Page 3 of The Best Worst Mistake
“Whenever you’re ready,” Grant encourages.
Silas tosses another bit of kindling into the metal pit.
I hold the bottle out in front of me, just like Grant did. The fire’s flame is already big enough to feel some warmth beneath it.
“Okay, my favorite memory has to be when the two of you showed up in the middle of the night, freshman year, throwing rocks at my window. I still have no idea why you didn’t just call my phone to ask me to come down for that meteor shower you were so hell-bent on watching.”
“Because throwing rocks is so much more romantic,” Si jokes, grinning slyly at Grant.
Grant joins in, amused. “More like, we didn’t want to wake Molly up.”
“Trust me, the rocks you threw at our window did not stop you from waking her up. She was so annoyed.”
“Whatever,” Silas snickers. “Your roommate loved it.”
“Only because she lovedyou,” I remind him. Every one of my friends had a crush on Silas during college, but none of them managed to hang on to him for long, including my freshman year roommate, Molly.
“Okay, so getting woken up with rocks was the best time of your life at Harvard. Noted,” Si says, sarcastically. “Christ, we should have had more fun.”
“No, we had themostfun,” I insist. “I just loved that it was so random that night. Plus, I’d just met you guys so it seemed all wild and dangerous, sneaking out like that.” And it had. It felt like something out of a movie when I went to the window — getting woken up by the two cute guys I’d just befriended in class. We’d sat on the riverbank, watching a meteor shower rain over the Charles until dawn.
“Your turn,” I say, offering the bottle to Silas next.
He shakes his head. “You forgot to add where you’re going to be in five years.”
“Right.” I bring it back to my chest. “In five years, I see myself—” I pause to smile at Grant — “living in Boston with you.We have more than one bedroom now because we’re a hugely successful couple and are considering a dog but settle on a baby instead.” Grant laughs. He knows I can’t wait to have a family one day. “And you—” I say, turning to Silas — “you like to come over for Sunday dinners. You’re there so much the neighbors think you must be Grant’s brother since the two of you are always doing something ridiculous. And we’re all happy.” I smile at them both. “Like really, really happy. That’s all I want.”
I tip the bottle up to take a drink but do it too fast and the carbonation erupts straight out the top, splashing across my face.
I jump out of my chair and hold the bottle away, but not before spilling more down the front of my sweater. I begin laughing, using the back of my sleeve to wipe the champagne from my face, half-blinded by the mess.
Both Silas and Grant jump up. Grant looks around for a towel or napkin, even though we all know there aren’t any, while Silas takes his jacket off and bends an arm around the fire to hand it to me.
I take it from him.
“Now it’s a party,” he adds, grinning.
“Do you want to go back to the house to change?” Grant asks, looking around. “I don’t have a coat otherwise I’d—”
“I’m fine,” I insist, wiping the last bit off my chin. “I hate when I do that with champagne. I swear I forget it’s going to happen every single time.”
Grant laughs, knowing it’s true. He’s seen me do that before. “You sure you don’t want to go back to the house to change?” he asks, then uses Silas’ coat to wipe a stray drop above my eye. “I can run back with you.”
“I don’t want to make that hike again, plus we’ll miss the last bit of the sun.” I point toward the sky. It’s already turned a deepshade of plum with orange and gray tiger stripes shooting out in all directions. “This coat is great, thanks.”
I hand the bottle out to Silas so I can wrap the jacket around myself with both hands. It’s still warm from him wearing it and it heats me up immediately when Grant and I sit back down.
Silas stays standing and holds the bottle out in front of him like he’s about to make a full-blown speech.
Grant takes my hand and the warmth of it feels perfect right now. I wish we had a double Adirondack couch so I could snuggle into him beside the fire until the stars come out later.
Silas clears his throat.
“Now, I’m going to get real nostalgic here for a minute,” he starts. I groan, but my eyes twinkle up at him. “And don’t pretend like you don’t love it, Jules,” he adds, smirking back at me.
Grant snorts and squeezes my hand.
I’m going to miss this. Grant’s love and Silas’ ridiculous friendship. I’ll still have them, of course, but it’ll never be the same as it’s been with all three of us on the same campus.
