Page 73 of Looks Real Good Now
I just about managed to stop myself from ‘awwing’ out loud as another message came in.
Yes, you left your pillowcase here. Yes, I will bring it with me.
Thanks
“You’re making a face at your phone that can only be described as sickening,” I heard a familiar voice say as soon as I got outside. It was one that I wasn’t expecting to hear this soon, but welcomed, nonetheless.
“Hello to you too, Maxine,” I said, turning to look at Maxxy as she came to stand next to me. I sent a final text to Liam, letting him know I was with Maxxy and would probably be quiet for the rest of the day, before putting my phone in my coat pocket.
“Hello, Len?” Her eyebrows drew together as she tried the name out.
“Don’t,” I said, although I knew she was going to ask for an explanation. She tried for so long to give me a nickname and I vetoed every single one.
“I just find it interesting that in all our years of friendship, you never once mentioned that you had one of the most attractive men I have ever seen tucked away in your brain as a former best friend who had his own little nickname for you.”
“If you remember correctly, when we met, I was trying to get over someone. Why would I give you that much detail? You would have used it against me or worse, used logic as to why I should give it a go. Especially when said man moved to our city.”
“And I may never forgive you for not telling me the person you were trying to get over was Liam. Mulligan. Even at a college level, he was touted as one of the best in the sport. It’s notlike I would have told anyone. I also probably wouldn’t have told you to give it a go back in college. Athletes don’t have the best of reputations, and I wouldn’t have wanted you to be heartbroken by him twice. But you’re right. The moment he moved to Detroit, I would have made it my mission to get you two together.”
I shook my head. “Which would have been a disaster.”
“I’m not mad at you. I understand why you did it. But I now know, so come on, give mesomething. How come he gets to give you a nickname and no one else does?”
“Aaron calls me Ally,” I pointed out. He did it because he knew I hated nicknames and wanted to be annoying. It was a source of great annoyance forhimwhen it stopped bugging me but by that point, he was out of the habit of using my full name and still hasn’t managed to give it up.
“Doesn’t count, he’s your brother. Siblings get away with murder.”
A fair point.
“So do people who have known you since you were four. I don’t know how it started; I think he misheard my name when we met. I didn’t hate it, so he has always gotten away with it. I need to stress it isonlyhim who gets away with it. Don’t think you’ve got a fun new name to call me. My name is still Alana.”
“Fine, I won’t. But please explain what the hell has happened in the last two weeks that means you’ve got an old nickname back?” she asked as she started leading us out of the airport.
“Honestly? He bumped into me at the airport and made a wild suggestion that we pretend we had started dating so that my parents wouldn’t ask me any questions about Kai.And his parents, mostly his dad, wouldn’t keep asking him about his career or lack thereof or his relationship ending.”
“If it was pretend, then what happened? Seems like you’re in it now.”
“What happened, Maxine, is that we dated. He took me on dates and bought me hot chocolate. He kept taking my hand and not letting go. He made sure I slept and fuck, I slept so well in his arms. Then there was the sex.” I could hear that I sounded wistful. Over sex, of all things. The thing that up until recently, I didn’t think could be better than a warm chocolate chip cookie.
“Oh, are we talking about your sex life now?” Maxxy teased. I had always been tight-lipped about my sex life, mostly because there wasn’t ever anything to write home about.
“Not really. But it is more satisfying than it was. Enough about me, though. How was your Christmas?”
Maxxy fell quiet. The kind of quiet that was very out of character for her.
“Max?” I asked as she unlocked her car.
“I was in Boston.”
“Did you travel with the team?” That was unusual for Maxxy; she didn’t need to be with the team during away games. Especially not an away game that fell over the holidays where her advice was basically ‘have fun’.
“Kind of?”
“I thought you were going to your sister’s. How did you end up in Boston?”
“Jo got a stomach bug on the twenty-third, so I didn’t go. So, I went to Sweet Nothing to drown myself in panettone, you nailed that recipe this year, by the way, and Teddy came in. Heoverheard me complaining about the fact that I was going to have to spend Christmas alone and he—”
“Invited you to spend Christmas with him. In Boston?”
