Page 80 of Resurrection
She smiles. "And what would you do without me then?"
"Sell the place and go to South America to camp in the wild," I joke.
"Sure. And leave Tyler Brady behind?"
My mood sours at the mention of Ty. "I wish you wouldn’t say that asshole’s name."
"Why?"
"Because he's all I can think about," I confess in a rushed whisper.
"So you admit it?" She stares at me, her eyes sharp and curious.
I nod. "He keeps texting about dinner."
"Just go."
"I'm not certain if I want to. It was already pretty awkward between us the other day when he came to the community center."
Sonia’s the only friend I trust. Of course I told her about my make-outsession with Tyler last week. Keeping it to myself was too difficult. And it’s not something I’d tell Mom. Or Adri. Especially Adri. Unless my goal is to summon the end of the world.
"I think your rockstar has a point, and you two do need to talk it out eventually," Sonia supplies thoughtfully. "This back and forth isn’t going to solve the problem. Are you giving up on your little revenge plan?"
"Don't know if I can go through with it."
Sonia waits for an explanation, but I stall, shifting a box of jalapeños.
"I'm worried it's going to end the same way it did before," I finally say. "He makes me waver. I feel like I’m in high school again when he’s around, and he’s clearly not leaving town anytime soon."
"It’s probably driving you nuts, huh?"
Ugh. She has no idea."It does. When I wanted him to come back, he wasn’t there. Now that I'm almost over him, he’s back into my life, claiming every goddamn part of it like he owns it. Like he’s always owned it."
There’s a beat of silence, punctuated by the distant jingle of slot machines in the casino.
"Can I ask you a question?" Her eyes sparkle with mischief.
I don’t like that. Still, I reply, "Okay."
"When was the last time you got laid, lady?"
Only Sonia could be this blunt.
"Is that somehow important right now?"
"Of course. This tension"—she bumps my shoulder gently with her fist—"needs some release."
I find myself laughing a little while my fingers keep finding their way to the fresh cilantro, twisting off small pieces as if the smell will somehow calm me down.
"Your mind goes straight to the gutter," I tease her, trying really hard to remove the image of my drunk bathtub adventure from my mind. It's utterly mortifying—pleasuring yourself while thinking about your jerk of an ex.
"My mind lives in the gutter,chica." She grins. "The way I see it… You can kill two—no, three—birds with one stone."
Sonia's amused stare follows me around the kitchen as I move to the containers with the aromatics. It's like she has a spotlight on my inner turmoil, which I guess isn't so inner anymore. "Three?" I ask, curious what those are.
"Well, for starters, you’ll get to have great sex, which is always a nice way to release stress. Then, you’ll get to see if that can help you get the guy out of your system. And finally, revenge. If you plan on following through, of course."
"We barely said three words to each other the other day while volunteering." That much is true.
