Page 38 of Be Your Anything
I cross my arms and sit back in my chair, letting Paige air her shit, hoping she’ll get it all out in one go so she can then move past whatever bullshit is bothering her.
“And then when she finallydoesgraduate, shedoesn’tmove back here to be with the man she supposedly loves and wants to be with, for whatever fucking reason she feels like making up whenever the two of you talk. I mean”—she throws her hands out to the sides—“you’ve been dating for eight years and you’re the last person on her mind. What else can she possibly do to be the worst girlfriend ever besides decide on her future without considering you at all?”
“Thank you for that feedback, Ms. Andrews,” I say, my frustration evident in my tone. “Now if you’ll kindly turn off your bitch mode so I can talk to my best friend, I’d appreciate it.”
She lets out an exasperated sigh just as the waitress comes over with my club sandwich and Paige’s cobb salad. We pick at our meals in relative silence for a few minutes, not saying anything, our silverware clinking against our plates the only noise at our table.
Paige isn’t what anyone would call a dainty girl. She might be a little thing, but she’s a fucking bull in a china shop, for sure. Loud. Brash. Completely okay with knocking things over even when you’ve worked your ass off to set them upjust so.
And normally, I’m okay with that. Not that she needs my permission to be herself or anything machismo like that, but to some degree, you have to be accepting or supportive of who your friends are at their basest levels. True friends are going to reveal their worst sides to you, and if you’re not willing to deal, you should cut bait and run.
She’s definitely a here-the-fuck-I-am kind of girl, and I love her for that. I love her for so many reasons, including the fact that most of the women in the South Bay are so damn concerned with how everyone sees them. Her mouth, as loud and aggressive as it can get, makes her the real deal.
But when you’re so busy having an opinion that you forget other people are human, too, it can cause a problem, and that’s where I think she is with this whole Remmy thing.
Yes, Remmy and I have walked a bumpy road together.
We started dating in high school and broke up once when Remmy cheated on me, but we worked it out and stayed together when she left for college and I stayed in Hermosa to continue my surfing career. We might have settled on an open relationship, which plenty of people would never understand, but it’s our way of choosing to try to make things work in the face of some difficulties. Remmy’s experiences in life…well, it’s my opinion that if Paige knew some of the darker stories, she wouldn’t be so quick to jump down Remmy’s throat.
Her stories aren’t mine to tell, though, so I keep my mouth shut, deciding to let Paige be Paige. I relax my stiff shoulders and take a larger sip of my drink, choosing to just accept that I can’t control my best friend or how she feels about this.
“Look, I don’t want to be in a fight today, alright? I had a weird day yesterday and I just wanted to spend some time with my best friend. Can we set the shit-on-Remmy aside for the day and move on?”
Paige mulls it over as she chews on a piece of lettuce, not saying anything but eventually nodding.
I let out a relieved sigh. “Awesome.”
“But one more thing before we move on,” Paige starts, and I just know I’m about to get another earful. “I’ve tried to keep my mouth shut about you and Remmy—”
“Sure, you can go ahead and continue to believe that,” I sneak in, chuckling slightly.
“—but this shit between the two of you doesn’tonlyimpact you. There are other people who are affected by your choices, and I just think you should keep that in mind.”
My smile falls away. “What are you talking about?”
Her brow furrows and she leans forward. “Lennon, Lucas. Obviously, I’m talking about Lennon.”
Her voice is a whisper when she hisses it at me, but I couldn’t be more stunned than if she’d taken out a bullhorn and blasted it in my ears from across the table.
“What about Lennon?”
Paige’s jaw drops, a bewildered look on her face, something that screamsYou can’t be fucking seriouswithout saying a single word.
“Lennon is my friend. Remmy is my girlfriend,” I say to her, something I think should go without saying.
Then I take a bite of my sandwich, hoping that puts things to bed.
But Paige scoffs. “If you think all of Hermosa Beach isn’t aware of the fact that you and Lennon have been sleeping together since that night at the Dive-In Movie, you’re fucking insane.”
The bite of food dries in my mouth, and swallowing suddenly becomes a huge feat.
Apparently, I’m fucking insane, because not a single word about Lennon has been breathed in my direction over the past however many months since we started sleeping together.
Not from other girls who have hinted they’re down for a trip to my bed. Not from any of my friends.
Well, except for Otto yesterday, and that absolutely blew my mind.
I thought I’d made it clear to Lennon that I don’t like to talk about my personal life in public. I assumed that meant she wouldn’t share what’s going on between us with other people, assumed she wouldn’t want our private lives to get out in the public eye any more than I do.
