Page 82 of Just One of the Groomsmen
While she’d appreciate the sentiment, it was way too mushy.
The frozen bag of chicken wings called to her, so she brought it out and bumped the freezer door closed with her hip. “Trust me, he’d thank me later.”
Lexi’s smile fell, and she blinked at Addie. “Oh. Well. For the record, I’m not disappointed. Like I said, I was surprised, is all.”
Addie grabbed the watermelon off her counter to cut up and add to the strawberries and grapes she pulled out of the fridge. “No worries. It means you’re gettin’ to know me. After the club last night, in ways that no one else does, and I’m pretty sure it should stay that way.”
Lexi swiped a hand through the air. “Whatever. You were rocking that dress, and the heels were… Well, they take some practice. But I noticed several men checking you out as we were dancing.”
“Staring in shock, you mean. That was fear. They probably thought I was having a seizure.”
Lexi made aphfftnoise. “For someone who’s one of the guys, you know surprisingly little about men. And, sweetie, I mean that in the nicest way possible. If things don’t work out with—”
Addie lifted a finger to her lips, worried her mom and grandma might be listening, and if they caught wind of the Tucker thing, who knew how they’d react.
Probably shocked with a side of telling her not to mess it up, something she was already plenty worried about.
“Withyou know who,” Lexi said, voice lowered, “then I’ll take you to the city and we’ll land you a man.”
There was that “land a man” phrase again.
Was that what she missed out on by not taking etiquette lessons? The fancy fork goes to the—whichever side, like she said, she didn’t take the lessons—the guy runway is to the right, and here’s how you force them to land there. “I ’preciate you being willin’ to get me a backburner dude if Voldemort doesn’t work out.”
Lines creased Lexi’s forehead before understanding dawned and she laughed. “Took me a second. When I was younger, I used to feel guilty because I had a huge crush on Draco Malfoy—from the movie version, of course—and clearly I shouldn’t, because he was a bad guy. Isn’t that silly?”
“The crush on Draco certainly wasn’t. He was totally hot. Speaking of, if you ever wanna see Shep turn three shades of your wedding color, just ask him about hisHarry Pottertrading cards.”
“What?My Will hasHarry Pottertrading cards?”
Addie nodded as she grabbed her biggest knife and sliced into the watermelon. “He has this binder that’s labeled ‘Baseball Card Collection,’ but one day while I was waiting for my turn to play videogames, I opened it up and discovered he has way moreHarry Pottertrading cards than baseball cards. He claimed it was ’cause it was such a challenge to get ’em all and he was competing against some other kid at his school, but he sure isn’t selling them.” Her laugh was a smidge on the maniacal side. “He’ll probably kill me for telling you, but someone’s gotta let you know what you’re gettin’ into.”
“And I appreciate it. He’s always so mellow, and sometimes when I get all fired up and he’s like ‘whatever, baby, it’ll work out,’ I love it, and sometimes it makes me want to shake some emotion into or out of him.” Lexi gleefully rubbed her hands together. “I can’t wait to casually drop a fewHarry Potterreferences and see how long it takes him to crack.”
“You’ll have to tell me how red he gets.”
No doubt Addie would know when, because she’d probably be getting aDUDE, not cooltext.
The spirit of camaraderie filled the air, and Addie smiled at Lexi. She hadn’t felt this level of friendship for anyone outside her group of guys in a long time, and she hadn’t expected it from Lexi, which deepened the squishy sensation in her chest.
“Thank you,” she said. “For your tips last night, and for sticking it out with me, and for caring about me and you know who.”
“You’re welcome. It took me a while to understand your friendship, but I get it now, I swear. Sorry again that I freaked out.”
“Sorry again that you’re getting a non-girlie bridesmaid.”
“Groomsman, you mean.”
Addie grinned.
“Or is it groomsmaid?”
Addie wrinkled her nose. “That sounds a little too much like I clean up after him, and that honor is all yours.”
“Please. That boy can clean up after himself.”
“Amen, sister,” Addie said, holding up the hand not wielding a knife so Lexi could give her five.
“You have a sister, right?” Lexi asked, and Addie nodded. “I always wished I had a sister. What’s it like?”
