by Claire Adams
Or I did, anyway, until Marlene reached over, grabbed my drink, and took a big sip of it. She giggled as she was doing it, as though she thought she was being flirty and cute. But her expression changed when her mind registered what she was drinking.
“Oh yuck,” she said, looking disgusted. “What is that? It tastes disgusting.”
“That's a whiskey sour,” I said mildly, thinking back to the first time I'd seen Kylie order whiskey drinks at the bar. She could knock whiskey back neat, without making a face. It was one of those things that had always impressed me.
But I was here with Marlene, not with Kylie. Marlene, who was currently still sputtering and wiping her tongue against a napkin to get rid of the taste. Again, I had to fight very hard not to roll my eyes.
“I can't believe you drink that shit,” Marlene complained. “It tastes like straight up alcohol.” She shook her head. “Your whole mouth is going to taste like that for the rest of the night, too. That's a deal-breaker if I ever had one.”
I snorted in disbelief. “Are you seriously telling me that you don't want to go home with me because I've been drinking whiskey?” I asked her.
Marlene grabbed her refreshed drink and slipped off her stool, tossing her hair back again. “You weren't very interesting anyway,” she told me snidely before returning to her friends, who all started giggling at her return.
I wondered for a moment whether the whole thing had been staged. Actually, it felt like that must have been a scene from a reality TV show. I looked around for cameras, but I didn't see any.
I shook my head. It wasn't like I really cared.
I downed my drink faster than I should have. Fast enough to give me brain freeze. But I just wanted out of there. What a waste of an evening.
I still couldn't get my thoughts off Kylie. If I made a pass at her, would there be any way to preserve our friendship? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Maybe I needed to risk our friendship and see where that path led us. Who knew what could be in store for us?
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, half intending to call her right then and there, as I was on my way back home. But I cautioned myself to wait. It wouldn't be right to start this off like some drunken fling. I needed to make sure she realized how special she was to me, and showing up drunk on her doorstep wasn't going to show that.
Not that I was drunk. Maybe a little tipsy, from having finished my last drink too quickly, but certainly not drunk. That was just an excuse.
But I wasn't going to chicken out this time. I nodded to myself and put my phone back in my pocket. Kylie and I were going to need to have a serious talk once I sobered up.
Chapter Eight
Kylie
I knew it wasn't right to take out my impatience on Mom, but I couldn't help it. “What do you mean Dad has decided he doesn't want to fly out here?” I snapped. “It's two weeks until Christmas!”
“I know, honey, but he's decided things are just too dangerous in the world today. What with all the things in the news this year, it just doesn't seem like the safest time to fly.” Mom's tone told me everything about what she thought of his opinion.
“Did you remind him of the statistics?” I asked, clenching my other hand, the one not holding the phone, into a fist. I loved my parents dearly, but if there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was people sensationalizing the current state of the world. “Statistically, you're more likely to die around town than you are to die in a plane crash. The number of people killed in terrorist attacks in the US is ridiculously low compared to some of the other numbers.”
“I know all that, and so does your father,” Mom said, sighing. “But he just keeps coming up with another excuse, every time I try to reason with him. On top of the danger of flying, there's also all the security that we'll have to go through. It's a busy airport on both ends, and even though I told him ages ago that we should apply for TSA PreCheck, we never did. He keeps going on and on about how we're going to have to dig out our electronics and take off our shoes and rationalize all of the things that we're bringing. Of course, I don't think it's going to be so bad, but you know your father. He can imagine any horror in the book.”
“But Mom,” I groaned.
“I'm sorry, sweetie, I really am,” Mom said.
I felt bad, hearing the guilt in her voice. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't really Dad's fault either, despite the fact that it was him being so unreasonable and giving in to such unfounded fears. “What are we going to do?” I asked.
Mom sighed. “Well, I suppose it's too late for you to find a flight out to see us,” she said. “I guess we'll just have to go one Christmas without seeing you. Maybe you can come out here sometime in the spring, and we can have Christmas then.”
“It won't be the same,” I said, even though I knew I was being petulant. If Dad didn't want to fly out, I would just have to accept that. Mom was doing the best that she could.
Especially when she said, “Sure, it'll be the same. I'll bake all the Christmas cookies, just like I normally do. And you know your father and me, we won't get around to taking down the Christmas decorations until it's nearly Memorial Day.”
I laughed, glad that she, at least, could find some amusement in this. It was silly. I was 33 years old. But this would be the first Christmas I'd ever spent without them, unless I could figure out some way to convince my dad that flying was just as safe now as it had ever been. Or unless I figured out some other way to get them out to California.
“I'll keep working on him,” Mom promised. “I'll let you know how it goes.”
“Okay,” I sighed. We said our goodbyes and hung up, and I went back into the living room, where Mandy and Jasmine were chatting.
“Who was that?” Mandy asked, looking shrewdly at my face. “You look frustrated.”
“My dad has apparently decided that flying out here for Christmas is too much of a hassle,” I sighed.
“Ouch,” Mandy said, wincing. “So, what are you going to do?”
