Page 26 of We Were Something
He pauses, and I suddenly get the feeling he’s going to say something important.
“…because Remmy and I would like to have you over for dinner on Sunday.”
My eyebrows rise again, this time in surprise.
“We do this ‘Family Dinner’ thing that…well, it’s a little hard to explain, but we’d love for you to join us.” Then he holds his hand up. “And I’m sure you’re going to object with things like how it isn’t entirely appropriate considering the fact that you’re Ivy’s doctor right now, but if the past few months have taught me anything, it’s that surrounding yourself with good people is no easy task. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but I don’t have a lot of friends. A lot of that is because Iusedto surround myself with shitty people. But I’d like for that to change, and I’d like for us to be friends.”
I lick my lips and rest my hands on my hips, having a hard time hiding my smile.
“I also realize this feels a lot more like asking you on a date than I anticipated,” he continues.
At that we both laugh a bit, allowing the somewhat awkward nature of vulnerability and honesty to crack out of the tension of the moment and fill the space around us with a different kind of energy.
And just like that, my gut and my mind get back on the same page, telling me that having a friend like Ben in my life is a good choice. So I nod.
“You know, in the past, I probably would have tried to keep up some sort of boundary. But since I’ve been back in town, I’ve been feeling like things are too…solitary. So.” I shrug a shoulder. “I’d love to come over and have dinner with you and Remmy.”
Ben beams at me, and I return the smile.
I might have enjoyed a loose kind of popularity because of my success on the sailing team back in the day, but I’ll never forget the way guys like Shandler O’Ryan treated me. The way I was always beneath them, no matter what I did.
The impetus to open up and develop true relationships with my peers hasn’t ever been something that has come easy to me. It’s a natural inclination to hold my cards close to my chest, only revealing myself to people I fully trust. And it takes quite some time for those kinds of relationships to develop.
But at my acceptance of Ben’s offer to have me over, something that has rattled around inside me for a long time seems to come to a restful stop, a typically ignored desire for companionship and friendship with someone I legitimately trust and get along with. It sounds so simple and is anything but.
As I head home a short while later and my mind crawls back over my earlier thoughts about Jen and the divorce and everything that happened between us, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps it was the lack of vulnerability, the lack of friendship, and my desire to keep her at arm’s length that were truly why everything crumbled in the end.
CHAPTER6
PAIGE
“Well it’s about time they decided to invite us.”
Lennon snorts from the driver’s seat next to me as she turns right off my street, heading in the direction of Ben and Remmy’s house on the opposite side of town.
“I mean, you can’t call it ‘Family Dinner’ and then not invite the people who have been your family since you were kids,” I continue. “And make no bones about it—we are family.”
My best friend laughs next to me and rolls her eyes.
“What? Why are you laughing?”
“Because you get into thesemoodssometimes where you’re all up on your high horse and forget that not everyone thinks about things the same way you do.”
At that I cross my arms and look out the window as we cruise slowly down Hermosa Avenue. “Well, maybe theyshould,” I mumble, eliciting another giggle from my left.
I know I’m being kind of fussy, but I’ve always felt a little like a bruised peach about being left out of the family dinner Hannah instituted earlier this summer as a way to get their sibling group to know each other better. Logically, I understand it was a decision on her part to get together with Ivy, Ben, Wyatt, and Lucas to sort through some of the drama that made them all a family.
But both Lennon and I have been best friends with Wyatt and Lucas sinceliterallykindergarten. There isn’t a topic under the sun or any kind of secret the group of us hasn’t discussed. We’ve been through everything together.
“Besides, I know you’re not actually mad about not being invited, and more about the fact that Remmy has been to the last few.”
At the mention of Ben’s fiancée and the woman whom I fault with a handful of issues from our youth, as well as some recent drama, I scowl.
“Well, ofcourseI’m going to be peeved about that,” I say. “How does she get to come back and pull all the shit she did then still weasel her way into the fold again?”
With Remmy marrying Ben at some point in the future, it makes sense she would be a part of these dinners. But I can’t help resenting her just a bit at how consistently she’s able to turn things around for her own benefit. It must be nice to come back to town as the villain and convince everyone you’re actually the broken heroine to the point where you tumble your way into the arms of a prince.
Lennon lets out a long sigh and stares at me as we wait at a red light, her lips pursed in disapproval.
