Page 133 of Friends Don't Kiss

As I pull into Easy Monday, I flash my lights and give it thirty seconds, but no one comes out. The faint light seeping from the sides of the blinds calls to me. I need some girl time.

“Boo!” Willow says as I open the door. She springs from her seat with surprising energy for someone who’s had a gummy, and lunges into my arms. “The things he said! That man is so into youuuuu!”

“How d’you know that?” Ms. Angela is still at the meeting. Who else would tell them so quickly?

Willow produces her phone. Since the pandemic, the meetings are live-streamed. With decent wi-fi, you can watch them in real time from home. Although now we’re back to needing to come in person to interact.

“I think you need some Bitch Brigade intervention,” Emma says, her words a little slurred. “Come here,” she adds, tapping the place next to her on the couch.

For the next thirty minutes the girls reenact the scene, what everyone said, how Owen’s a dick, how Colton is hot for me, and how badass I was.

Millie thrusts a small pouch of weed gummies my way. “Here, you look like you could use one.”

“I’m here to drive you home,” I say. “Ohmygod, guys, I feel so… humiliated,” I finally confess.

“Um… excuse me?” Willow says.

“One of the hottest bachelors in Emerald Creek pretty much publicly declares how he adores you… and you’re humiliated?” Emma croaks. “Fuck that. Hand me another,” she tells Millie.

“Dude, you’ve had enough,” I tell her.

She drops her proffered hand with drama. “You’re right.” Then she straightens in her seat. “Hey, I told you so, right?”

“Told me so what?” I ask her.

“That you wouldn’t get the variance. No one ever listens to me in this town,” she adds.

“Not in so many words, but yes, you did. Sorta.”

“Well, listen to me. Willow is right. That man is into you. Don’t let him go.”

What happened to putting myself first, and no woman needing a man?

“Forget what I said earlier,” she adds, reading my face.

Millie’s fanning herself, quiet. “That was hot, girl,” she simply says.

“All right, bitches, time to go to bed,” I say, standing.

Willow grunts but stands. “Lemme get my snowshoes.”Not that high after all.

“Yeah, time to get outta here,” Millie says, going outside with Willow.

Emma follows her in uncertain steps and shuts off the lights while I bleep the car open. “Code?” she asks Millie. If there’s one person who’s going to keep her focus on our businesses, it’s always Emma. Even high.

“Ah,” Millie says, waving away her request like it doesn’t matter. “Relax, Ems.”

“Come on, Millie. Gotta lock up.”

“’Kay-’kay-’kay.” She comes back inside and taps in a code. “You know what they say, though. What happens in Emerald Creek stays in Emerald Creek.” Then she lifts a finger. “But nothing ever happens in Emerald Creek,” she adds, giggling. “I just have this thingy for the insurance… and also,” she says, frowning comically at Willow, “to know when my friends are getting high without me.”

Easy Monday properly shut down, she turns toward me. “The harder the fight, the greater the reward, sista.” Then she throws herself in my arms and adds, “You should just move in together, save some money. And bake your cakes out of his garage! Now there’s an idea.”

“Yeah, yeah, right.” I push her softly from me and take her arm. “Come on, let’s get you guys home.”

They all pile into my Corolla, and I start doing the rounds, promising to pick them up in the morning so they can get their cars. After I drop off Millie, Willow decides Emma lives too far up in the hills, and she should just sleep at her place. “Caroline is at a sleepover. It’s unfair to Kiara to drive you that far, after all she’s been through,” she declares, and that settles it for Emma.

“You know, Millie might be onto something,” Emma says as we take the turn to Willow’s.

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