Paper Airplane

26

Chapter Twenty-Six

 

 

                I made this brilliant discovery the day after my stroll with Harry in the park.  Lucy came over to do my hair and makeup for another outing with my fake boyfriend until he called and canceled.  Apparently the boys received a last-minute notice that they were needed somewhere for a meeting of some sort, and that left me with perfect hair and perfect makeup and nowhere to go.  So I had an idea.

                Apart from the times I’m out with Harry, I’m pretty much cooped up in my brother’s condo.  At the beginning of the summer, I wouldn’t have wanted anything else.  But I was already ready to go, wide awake, anticipating a full, eventful day.  I was not about to let it go to waste just because my fake date couldn’t make it.

                It had been raining since I woke this morning.  The torrential downpour dissipated somewhere around 9AM, and after Lucy returned to my brother’s place with two yellow umbrellas, we both laced up our Docs, threw on our overcoats, and headed out into the soft drizzle that proceeded to dampen the city.  At first, it didn’t necessarily matter where we were going to go; I mostly just wanted to take a walk in my favorite weather.  But when Lucy suggested the Starbucks a couple blocks from Brady’s building, I couldn’t say no.

                For a while, we strode slowly, both lost in our own heads.  I wasn’t sure what she might be thinking about, though I vaguely wondered if it might be my brother.  Remembering the night he nonchalantly admitted his crush on his hair stylist will probably forever bring a smile to my face; Brady was such a loser sometimes.  But I must admit, I’m somewhat surprised that he was the one to share his feelings with me first.  We may not have known each other for very long, but sharing feelings is kind of a girl thing.  I always thought Lucy would be the first tell me.

                While I don’t know exactly what’s on Lucy’s mind, I know that since neither Charlotte nor Brit worked out for Harry, I’ve got to keep working on this Finding Him a Girlfriend thing.  I’ve got to do better.  Maybe I just don’t know him well enough to know what kind of girl he prefers.  And how would I go about finding that out?  Who would know that I could ask, and how would I ask without telling anyone what I’m up to?

                I pulled out my phone and began scanning through the list of girls that I’ve texted and who’ve responded.  There were several, and they all seemed nice, but I’m literally just going off of names.  I don’t have faces, I don’t have personalities, I don’t have weird quirks, and there’s no way I’m going to have enough time between my brother and my fake boyfriend to meet with them all to see for myself. 

                But I was just stressing myself out now.  I tucked my phone back into my pocket and gazed ahead of me, forcing myself to remember where I was, who I was with, and what I was doing.  The answers to all three of those questions were good ones, and I have no reason to stress right now; I can do that when I get back.

                “Aah, puddle,” Lucy quietly squealed, hopping a bit to dodge a slight pooling of rain in her path.  When she regained her footing, she glanced over at me.  “How the hell can you enjoy this?”

                “This being the rain?”

                “Yeah, this being the rain.”

                I shrugged.  “I always have.  It’s peaceful or something, I don’t know really.  It always puts me in a good mood.”