“I don't know,” I said, running a hand back through my hair. “I guess I'm just not going to see them this year. Christmas is only two weeks away. Even if there are still airlines with seats left, I'm sure they're ridiculously expensive. Mom suggested I just fly home in the spring, but it's not going to feel the same if I do that.”
Mandy pouted. “I was looking forward to seeing them, too,” she said. “You know I love your parents.”
We all fell silent for a moment. Then, she snapped her fingers, a huge grin spreading across her face. “I know,” she said. “What if we took a road trip?”
I grimaced. “I think we took one too many of those back when we were in college,” I said. “My knees still hurt, just thinking of being cramped up in a car for days! It's a long way between here and New York.”
“We'll take turns driving, and the other person can stretch out in the back seat,” Mandy suggested. “Jasmine, you could come, too. We've never done a road trip before, the three of us.”
“As much fun as that sounds, I have other plans over Christmas,” Jasmine said, shrugging.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “I thought you didn't celebrate Christmas,” I said.
Jasmine was as goth as it came, and she had a bone to pick with organized religion and religion-based holidays.
“I don't celebrate Christmas,” Jasmine said, sniffing. “But other people do, and that means that time off work is expected at this time of year. And that means people can do things that they might not ordinarily have time to do.”
“Okay,” I said slowly.
“Things they don't normally do, like come on a road trip with their two best friends?” Mandy suggested slyly.
Jasmine laughed. “Nice try, but like I said, I already have plans. Maybe some other year.”
“I'm still not sure,” I said.
“It'll be fun,” Mandy said. “We'll get to relive our youth and all of that. Anyway, it's only fair. Your parents have come out to visit you every year. It's time that you went t
o visit them.”
“But it'll be New York in the winter,” I groaned. “I don't even think I have any winter gear anymore. The coldest it ever gets in LA is in the 50s. On the rare occasions that it gets colder than that, I spend the day indoors, as does anyone sane.”
“You know what would be really fun?” Mandy asked, as though she hadn't heard my protests. “We could invite Josh along, too!”
I blinked at her. “I'm sure he has other things to do over Christmas,” I said weakly.
“Nothing that he's planning could be better than a road trip. Just the three of us, on another adventure? Just like old times.”
“Should we track down Benny Lewis, too?” I asked dryly. “Get the whole gang together?”
“I wish we could,” Mandy said, as though I'd made a serious proposal. “But with his wife and the newborn, I think he's out of road trip land for a while.” She frowned. “Have you even talked to Benny lately? He's been quiet.”
“He's got a newborn,” I reminded her. “I'm sure he has more important things to do than relive his glory days with us.”
Mandy grinned at me. “So, since you just agreed that our college days were our glory days, I take it that Operation: Road Trip is full steam ahead?”
I rolled my eyes, even though I had to admit, it was a pretty good plan. Definitely cheaper than flying at this time of year, and it could be fun to get all three of us together for some quality time again. “We'll have to take your car,” I cautioned, in case she wasn't thinking things through all the way. “I don't think Barley would make it across the state, let alone across the country.”
“Maybe we can get Josh to let us trip in one of his sports cars.” Mandy giggled. “After all, he can afford to buy a new one after the trip is over.”
“He could probably also afford to buy the three of you plane tickets, thus negating the need for a road trip to begin with,” Jasmine pointed out.
“I wouldn't feel comfortable asking him to do that,” I admitted, frowning. “The thing is, it's not even about the money so much. I could afford the tickets, I bet. They're just way more than they would be if I postponed things and went in the spring. I don't know if I could justify buying them.”
“But you'd feel comfortable dragging Josh away from whatever holiday plans he already has?” she asked, but she looked amused.
“He probably doesn't have anything,” Mandy said, snorting. “He's probably planning on staying home and getting work done over Christmas. He'll bitch about how all the major companies that he's looking at taking over are closed for the holidays, but he'll do all sorts of research on the next big investment so that as soon as things start up again in January, he'll be ready.”
“He probably doesn't want to take a road trip with just the two of us,” I said, even though I knew it was a feeble excuse. “At least when we had Benny with us, we were gender-balanced. Josh and two girls on a road trip sounds pretty boring for him.”
“Bullshit,” Mandy said, rolling her eyes. “The other night, it was Josh and three girls at a bar, remember? And we all had fun.”
“Yeah, but that was different,” I said. “This would be an extended time.”
“He's spent plenty of extended time with us before,” Mandy said. “Just call him. Let him decide if he doesn't want to come.”
“Why do I always have to be the one to call him?” I complained.
“Because you're the reason he always comes with us,” Mandy said, smirking at me. “You're his best friend.”
I rolled my eyes, but inside, I was thinking about what this would really mean. Ever since the breakup with Andrew, I couldn't seem to get Josh out of my head. And seeing him shirtless in my house the previous week had only fueled more of those thoughts. I couldn't stop thinking about how attractive he was, and about how nice it was for him to bring me home when I was drunk or to want to defend me against Andrew.
Josh was always there for me. That's what it came down to. He had been, ever since we'd met in college. We might not have talked much lately, but I knew I could still count on him.
