Page 60 of The Plus Ones
“Tad?”Come on. Tad?
“She really loved him. Like, a lot. In that first love kind of way. They were cute together. He was nice. I liked him.”
I fight the urge to stab myself in the thigh with my fork. I don’t know why, but I really didn’t think she’d ever been in love before. “Uh-huh.”
“They had been together in high school, and they were together for the first two years of college, and the plan was that he’d move to New York after we graduated too. But then he decided to do a semester abroad in Ireland, and he never came back.”
“Oh.”
“She was kind of devastated.”
“Oh.”
“And it changed her. She had about a six-month mourning period, and then she just sort of…became Foxy Roxy.”
“Interesting. So, no serious boyfriends since then?”
“Well, you know, she moved to Brooklyn before I did, and she had a pretty serious boyfriend for almost a year, I think. Jake. I never met him, but she seemed really happy with him. It was serious enough that he went with her to visit her parents at Thanksgiving.”
“Okay.” I fight the urge to pick up this table and throw it across the room.
“But then Jake went on tour—he was in a band. Drummer, I think.”
“Of course.”
“And they decided that it would be best if they weren’t exclusive while he was on tour, and then it just sort of, you know. Fizzled out.”
“Okay. And since then?”
“Nothing serious. That’s when she really embraced the wholework hard/play hardthing. Or she did, I mean. I don’t think she’s been playing very hard lately.”
“Interesting. Why do you think that?”
Her mouth becomes one straight line. “Um. I probably shouldn’t talk about this with you.”
“Very interesting.”
“I mean—with anyone. I shouldn’t be talking about this with anyone.”
“And can you confirm that you have had at least one conversation with her regarding yours truly?”
“I cannot and will not confirm nor deny it.”
I fight the urge to jump up on the table and start rapping about what a badass motherfuckin’ baller my dick is. “Uh-huh. And what are your thoughts on the matter of a hypothetical potential relationship between myself and Miss Roxy Carter?”
Aimee’s face erupts into a giant smile, and she bounces around in her chair and then finally manages to control her facial muscles. She clears her throat. “Well, first of all, both my husband and I will kill you if you fuck around with her.”
“Define fucking around with her.”
“Wooing her and having sex with her and then losing interest and never seeing her again. Leading her to believe that you have feelings for her and then bolting when she actually returns those feelings for you. Being a dick to her in any way even for a minute.”
Who is this asshole that my best friends have me confused with? I gulp down the last of my coffee. “Define ‘I will kill you.’”
“I will be so mad at you and not want to see or speak to you for a really long time. Like a month, probably.”
“Got it.”
She looks me straight in the eye. “You haven’t already…have you?”
