Page 114 of Flirting Lessons

Taylor burst out laughing. Leave it to Avery to make an unexpected joke to cheer her up.

“I’m serious,” Avery said. “No matter when we actually break up, I swear I won’t tell a soul until…let’s see, at least three days after Erica has that baby. Just text me as soon as Erica has the baby, three days later, we’re over. We’ll make sure that Sloane and whoever that second person on our side was will get their free dinners.”

Taylor tried to smile. Maybe that would get rid of that heavy, tight feeling in her chest.

“By the way, I admit I was wrong about Sloane,” she said. “I’m glad I already started to feel warmer toward her before I heard her come to my defense; if I hadn’t, I may have fainted.” She sighed. “But I can’t believe Erica did that. Bet about me like that, with all those people. Like, yeah, most of them are my friends, but she’s my best friend, you know? I was sure she’d stick up for me, defend me. And instead of doing that, or even just being quiet and changing the subject—which wouldn’t have bugged me that much, it washer baby shower, after all—she went the opposite way and made fun of me, too.”

Taylor had always assumed that her friends thought of her as an immature, unfocused commitment-phobe, but to hear it like that, to know it for sure, really hurt. Avery reached for her hand. Taylor was embarrassed by how good it felt to hold on.

“You know they’re all jealous of you, right?” Avery asked. “Like, they’re your friends, and I like them, and they clearly adore you, but they’re jealous that you’re so hot and charming and magnetic—don’t make that face, you know it’s true. They wish they were like you, someone who can just snap your fingers and date any woman you want, present company included.”

Taylor rolled her eyes.

“Thank you, but—”

Avery shook her head.

“Oh, I wasn’t paying you compliments, I was just stating facts. Of course they’re all jealous of you, of course they gossip about you, but it’s not malicious. I’m sure that doesn’t make you feel any better, but it’s obvious to me. And, like, I’m not a huge catch or anything—” Taylor started to interrupt her, but Avery talked over her. “I know what you’re going to say, I just had to say that because what I’m about to say makes me feel arrogant. But that night we went to trivia, before anything happened between us, and they were all flirting with me, and I was flirting back, and you told them nothing was going on between us? And then the next time we went to trivia, you and I were together. Has that happened with you before?”

Taylor sighed. She didn’t like thinking this way.

“I mean, I suppose so.” Avery gave her a sideways look. “Fine, yes, there have been times that everyone was hitting on one person, and they came home with me, but—”

Avery nodded.

“Right, exactly. I’m not saying that means your friends should have said any of that stuff, that sucks that they did! Especially that Erica did! I’m just telling you why.”

Taylor digested that. She understood, she supposed, why Avery was saying this. But—

“But these are my friends! Erica is mybestfriend. And she’s happily married and about to have a baby! Are all of them so jealous of my, what, ability to get women to sleep with me that they regularly talk shit about me behind my back? That makes no sense! Especially since they’re all far more accomplished and good at life than I am.”

Avery squeezed her hand.

“No, they’re not. But from what you told me, they weren’t talking shit about you. I’m sure they talked some shit about me that you didn’t tell me—thanks for that—but most of what they said sounded like good-natured teasing of a friend, stuff they’d all say to your face. Am I wrong about that?”

Taylor wanted to say yes, but she forced herself to stop and think about it.

“For most of them, that’s probably true,” she admitted. “Like, they wouldn’t have bet on how long my relationship would last if I’d been there, but the rest of it, maybe. But Erica…no.”

“That’s the one you’re really upset about,” Avery said.

“I was expecting her to jump in to defend me,” Taylor said. “Not…not put my love life up for a bet. And then betagainstme.”

Taylor let go of Avery’s hand and turned to look out the window. She never cried, but she knew that if she kept talking about this, about how betrayed she felt by Erica, how much her words had hurt, she might break down. Sure, they hadn’t talked as much recently, but she didn’t think that much had changed betweenthem. She couldn’t handle seeing the kind, concerned look on Avery’s face; she couldn’t deal with her gentle touch right now. She would fall to pieces.

“I, um…” She cleared her throat. “Am I dressed appropriately for my surprise? You didn’t give me a dress code.” She tried to put enthusiasm in her voice. This time, it seemed to have worked. Or at least Avery went along with her tacit plea to change the subject.

“Oh, don’t worry, I took care of that,” she said. “I have clothes for both of us in the trunk.”

Clothes for both of them? Hmm. Trying to figure this out was a good distraction. It was a hot late-September afternoon in Napa Valley. Avery’s sundress would be perfectly appropriate for just about anything they could possibly do.

Or were they going somewhere they had to really dress up? If they were doing a fancy dinner somewhere, Avery would definitely want to wear something other than her sundress. Maybe that was it. But ugh, Taylor hoped not. After dealing with the stress of the shower, plus everything that was jumbling around in her head because of that stupid, mean bet, Taylor was prematurely exhausted by the thought of sitting through a stilted, three-hour white-tablecloth meal. Hell, the thought of sitting in achairfor that long was tiring. She wanted to sit on a couch, recline on a chaise, flop in a bathtub, curl up in a bed, lie on the floor—any of those options would be far better than sitting in a chair for a fancy meal.

She sighed internally. If this was a fancy dinner, she was going to be enthusiastic about it for Avery’s sake. She wouldn’t lie to her; she’d never lied to Avery, and she wasn’t going to start now. But she also didn’t want Avery to feel bad. She would find something nice to say about it. Multiple nice things, even.

But she’d thought Avery knew her so well, that they were so insync. If Avery would plan a surprise like this for her, then how well did Avery know her? What could have even given Avery the idea that she wanted to do something like this? Did she know Taylor at all? Was Erica right that they’d be over soon? Why did the thought of that make Taylor so sad?

Did Erica know something that she didn’t about how well Avery knew her? Had Taylor been on a sex high that had made her ignore red flags? Is that what happened when she didn’t have sex for months, she would fall hard for the next person she had sex with no matter what?

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