Page 8 of Fall In Love With Me (Fall In Love Again)

I knew everything about her, and she knew everything about me. That’s what happens when you live in a small town. But still we spend the entire night texting the details that this small town doesn’t know about us. The little things and the big things. Until my eyelids are heavy and she tells me she has to sleep.

That’s when I tell her to dream of me.

AUBREY

The porch swing has a subtle creak with every rock backward. Although you can hardly hear it over Marlena’s laugh. Gemma doesn’t stop her story as my friends on Cedar Lane continue the tradition of Wine Down Wednesday on Marlena’s porch. Lauren pours another glass of sangria and Gemma downs her rosé before heading inside to get another bottle.

From here I can see my house across the street and three doors to the right. That bright blue door stares back at me. It knows my secret. I kissed Bennet on the other side of that door and not a soul knows it.

“Whatever it is, I want to know because it’s got her all flustered,” Gemma says in a tone that demands my attention and I look back to my left to see all three of my friends staring back expectantly.

The light is setting over the scenic view of our suburban street … but my stomach refuses to settle down.

“What?” I try to play it off and my voice is too high pitched. Swallowing thickly, I watch Gemma’s brow raise in skepticism; all the while Marlena covers her mouth to keep in a laugh. She’s never been good at hiding her expressions. Add in a half pitcher of Lauren’s sangria, which I swear is all alcohol because she refuses to share the recipe, and Marlena’s got no hope in the world of hiding anything from us.

“Well, spill,” she presses, her voice giddy with delight as she leans back in the white wicker chair. The porch swing creaks again when Lauren takes her seat next to me. This time everyone hears before she gestures for me to do the same: to spill it.

My three neighbors who I’ve been friends with for nearly my entire life, and even closer to these last four years I’ve lived on this street wouldn’t tell a soul … I don’t think.

Yet my nerves rattle as my gaze moves from Marlena’s gray sweats and white tee to Lauren’s silk blouse she’s still got on from work, to Gemma’s cotton sundress. I’d rather look at their clothes than their eyes while I debate on keeping what happened yesterday a secret.

“Is it something bad?” Lauren’s tone turns concerned.

“No, no, no,” I answer quickly before gulping down the last bit of sangria and deciding to just do it. To tell them what happened.

“You remember Bennet, right?” I say.

Marlena’s eyes go wide before she shrieks with glee. “I knew it! You got laid!” Heat floods my cheeks. “Nuh-uh,” Lauren says doubtfully but when I don’t look back at her and attempt to have another sip only to find the etched glass empty, she gasps. With a light slap on my arm, she says, “You didn’t?”

For a very small moment, I don’t hear the humor or the happiness of a friend excited for another friend. I hear an ounce of dread or betrayal, like we’re all back in high school and I just slept with Pamela’s ex.

Lauren’s next comment erases those thoughts just as quickly as her gasp put them there. “He is so freaking hot.” She adds, “When did he even get back to town?”

“He came in last week or the week before I think.”

I nod along as Gemma answers and work on calming my racing heart.

“And you and him banged?” Lauren asks.

“Banged?” A deep crease settles in her forehead as Marlena looks at Lauren and asks, “Who calls it ‘bang?’”

“The horizontal tango, scratched an itch, fornicated, fooled around, went all the way—who cares what you call it? There are only two questions that matter,” Gemma states, gathering our attention as the sun sets a little deeper and she stares at me with a serious expression. “One, was it good, and two, how big is he?”

Lauren and Marlena howl and I have to laugh at the ridiculousness.

I bring my empty glass up to my lips as if I could hide behind it but then hold it with both hands in my lap. I’m already in my pajamas because I have every intention of climbing into bed the moment I waddle my tipsy butt back to my house.

I tell them, “It was good and,” my smile grows as I add, “he is very blessed.”

Another round of shrieks and laughs consumes the porch and this time Miss Margaret, an older woman who takes long walks around the block in the evening, hears us as she’s walking past. I catch her eye just as she’s staring at us while shaking her head in mock disappointment, but she’s smiling the entire time. Margaret keeps it moving in her joggers and I give her a wave, letting the warmth run through me.

“He’s the one Pamela dated, right?” Gemma asks and Marlena nods as she replies, “For a few months, I think in eleventh grade?”

“We don’t need to talk about her right now.” Lauren cuts off their conversation as they remember all the details they can about Bennet. “Pamela has a husband and a third baby on the way. She got her happily ever after and now it’s time,” Lauren looks back at me, “for Aubrey to tell us exactly how big he is.”

Her joke breaks up the small bit of tension that’s brewing in the pit of my stomach.

The secret is out, and nerves prick their way down my shoulders.

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