by Brynn North
Just then, the older host came back. “Hi, I will be leaving for the evening. Can you tell me what you want me to with all those shopping bags you had us put in the back?”
Luci’s face burned as Sebastian gave her a skeptical look.
“Yours?” was all he said as she hunkered down in embarrassment.
Luci: he likes me!
Luci: What’s taking you so long to answer? I need to spill
Luci: Alllllex
8:35 in the morning was too damn early for this kind of onslaught, Alex thought. But the string of texts kept coming, so he sneakily opened his phone.
Alex: I’m teaching!
Luci: Omg he’s so hot. You could bounce a quarter off his ass. And he’s going to help me with the party!
Alex: What makes you think I need to hear about my roommate’s ass during first period?
Luci: You’re a single man now, just trying to give you #goals
Alex: Gee. Thanks.
Luci: I need your help. What should I wear next time?
Followed by that was a string of pictures of different skirts and tops.
Alex: How the hell should I know? Do I look like a woman?
Luci: Don’t send any dick pics to prove otherwise.
Alex sighed and glanced over at his crew of seventh graders, working on their math test.
Alex: Look, I got to grade some papers soon. I’ll stop by tonight and you can show me these damn outfits in person.
Luci: see ya tonight!
Alex sighed as he put away the phone, wondering why this bothered him as much as it did.
4
Alex reluctantly knocked on Luci’s door. Why the hell he had to be some kind of judge on a pseudo one-woman Project Runway was beyond him. He was a middle school teacher, not some fashionista. Alex briefly thought about FaceTiming his brother while Luci was showing off her outfits, get his opinion on the matter, but as obsessed as his brother was with the idea of trying to become some kind of Instagram influencer, Alex bet a hundred bucks that Michael still would rather do almost anything but watching a woman cycle through ten outfit changes trying to find the best combo to impress his old college roommate. Guess Luci was stuck with Alex.
“Door’s open, come in and tell me what will make Sebastian want to rip the clothes right off of me,” Alex heard Luci’s muffled voice through the door and let himself in, picking up the wine bottle she left for them on the counter. Two Buck Chuck. Guess the ten bucks and up bottles were reserved for heartbreaks and guys with the letters MD after their names.
“Damn, Luci, couldn’t you have at least stopped off at Costco’s liquor store, treat me a little for going through this with you—” Alex started, right as Lucy appeared in her doorway.
Alex stood still for a moment, cheap wine forgotten in his hand. Luci looked...Luci was.... “Wow.”
“You like?” Luci gave a little twirl in her skirt. Alex wasn’t sure what they called it, but it fit tight at the top and flared at the bottom towards her knees. Knees that continued down her bare legs into pointy-toed high-heeled shoes that gave her calves an incredible arch. On top, she wore a fitted white t-shirt that showed off the curves he was suddenly noticing. Her blonde hair was styled differently too, still piled in a bunch like she usually wore it, but this time it was on top, and little strands were sticking out and were shinier than usual. Instead of it looking messy, somehow her hair looked...sexy? Luci, sexy?
Luci gnawed at her lip uneasily, waiting for him to say something. For the first time, he noticed that she was wearing makeup. Not the foundation and mascara she usually put on, but some things that made her skin smoother. Brighter somehow.
Suddenly aware that he was still standing in silence, Alex forced himself to say something. Anything. “Ummm. Yeah. It looks good.” Why his voice came out in a strangle was a mystery to him. Probably just shocked at seeing Luci dressed up for the first time in pretty much ever. It was so shocking that for the first time in two weeks, Dani dumping him was the last thing on his mind.
“Good? Just good? Maybe I should change into something else,” she murmured anxiously to herself. “I have this one shirt with cold shoulders that Maria told me was really hot.”
Alex didn’t know what a cold shoulder shirt was, nor who Maria was, but one thing he knew for damn sure was that Luci didn’t need to look any hotter, especially for a womanizer like Sebastian.
“No! More than good! You look great! I was just surprised at this new”—he gestured at her, not sure what to say—“look,” he ended up with, rather lamely.
Luci visibly relaxed. “Yeah, I’m trying something new. Stepping my game up, not just at work but you know, for my personal life too. Maria and Esmerelda helped make me over.”
Alex wasn’t sure whether to find this Maria person and thank her, or chew her out, but he definitely felt like having a word with Esmerelda. How could she teach Luci to put something on her lips that made her so...so…fuck, Alex couldn’t believe he was saying this about Luci of all people, but seductive? If it was any other woman, he’d be trying to figure out a way to get closer to that incredible rosy pink mouth to see if it was as sexy as it looked from three feet away. Getting over Dani must be messing with his mind, confusing him into thinking that way about Luci.
“Here, let me try on another one.” Luci raced to her room, thankfully giving Alex a few moments to recover. He went into the kitchen to open the wine, hoping that the cork wouldn’t disintegrate into the bottle like last time. He noticed a big stack of letters on the kitchen table and started flipping through the envelopes.
“Hey Luce, what are these?” Once again, he was interrupted by Luci standing in a new outfit. Even worse than the last, this time she was wearing form-fitting skinny jeans—even Alex knew that clothing article—and some kind of weird top, where it was a turtleneck sweater but with only one shoulder, and was it supposed to look torn up?
