making digs about you while making it sound like they were being friendly.

Tasha’s parents were two of the most sought after attorneys in Toronto. Their law-firm was the biggest in the city and their clientele were all over the world.

As ‘members of high society’, they enjoyed showing off that they gave back to the community, so every year they held a gala for all the rich people to attend. Make them feel like they were doing good when it really was just to show off.

The one time I went with Tasha to the gala, they repeatedly made comments about mylower-classstatus, and that Tasha should have brought someone that wouldn’t make them look bad. I was fine with the comments, but when they voiced their disappointment in Tasha multiple times it took everything I had not to snap at them.

I haven’t seen them since that night. I don’t know how Tasha turned out to be such an amazing person with parents like that. Knowing she didn’t want to talk about them, I changed the subject.

“You know Trevor was asking about you last night.” I peeked in her direction as I pulled on a soft gray sweater.

“Oh?”

“He seemed curious about you.”

“There’s a lot to be curious about,” Tasha flashed me a grin that was all teeth.

Tasha is gorgeous. With long, dirty blonde hair that she’s dyed a million times, and steel-gray eyes that caught you off guard. A dimple on one cheek always got men's attention, so too did the smattering of freckles that graced her nose and cheeks when she’d spent too much time in the sun.

At Uni, whenever we passed guys on our way to a lecture, almost every single one would stop and stare at her struttingpast. I’d lost count how many times guys hit on her whenever we went out for drinks or clubbing.

“He’s kind of your type,” I prompted.

The look that passed over her face was one I was all too familiar with. I knew how she was with guys. Tasha was the chew-them-up-and-spit-them-out type. Most were lucky to last a few weeks. Then again, Trevor seemed like that type too. Them getting to know each other could either be a total disaster, or the best thing that had happened to either of them.

“Mmm, we’ll see. Besides, we’re not here to talk about my love life, though. Now twirl,” she instructed as she wagged her finger at me through the camera.

Leaving my phone propped up, I stepped back until Tasha could see me in profile. I’d settled on simplicity and comfort, pairing a cute pair of jeans with a gray sweater. I figured it was practical, given that I had no idea what Wyatt had planned, but the jeans also made my ass look great.

“Perfect. You should wear those nice, heeled boots you have, too.”

“Good idea,” I replied, as I disappeared from her view.

It took me a minute of rummaging in the back of my closet to find said boots, too distracted by thoughts of seeing Wyatt. As the clock ticked closer to noon, the more nervous I felt. It was more excitement than anything. A nervous excitement. I wanted to spend more time with him. I’d gotten a good sense of who he was outside of hockey, and I liked what I saw.

Tasha stayed on FaceTime with me while I finished getting ready. She knew me well enough to know when I was nervous, and I appreciated that she was doing her best to keep my mind off of it. Even if that meant proceeding to tell me all about the hot yoga class, even though we both knew I had no interest in it.

“Seriously, Josie, you should have seen it. This older lady kept cursing because she claimed someone had stolen her mat.Then there was this other girl that made these strange moaning noises with every change of position.”

“I thought yoga was supposed to be a calming experience?” I laughed.

By the time I’d finished curling my hair and applying some light makeup, I felt calmer.

“You look great, Jo.”

“Thanks for helping me get ready.” I shot her a grateful smile.

“Any time,” she said with a wink before her voice took on a more serious tone. “Have fun today. If Wyatt wants to spoil you, let him do it. You deserve to go out and have some fun.”

I nodded thoughtfully. It’d been a rough year and for so long I’d felt like I couldn’t go out and have fun. Without Tasha and Lydia coaxing me out to do things, I’d probably become a hermit in my apartment.

“Remember our code word?” Tasha asked.

“Anchovies.” The two of us shared a grin. We came up with our code word in Uni—something weird that we could say to get each other's attention during some social gathering when one of us didn’t feel comfortable or just wanted to get away. Needless to say, the conversation took place in our dorm room while eating pizza, and anchovies just stuck.

“Call or text me and I’ll drop everything to come get you.”

“I love you, T.”

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