Present
“You know I’m still here, right?” I ask Lily, walking out of the hotel bathroom with only the white towel wrapped around my hips.
She stands in the middle of the room in nothing but a bra and a new pair of jean shorts. Her clothes from last night are now sitting folded on the counter in the bathroom, after being taken down off the shower rod.
Lily looks over her shoulder, her hand moving around in her duffel bag as her hips sway to the music playing from her phone.
I lift my hand in an inviting gesture. “You can keep going if you’d like, don’t stop on my account.”
“You’re disgusting!” she says, with a shake of her head and a hint of a smile. Then she grabs her bag and stomps toward the bathroom.
I spin to face the bathroom, pleasantly surprised—and hard—after noticing her eyes trail over my shirtless body, her heated gaze still sending tingles down my spine. “You know, Lily, it didn’t seem like you thought I was disgusting about thirty minutes ago when your lips were pressed against mine and your legs were wrapped around me.”
“It was a weak moment. I’ve been lonely. Don’t flatter yourself,” she replies from the bathroom doorway.
I grin, then walk across the room to my bag. “We’re leaving in five minutes,” I tell her, as I pull out a fresh pair of boxer briefs.
“We’ll leave whenever the hell I’m ready,” her voice echoes from behind the closed door to the bathroom.
“Five minutes, Lily,” I singsong, stepping into a pair of pants.
“Go fuck yourself, Aspen,” she teases.
After pulling on a shirt, I step closer to the door to ensure she hears my next words. “Why would I do that when I could fuck you?”
Even though she’s on the other side of the door, I hear her gasp, followed shortly after by a slap to the door.
There’s that feistiness.
The shower head turns on a few moments later, and I busy myself with cleaning up the room, finally ready to complete our road trip to South Carolina today.
“You’re here!” Veronica shoots out of the front door so fast, the screen door slaps against the siding. As soon as she gets remotely close to Lily, she throws her arms around her and pulls her into a hug.
“Oh my god, V, are you hugging me?” Lily asks with a laugh, dropping the bags she’s holding before wrapping her arms around Veronica.
“Shut up,” Veronica says, pulling away. “I rarely give out hugs. Soak it in while you can.” Veronica’s blue eyes find mine, causing her to smile even wider. “There’s my favorite douchebag!” She steps in front of me, the toes of her combat boots brushing up against my boat shoes. The pair of shoes I packed just for her after finding out how much she hated them.
“There’s my favorite preppy goth girl,” I fire back, pulling her small body to mine.
Maverick steps out the front door and says, “Holy shit, did the two of you survive a road trip together?” Clapping his hands together in excitement, he adds, “I bet Veronica that one of you would end up in jail by the end of it.”
Veronica and I share a look. She gives me a noncommittal shrug.
“Har, har. So funny, Mav,” Lily says, reaching up to fuck with his hair before wrapping him in a hug.
“I missed you, sis,” he says to her.
“I guess the feeling is mutual,” she responds, avoiding eye contact with me.
She’s barely looked at me today. It turns out the heated moment we shared did nothing but piss her off—or confuse her—even more. We spoke minimal words during the last leg of our trip to Beaufort.
“How the hell are you?” I ask Maverick when he comes to a stop in front of me. We shake hands, pulling each other in for a bro hug.
“Doing great, man,” he answers.
I pull away and grab the bags I have piled at the side of Gladys.
“We’re happy to have you,” Veronica declares with more enthusiasm than she typically shows.
All four of us grab at least one bag, walking up the red brick sidewalk leading to their front porch.
“This is beautiful,” Lily whispers in awe, her eyes scanning over the house.
She isn’t wrong. The house has southern charm written all over it. The sidewalk paves the way to a perfectly white house. There are two columns at either side of the steps that lead up to a wraparound porch. Their front doors and shutters are painted a matte black, making the home look like it belongs on TV.
“Did you plant flowers?” I question Veronica. I never pegged her as the kind of girl to get her hands dirty.
Maverick chuckles behind me, pulling my suitcase up the stairs with him. “Veronica bought the flowers. She told me she was going to plant them. I’ll let y’all place bets on whether that happened or not.”
I bump my shoulder against a scowling Veronica. “It’s okay, V. None of us would expect that out of you.”
She uses her free hand to slap me on the stomach. “If you keep being an ass, you’ll be sleeping outside! It’s mosquito season here in the south.” She throws a pointed glare my way before opening the screen door and stepping inside.
The inside is decorated just as perfectly as the outside. There’s even an art piece in the front entryway that I’m sure Veronica painted.
The artist herself interrupts me when she points to the staircase in front of us and says, “Your rooms are both upstairs. Ours is down here, but be careful, the walls are thin.” V turns around and waggles her eyebrows at Lily, who turns a shade of pink and then stomps up the stairs.
“Stop embarrassing my sister,” Maverick scolds from behind me, his effort futile as we follow Lily up.
We all know Veronica will do whatever the hell she wants. That’s probably why he fell in love with her.
“Okay, Lily, this one is yours.” Veronica opens the first door to our left, revealing a nicely decorated guest bedroom.