Trying to distract himself from those jeans, he managed, “What’s wrong with your top? Goodwill have a half off sale?”
“What’s wrong with it? Two hundred and fifty bucks of sweater is what’s wrong with it. But Maria said it was as sexy as a sweater could get.”
Well, Maria wasn’t wrong. Alex thought, irrationally pissed off for some reason he couldn’t quite place. He wanted to march right down to wherever it was that Maria worked and give her a piece of his mind for selling Luci such an expensive sweater that would only make Sebastian or any other red-blooded man start to wonder what was underneath it.
“Those shoes are contradictory to a sweater,” he said instead, pointing at the strappy heels she wore.
Luci flushed with happiness. “I wore them out with Sebastian a few nights ago. He loved them.”
No fucking kidding a guy like Sebastian would like shoes like that on a woman.
“So what’s with the envelopes?” Alex said, trying to change the topic away from Sebastian, and his focus away from Luci in her tight new clothes. He’d never given much thought to her wardrobe in the past, but now that he had the thought forced upon him, he decided he rather missed the old baggy clothes she used to wear. Kept her away from creeps at least.
She picked them up and handed him a few. “It was sweet, the day after our dinner, Sebastian made a call to the director over at East Village Senior Care, where he volunteers a few days a month giving health checks for free. He told the director, Simon, about the party I wanted to put on. The director was so excited about it that he had the seniors write personalized letters right away, with their Christmas wishes. I just picked them up on the way home from work.”
Well shit. Alex definitely felt like an asshole now, mentally tearing down a doctor doing pro bono work for senior citizens in his very limited spare time. Who’s the douche now, Garcia? He asked himself as he opened one of the letters.
Dear “Santa” the letter read in shaky writing. Alex began to get the feels.
Lordy, I haven’t written those words in close to 70 years, I bet! This
is so much fun. I guess I’m supposed to write what I want for Christmas now. Well, when you get to my age, there aren’t many material things left that you want, just good health for you and any family or friends you have left with you here on this earth. I suppose though that you aren’t a miracle worker, just someone looking to spread some Christmas cheer, but that’s good enough these days as it is.
Following that was a short wish list, nothing major, just a few things to brighten the woman’s day.
“Wow,” Alex said quietly, folding the letter back into the envelope. “Gives you another perspective, huh?”
“Yep,” Luci said, putting her own letter down. “All the ones I’ve read so far are funny or sweet or sad in their own way. It makes me realize that at the end, all we need is love.”
“That’s what John Lennon said,” Alex cracked, but Luci didn’t take the bait.
“It’s just so sweet what Sebastian does for these people. The director of the program says that everyone just loves him there.” Luci’s face glowed.
Alex hesitated. He already hated himself for judging a guy who helped out so much while he did pretty much nothing in the way of volunteerism, save for running the school’s yearbook committee. Did he really want to hate himself even more by wiping that smile off Luci’s face? He hadn’t seen her so excited in years.
But still. Alex couldn’t help but picture Sebastian standing at the fridge just this morning as he thumbed through his phone, casually swiping left and right on his options. Luci deserved better than that. Hell, any girl did.
Deciding to tread carefully, he opened up the conversation again. “So you’re sure you like this guy, huh?”
The death look Luci gave him told Alex that he wasn’t as casual as he tried to be.
“What the fuck, Alex?” Luci looked annoyed as hell. “I heard what you had to say already. And honestly, you’re wrong about him. Like, I’m sorry you and Dani broke it off, but you don’t need to be such a downer on other people who have a good thing going for them.”
“It’s not that!” Alex held up his hands like he was going to be interrogated. Maybe he was. “I just want to see you with a good guy, is all. Someone who will treat you like their one and only. Some like...” Alex searched his brain for a good example.
“...you?” Luci filled in the blank, defiantly.
Alex blinked as she gave him a stare down.
Shit. After seven years of carefully avoiding the subject, it had been brought up twice in one week.
Alex sighed as he dropped his hands and looked at his feet. As his memory flashed back to their final month of high school, he realized he had no recourse.
Emotions and excitement had been running at all-time highs. Luci and Alex had already been accepted into the same university and would live just blocks apart in the dorms. Graduation had been just around the corner but first was prom.
Luci had skipped out on junior prom, but Alex had refused to let her miss her senior prom. At first, offering to set her up with one of his friends to bring her, he finally declared that if she would not go with a date, neither would he, and they would go together as friends.
The night had been full of laughs and good memories with their high school friends. Luci had looked stunning in her silver gown. Even all these years later, Alex remembered that.
The whole night had been incredible to two fresh eighteen-year-old kids. The trouble happened during the afterparty at Gregg Bertleson’s cabin.
Luci’d had too much to drink, which had been completely unlike her. Alex hadn’t had much less himself but had had enough senses in him to feel worried. He’d told Gregg he would help Luci lay down for a minute and be right out.
“Ok, man, but remember, when you’re going into a battle, wear a helmet.” Gregg had given him a little nudge and wink.
Alex had given him a dirty look. “It’s not like that with me and Luci.”
