Page 47 of A Very Friendly Valentine's Day
When she’s settled in bed with her big coat on top of her blankets, I check my phone.
ALANA: Having a nice time with your Juliet?
ALANA: I’ve had an amazing time defending you to people.
ALANA: Everyone thinks I should dump you.
ALANA: I think you just need some boundaries.
ALANA: So here’s an ultimatum…
ALANA: Get off the train in Chicago and fly the rest of the way here.
ALANA: Never see that girl again.
ALANA: And I will pretend this never happened.
ALANA: Otherwise…
ALANA: You will never get to see me in this, in person…
ALANA:
Yeah. It’s a good image. It’s a hot image. It’s a semi-naked image. She’s wearing exactly the kind of thing I always pictured her in two months ago.
And I already know I’ll never get to see her in it or out of it, in person.
And I’m fine with it.
“Is it Alana?”
“Yeah.”
“You should take a walk and call her.”
“Nah. I’ll call her when we’re in Chicago. At the hotel.”
She holds my gaze again, and I wait for her to say something.
But she doesn’t.
“Okay, well. I’m gonna read.” She switches on the light on the wall, turning away from me.
“Me too.” I sure as shit don’t want to watchSherlock.
“Oh, shoot,” she whispers.
And I know she forgot to take her glasses up with her. “Where are they?”
“In my cosmetic bag. In the overnight bag. The black one.”
I unzip the overnight bag and pull her eyeglasses case out of the cosmetic bag. And when I zip the cosmetic bag back up, I just happen to notice a strip of condoms.Which is interesting.And they’re regular sized—which is sad.
“Oh shit, wait—I’ll get them!” She bolts upright and turns to see that I’ve already got the glasses. She squeezes her eyes shut, scrunching up her whole face.
I’m sure she’s expecting me to give her a hard time about them. But I won’t. I just zip up the weekender bag and then hand her the eyeglasses.
She takes them from me without looking at me. “Thank you,” she mumbles.