It was starting to feel like more than that, though, and I could only imagine the side effects that having him join our road trip could have. Would I start to feel even more strongly for him? Was I okay with having feelings for him? I didn't want to ruin our friendship.
I shook my head. I'm just being overly emotional because Andrew and I broke up, I told myself sternly. And I'm still shaken by that final argument that we had. I don't really have feelings for Josh.
I smiled at Mandy, and she smiled back, heedless of my inner turmoil. “All right, all right, I'll give him a call,” I promised. “But it's up to him if he wants to come.”
Chapter Nine
Josh
I drummed my fingers on my desk as I pored over the latest investment contract that my lawyer had drawn up. I made notes as I went through it, highlighting sections that I wanted to be rewritten before we sent this over to the company for their final approval. My personal phone rang when I was about three-quarters of the way through the contract, and I sighed with relief. I needed a break.
“Hey, Kylie,” I said as I answered the phone. “What's up?”
“Hey, Josh,” Kylie said. “Not much. Are you working?”
“Yeah, just reading through a couple contracts,” I told her. “It's dull. I'm glad you called.”
She laughed. “Glad to be of service. Hey, have you already had lunch? I was thinking maybe we could meet up. I happen to be in your area.”
I frowned and looked at my watch. It was lunch time, come to think of it, and even though I'd intended to get through these contracts before I had lunch, I decided it wouldn't kill me to wait and finish reading over them a little later. “No, I haven't already eaten, and lunch sounds good,” I said. “Did you have somewhere in mind?”
“It's your neighborhood,” Kylie reminded me. “You pick the place.”
“Why don't you come park at my building, and we'll walk to that sandwich shop down the street?” I suggested. “I haven't been there in a while.”
“Sounds good,” Kylie agreed easily. “See you soon.”
“So what's up?” I asked her as we sat down at the table, waiting for our sandwiches to be brought over.
Kylie smiled, but I detected a hint of uncertainty in the expression. “What do you mean, what's up?” she hedged.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “I know we said last week that it had been a while since we'd chatted, but I didn't expect you to want to go out to lunch this week, and especially not on such short notice.”
“Like I said, I was in the area,” Kylie said, but from her guilty expression, I knew there was some deeper purpose to this visit. Before I could continue to press, though, she asked, “So what are your plans for Christmas, anyway?”
I blinked at her, thrown by the sudden change of topic. Then, I shrugged. “I don't really have any plans. You know my parents are usually traveling at this time of year. This year, they're going on a cruise package that I gave them. I'll probably just end up relaxing around the house.”
“That's nice,” Kylie said.
“What about you?” I asked. “I assume your parents are flying out to visit you again?”
“Not this year,” she sighed. “That was the plan, up until a few days ago, when Dad apparently decided that flying is just too dangerous and too much of a hassle.”
I snorted, able to picture the man going on one of his heated, stubborn tirades. Sometimes, it was so easy to see where Kylie's artistic and emotional personality had come from, and watching her dad in one of his rants definitely made it obvious.
“So, what are you going to do?” I asked. “They always come out to visit you, don't they?”
“Ever since college,” Kylie said. She paused. “Remember how you said last week that if there was anything you could do to help me with the Andrew situation, I should let you know?”
“Yeah?” I said slowly, confused again by the change in subject. I could
tell she was trying to get me to connect the dots, but I just wasn't getting there.
“I have kind of an unusual transportation request,” she finally said when it became clear I wasn't going to be able to figure out exactly what she was asking.
I frowned, still not quite getting it. Sure, I had a lot more money than she did, but unless something had really changed, she was making quite a bit of money between her artwork sales and her secretarial work. She shouldn't need my help buying plane tickets. Then again, she'd said that she had an unusual request.
“You want me to fly you there and back on my private jet?” I asked teasingly.
Kylie giggled. “I actually forgot that you had a private jet,” she said. “But yeah, wouldn't that be a great idea? We could fly it down to Florida, spend a few days on the beach, and then take a yacht up to New York just in time for Christmas. How does that sound?”
I laughed as well. “I'm sure all the yachts are booked up this time of year,” I said mock-seriously. “And as much fun as it would be to take my private boat from here, through the Panama Canal, and around up to New York, I'm not sure we have enough time for that trip.”
Kylie couldn't quit giggling, and I grinned, seeing her like this. It had been a while since I'd seen those laugh creases around her eyes. I was starting to realize how stressed her relationship with Andrew must have been making her. Or maybe I just hadn't seen her often enough lately. Either way, it was nice to see her amusement.
“So, what are you really after?” I asked when she had recovered herself.
“I was thinking that instead of flying to New York, it would be fun to road trip there,” she said. “Remember how I said last week that I needed to get away and have some time to think? I feel like the universe has dropped this right in my lap. A good drive could be just what I need.”
“Oh,” I said, frowning at her. “So, you dropped by to say goodbye before you leave town?” But she had mentioned something about an unusual transportation request. Suddenly, it dawned on me. “Your car wouldn't make it across the country.”