On the Way Down

Chapter Eleven

"You honestly expect me to believe you spent the night at his place and didn't sleep with him?" Ava side-eyes me hard from her spot on the sofa in my living room, like I've breached the ex-boyfriend code somehow and she can't accept this possibility exists.

"Correct," I confirm. "Do you want something to drink?"

"I only want tea, and you'd better spill all of it to make up for the cagey texts and dodging my calls."

"There is no tea, literally or figuratively. I have coffee, sparkling water, regular water, vitamin water, and some of those fruit soda things."

"Like hell there isn't figurative tea," she scoffs. "You're all glowy and shit."

"I'm not glowy," I protest. "I wrote by the pool today. It's a rare sighting of what I look like when my skin sees sunlight."

"I love you, but remember who you're talking to." She steeples her fingers in front of her and peers at me overtop of them. "If I can pull the truth out of my A-list clients who live in delusional alternate realities where they think they can do no wrong, you don't stand a chance. What happened?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose. Ava's dog-with-a-bone mode is relentless, and I'm well aware of this fact. I truly don't stand a chance.

"Fine, you win. We kissed on Sunday morning, nothing scandalous. Are you satisfied now?"

She blinks a couple of times, then drops her hands to her lap and groans. "It's worse than I thought."

"How is it worse? You walked in here assuming we'd done much more than that."

"I didn't expect him to dust off the gentleman act again, or that you'd be floating on air from it."

"I'm not--"

She holds up her hand and cuts me off. "Don't say you aren't, because I know you. This is how you were after your first couple of dates with him, when you were falling head over heels. That's how it's worse."

Sometimes it's comforting that Ava knows me so well. Other times, like now, it's more of a curse than a blessing, because she won't let anything slide. My ability to deflect is no match for her interrogation skills.

I try anyway. "Didn't you encourage me to see him when we drove back from Vegas?"

"I did. I also had a karma-fueled daydream you would get answers to everything you've ever wondered about, have hot sex, decide there's nothing left between you but physical attraction, and never talk to him again."

"Then you'll probably hate that he's taking me out on my birthday." I get up from the sofa, hoping her best friend telepathy is tuned into me enough to recognize I'd like to change the subject. I don't want to argue with her about Phoenix, or what I may or may not feel. "I need water. Do you want something to drink for real this time?"

She doesn't answer right away, so I turn on my heel and head for the kitchen. I'm already at the fridge when she calls out to me.

"I'm sorry. That sounded awful. I'm not trying to be a lousy friend, just the voice of sober second thought. You seem like you're happy, though, so I'll shut up."

I grab two cans of lime-flavored sparkling water from the fridge and return to the living room. "You're never a lousy friend. I get it. I'm sure I'd also have mixed feelings if a guy who broke your heart sashayed back into your life out of nowhere."

She takes the water I hand to her and watches me sit down. "You must have talked about a lot and gotten the answers you wanted if you're seeing him again."

"Yes and no. It got a little heavy for me after I learned things I didn't expect to, so we stopped talking about some topics at my request. To be continued, I guess."