Lily follows Veronica inside and throws her bag on the bed. Maverick steps around me in the hallway to enter the room, putting the rest of her bags in there as well.
“And your room is right down here,” Mav tells me when he steps out of the room, directing me two doors down on the right.
Once in there, I place my bags on the armchair in the corner of the room and take a look around. It’s odd to have friends who are so domesticated. We’re all in our mid-twenties, but it still feels weird to know Veronica and Maverick own this house. I think about the house I’m currently having renovated for myself, wishing I had somebody to share it with.
Maverick and I shoot the shit in my room as I get situated, the girls doing the same in Lily’s borrowed room down the hall.
Once we’re all settled, Veronica’s bossy voice booms through the hallway. “Get your asses downstairs. Maverick and I have news.”
Maverick shares a look with me, his balls obviously firmly in her grasp by the way he pulls himself off the bed and out the door. Not trying to get assaulted by Veronica myself—again—I follow him out. The girls are carrying on a conversation while they walk down the stairs.
The hosts guide us to their large kitchen. Smack dab in the middle sits a giant island, big enough to fit five chairs in front of it.
“Holy shit, guys. This house is unreal.” Lily admires the space, her eyes unable to take in our surroundings fast enough.
“Glad ya think so,” Maverick replies with a smile, pulling Veronica into his side before he wraps an arm around her.
“News?” I ask, leaning against the island.
Veronica beams up at Maverick, pulling her hand from her pocket. It’s then that I notice the giant rock sitting on her left hand.
“We’re engaged!” they both exclaim, smiling from ear to ear.
“Freaking finally!” Lily jumps up from her spot at the counter, rounding it so fast and then pulling them both in for a hug.
“Well, after I heard you spilled the beans that I was looking at rings a year ago, I had to wait for a new moment. We all know how much my fiancée hates surprises, so naturally I had to surprise her,” Mav says.
Veronica sticks her tongue out at him, and he responds by leaning down to give her a kiss.
“I’m so happy right now,” Lily says through tears. She pulls Veronica’s hand closer to her, inspecting the rock on our friend’s finger. Lily looks up from her examination, looking right at Maverick. “Damn, bro. This thing is massive.”
He shakes his head, looking over at me as I step closer to him.
“Congrats, man. I’m so happy for the two of you,” I tell him.
We hug once again, but this time I hold onto him a longer. I’m so fucking happy for him. The man has been my best friend for so many years, the fact that he’s so happy pulls me out of my own shitty mood from the previous day.
“Thanks, Aspen. Probably wouldn’t be marrying the love of my life if it wasn’t for your pep talk telling me to pull my head out of my ass,” he says.
I laugh, dusting off my shoulder dramatically as I think back to that memory. “I’m basically the reason the two of you are together.”
“That’s great, because you’re going to be both our best man,” Veronica announces, letting me hug her in congratulations.
“And Lily,” Maverick says, facing his sister, “you’re going to be our maid of honor. If you want.”
“Hell yeah, I want!” Lily exclaims.
I nod, agreeing with Lily’s enthusiasm.
Veronica looks to me with a smile. “Aspen, it’ll work out perfectly that we’ll be wedding planning with you so close.”
My gaze anxiously darts to Lily. When I told her I was in the process of building a new house, I didn’t tell her it was in the same neighborhood as her brother’s.
Lily looks puzzled as she looks between Veronica and me. “Wait, what?”
The look on Veronica’s face can only be described as awkward as she looks to me before glancing back at Lil. “Aspen hasn’t told you?”
I sigh. “We hadn’t really talked about it yet.” I scratch the top of my head nervously and look at Lily. “Surprise? The house I told you about, the one I’m having built, is actually in this neighborhood. Like, right back there.” I point to the back door, to the lot with a house undergoing renovation. My house.
I didn’t think I’d completely gut the place and start over, but I fell in love with the lot and the bones of the house weren’t what they used to be. After many talks with my contractor, we decided to start from the ground up.
“You’re moving to Beaufort?” Lily asks, biting her lip. With Veronica and Maverick so close by, I fight the urge to pull it from between her teeth.
“Hell yeah, he is. He missed me that much,” Veronica jokes.
I appreciate her trying to ease the awkwardness in the room right now. I didn’t think it was a big deal to tell Lily I was moving out here, but judging by the look on her face, it just might be.
Everything with her is a big fucking deal these days. I wish she’d just stop overanalyzing everything already.
“We have one more surprise for the two of you…” Maverick begins hesitantly, looking down at his fiancée.
“Yay, more surprises,” Lily cheers with mock enthusiasm.
“We’re having an engagement party. Tonight, at my parents’ house! I can’t wait for you guys to meet them,” Veronica rattles on. “Oh, and I forgot. Lily, your mom and dad are already here. They’re staying with my parents. Selma’s flight lands soon too, so she’ll be there as well.”
Lily’s eyes flick to me briefly as she plasters a smile on her face. “Looks like we’re getting the gang back together. It’ll be like old times.”
I don’t try to hide my annoyed sigh.
If it’s just like old times, I know what I can expect from her—hate.