“Whatever man, she’s looking hella good tonight, I wouldn’t blame you.”
Alex had cuffed Gregg in the back of the head, and gone into the tiny back bedroom of the cabin where Luci had laid collapsed on the foot of the bed, surrounded by various plaid pillows with cheesy sayings like Life is Better at the Cabin and Live, Laugh, Love. Alex had vaguely wondered if Gregg’s mother envisioned drunk teens passed out on them when she’d picked them out.
“Here, here, let’s get you adjusted,” he’d told her in a soothing voice, half picking her, half sliding her across the bed toward the pillows.
She’d opened her eyes a crack. “Thankkkssssh Alex. Can you shttayy?”
“Of course.”
Though he’d wanted to get back to the party, see if he could maybe chat up Alexa Simpleton before he lost his chance, Alex had figured sitting with Luci for fifteen minutes wouldn’t hurt. He’d settled into the bed next to her and started thumbing through his phone.
He must have dozed off because the next thing he recalled was Luci’s body, pressed up against his, his arm slung around her waist. The rooms outside the bedroom were quiet.
Luci had turned towards him, and suddenly, their faces were inches apart. They’d been this close before, but it was always joking around, laughing, nothing this intimate.
Before he could process what was going on, their lips were touching and he was devouring her mouth like it was his first meal in a week.
“Oh my God, Alex,” Luci had breathed, plowing her hands through his hair. It was longer back then.
Alex hadn’t said a word back, he’d been too busy running his hands all over her body, feeling every inch of it over her silver dress.
Luci had groaned and slipped off the skinny silver straps, exposing her chest, encased in a lacy strapless bra, causing Alex’s mind to short-circuit. He’d started kissing her even harder when she’d reached for his pants zipper and started fondling him.
“Oh, Alex,” Luci had gasped just then. “I love you. I have for years.”
Those words had jolted Alex into the realization of what in the hell he was doing, and his erection had wilted immediately. This was Luci, his best friend. And she had been drinking. Sure, she might have slept some of it off, but that was no excuse for him.
“What’s wrong?” Luci had propped her head up on her hand, other hand still on Alex’s deflating dick.
“I...I can’t do this. I gotta go.” Alex had hopped off the bed and quickly zipped himself while Luci had watched him with her mouth open.
Alex had been so confused that night. He’d been caught up thoughts of the night’s excitement, teenage horniness, not wanting to lose his best friend, not wanting to lose his virginity in a random classmate’s parent’s cabin with twenty other kids passed out right outside the door, all sorts of jumbled thoughts that he didn’t know how to properly express at the time. Her drinking that night was just icing on the cake of things he hadn’t known how to deal with. So he’d taken the coward’s way out. He’d bolted. Called his older brother to pick him up and gotten the hell out of there.
Furthering his cowardliness, he had waited to contact Luci as he’d sorted out his mind. They hadn’t shared any classes together, and she hadn’t been around the hallways or cafeteria like usual. After a few days, he’d finally seen her eating lunch with a book, and he’d caught up to her.
“Hey, can we talk?”
She had given him a polite but bland smile. “I’m a little busy with my homework, but I’ll call you after school?”
Homework? In the last week of senior year? Alex knew when he was getting the brush off, and this was it.
That was the last time he’d talked to her, despite his efforts for the next few months. When they ran into each other in the first week college college classes, they’d picked up like nothing had ever happened. Not once in the years since had they spoken of that night—not until just a few days ago…and then now. Prom was also the last time he’d seen her in a dress before tonight.
“You deserve a wonderful man,” Alex finally said to fill the silence.
Alex wasn’t so sure. At least she had those letters to keep her busy. Answering those and granting the Christmas wishes of those kind people would put anyone in a good holiday mood.
5
Luci looked out at the cold afternoon, not even feeling the chill. Sebastian was texting her all about his day, which considerably warmed things up in her gray office.
He was just telling her a hysterical story about a coworker flipping out over finding a patient with a Playboy—the guy was ninety-two years old, let him have a sneak peek at a skin mag if he wanted to—when Steve poked his head over the opening of her cube.
“Hidey ho!” Steve loved Home Improvement reruns. Luci was fairly positive he could quote Tim Allen in his sleep.
Luci shoved her phone under some papers so he couldn’t see that she was texting and not working and rolled to an angle where she could see Steve’s face.
“Oh, just wondering how the Christmas party planning was going!”
Luci flushed. It wasn’t going at all. She meant to be working on the party more but got caught up completely in the last couple of weeks with Sebastian. Her mind drifted to the last couple weeks, reliving the couple of dinners Sebastian had squeezed in between shifts, and their almost daily texts that she came to live for. She’d never admit it to Alex, but she found herself plotting the best times to catch Sebastian’s attention, searching for funny memes to send to him, and sleeping with her phone next to her just in case he texted her during a late overnight shift. All that took considerable time.
Deciding that honesty was not the best policy in this case, Luci decided on another half-truth. “Oh, I got letters from the seniors at the center we are partnering with. They are so fun...” She went down a tangent, hoping to distract him from realizing that she was just talking about the letters, not any actual plans.