Page 72 of Love Medley
Zoe places a hand on her hip and fixes me with a disgruntled look. “How do you know this isn't going to end up like last time?”
I narrow my eyes, suddenly feeling very defensive of Jake. “Jake’s nothing like Weston.”
She throws her hands up in the air. “Whatever. It’s not like anything I say matters. You’re not going to listen to me anyway.”
And suddenly, it occurs to me she might not be talking about Weston or Jake at all. Maybe this has to do with us and our friendship. I meet her eyes. “Zoe…of course you matter.”
Sure enough, Zoe’s eyes reflect hurt, and it takes everything in me to hold her gaze.
“That’s not what it felt like for the past year, Lucy. You vanished. It was like we were never friends.”
I grab both of her hands in mine. “I’m so sorry, Zoe. I can’t apologize enough for disappearing on you.”
Zoe stares down at our connected hands and then she looks back up at me, her eyes troubled. “I know you were in a really bad situation,” she says. “But I reached out so many times, and it’s hard being rejected over and over again.”
Tears prick my eyes as I finally see her point of view. Zoe, my powerhouse friend who guards her heart fiercely and doesn’t give her loyalty easily to anyone, would take my abandonment of her as the worst kind of betrayal.
“Oh, Zoe.” I squeeze her hands. “I desperately wish I could just rewind and redo the past two years, but I can’t. All I can do is move forward and hope you’ll stick around long enough for me to prove to you I won’t do it again. But I will completely understand if you can’t trust me anymore.”
“Okay, you don’t have to go overboard,” Zoe’s voice is gruff. “But I’ll kick your ass if you do it again.”
My eyes watery, I grin. “You can even use your four-inch heels.”
“Do I have any other kind?” Clearing her throat, Zoe releases my hands and takes a step back. After quickly swiping at her eyes, she holds a slinky black dress against herself, modeling for the mirror. “Well. It’s pretty badass you asked him out. Is this new outfit for Jake?”
“For me,” I blurt without thinking, then realize it’s true. While I still hear Weston’s voice in the back of my mind, I’m finding it progressively easier to choose my own clothes merely becauseIwant to wear them. Of course I want Jake to think I’m hot, but I also want to like what I see too.
And maybe some of that courage has come about because Jake’s made me feel like I can be myself, that I don’t need to change to fit into a mold.
Because he already sees me as I am—and likes her.
And if Zoe, the most self-assured person I know, called my actions badass—that definitely helps.
She peers at me. “You know, I actually believe you. Where did you put Lucy? I like this new confident you.”
“I’m getting there. Baby steps,” I say, feeling lighter than I have in a long time. Things are looking up: I’m rebuilding my friendship with Zoe, I have a date set up with the cutest guy, and I’m slowly finding myself again.
Changing the subject, I add, “Say, aren’t you going to a convention soon?”
Zoe loves cosplay and goes to as many events as her schedule will allow. She keeps threatening all of us that she's going to force us to attend the local Hydra Con one day. I have no interest, but I majorly owe her at this point so I’ll definitely be going, not that I’m necessarily going to tell her that yet.
“Not until next year,” Zoe says now. “I’m thinking about going as Poison Ivy… you know, lean into the redhead trope. But Halloween’s coming up next. We should do a group costume!”
I groan. “Seriously? That sounds like an absolutely terrible idea. Next you’re gonna say we should go as the Spice Girls.”
“Well, I’m a dead ringer for Ginger Spice,” Zoe laughs.
“More like Scary Spice,” I mutter.
“Hey, I heard that!”
As we move to a different part of the store, Zoe throws a comment over her shoulder, “So… what do you think of Luke?”
“Who’s Luke?” I ask. Ooooh, I love this silky dress, the pastel pinks and blues swirl in a beautiful pattern with a bubble hem. I’ll have to try this one on.
Zoe stares at me. “You know, that bartender at TNT? The asshole that made me carry four drinks to our table? You really don’t know who I’m talking about?”
I finally lift my eyes to her, out of my outfit/Jake haze. “Oh, him? What about him?”
