Page 50 of Friendshipped
That truth hits me in the solar plexus like a wallop.
“Just go have fun,” Lexi says, as if it’s that simple.
Maybe it is. Maybe I’m making too much of this. I’m just taking an ex-girlfriend out to dinner to help her feel less alone while she moves back in town. So what if we’ve kissed before. I don’t need to make this weird.
“Thanks,” I say. “I needed that perspective shift.”
“Anytime.”
We ride in silence for another few minutes and then Lexi says, “And, Trevor?”
“Yeah?”
“If you bring her back to your place, I’m totally going to be trimming roses after dark.”
I look over at Lexi and she’s waggling her eyebrows with this menacing look on her face while she pantomimes snipping giant loppers in the air. We bust out laughing, and she feels so much like home I want to bottle up this feeling and keep it forever.
Lexi and I pull into our driveway, still laughing a little. The last thing I want to do is leave her to go anywhere. But I made a plan and I have to keep my word.
She’s texting someone as I open my car door to go inside and clean up for my night out with Meg. I glance back over my shoulder as she shuts her car door.
“I’m set,” she tells me. “I’m going to pop in on Memaw and then Laura, Shannon and Jayme are coming over with takeout Chinese and we’re watchingShe’s the Man.
“Channing Tatum?”
Lexi goes all google eyed. Seriously. She’s like a human puddle of melted crush-induced swoonyness at the mere mention of that man’s name.
The only thing I can think to say is, “I’m glad it’s not a Gilmore night.”
“Channing’s so much better than Lorelai,” Lexi says with a little breathiness to her voice.
It’s so unfair what Channing Tatum does to this woman. I feel like writing him a letter.
Dear Channing,
From one hazel-eyed man to another could you help a brother out here? I’ve been pining away for her for years and she never gets breathy for me. Maybe put a word in for me or something?
Maybe I’ll resort to writing a letter to him one day. I wonder if it would help my cause.
At least Lexi isn’t going to be slumping withGilmore Girlsreruns tonight. I feel so much better knowing she’s got plans.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I tell her as I put my key in my lock. “And tell Memaw I said hi.”
“You could be telling her yourself,” she says as she pushes her door open and we both disappear into our respective sides of the house.
17
Lexi
Istop in on Memaw after I change out of my work clothes. She answers the door in a colorful shirt with bell sleeves. The print feels like a vibrant Picasso painting. She’s wearing red polyester pants that pick up one of the many colors in the shirt. She has her old slippers on her feet, but some gold flats sit out next to the door.
“Looking good, Memaw.”
She does a slow spin with her arms spread wide. Then she clutches my forearm at the end of her twirl.
“Whew,” she says. “Can’t spin like a seventy-year-old anymore. Spin while you can, Lexi. When you’re young you never realize the day will come when you can’t.”
She gives my arm a light squeeze and looks into my eyes with sincerity.
