“You okay?” Indie asks as she answers the door.
I jolt, not noticing her come out of the house. Wren is behind her, frowning as if it’s physically hurting to still not know why I need an emergency meeting.
I take a ragged breath and walk over to them. “I’ve finally done it, guys. I’ve broken up with Liam for the last time. No more going back.”
Indie’s dark eyebrows rise. “Wow. Okay. What, just now? Are you okay?”
Wren pulls me into the house, walking us through to the living room. Indie follows, laughing. She has more patience than Wren, and way more than me.
“Are you okay?” Indie asks again when we sit down.
“Erm, I’m doing all right. I’m… good and bad. Time fixes that, right? That’s what everyone says.”
Wren pours the prosecco. “You’re going to be fine. Are you sure this is the last time?”
“Totally. We can’t keep doing what we were doing, breaking up and making up when nothing was changing. He didn’t put up a fight, which tells me he knew it was done, too.”
“What’s the plan now?” Indie asks.
“I’m going to focus on uni and getting some work experience. No distractions.”
Wren hands Indie and me a glass each. “What kind of distractions are you talking about?”
“All of them.”
“You’re done with Reid?” she asks.
“What? No, I’m not done with him. I was never undone with him. We’ve only spent a few hours together. I think I need a break from everything with a penis.”
“Odd that you would ditch the neighbour just because he has a penis.”
“I’m not ditching him! We’re not actually hanging out.”
Indie raises her free hand. “Okay, you two. Wren was just asking because we’ve all noticed the tension between you and Reid when we’ve been out. And Wren said she felt it again when he helped with your car.”
“You’re both crazy. We’ve seen him out, like, twice.”
“All right.”
I grit my teeth. What the hell are they both talking about?
Okay, as much as I want to run to Reid’s house and beg him to let me get lost in manuscripts, I won’t. That feels so wrong.
Nothing with a penis should be near me right now; I know that for sure. Not even the smokin’ hot neighbour who owns all the books.
“I might get drunk and have Brody pick us up,” Wren says.
“Of course, you should get drunk and get Brody to pick you up. Why else do people get married?”
Her lips curl into an adorable, longing smile, and I know she’s thinking about the drunken night she married Brody. At least she can now look back on that day with fond memories. At the time there were many freak outs.
“So, you’re single for the first time in years,” Indie says.
“I’ll probably get more sex. Liam was rarely in the mood.”
Wren scrunches her nose. “Not in the mood to have sex with you. What a wanker. If I was attracted to women, you’d get it.”
“Thanks, mate. You, too. I’d do both of you.”
“Am I about to witness an orgy here?”
I turn around and see Mr Lowe walking towards us. Spencer runs his hand through the mop of waves on the top of his head. He’s an outstanding actor, and so bloody gorgeous. You can’t help but stare.
“When did you get back? Indie didn’t say!” I get up and give him a hug because I bloody love this man.
“Last night. I surprised her again.”
“We should leave,” Wren says.
He raises an eyebrow. “No, stay. She wore me out earlier and neither of us are planning to get any sleep tonight, anyway.”
My teeth snap together.
“What? What did I say?” he asks. Wren and Indie have clearly given him ‘the look’ behind me.
“Nothing, Spence,” I reply.
“Liam?” he asks.
He’s good. “We broke up today.”
“He’s boring, and you deserve better. Not in the mood.” He rolls his eyes. “I could have a leg hanging on by a tendon, blood pouring everywhere, and I would still fuck Indie if she told me to.”
“Erm, thanks,” Indie says.
I point at him. “See! That’s what I want. Not the blood thing, though.”
“Then, well done on ditching the loser,” Spencer says.
“How come he gets to say things like that without you hitting him?” Wren complains.
“I don’t want to spill my prosecco.” And I’m currently having an internal freak out because I’ve just realised that I’m a twenty-one-year-old single woman, living at home with my parents. Going backwards scares me, even if it is to go forwards.
Both my besties have it together. They have men who adore them and focus heavily on the orgasms. If I didn’t love them, I would hate them.
What a failure I am.
At least I’ve finally done something with uni. Better late than never.
Wren and Indie see me as this strong woman with a solid sense of self. I am, in a lot of ways. But I’m also a total fucking chicken when it comes to relationships. I’m the girl who wants a man to take over the reins a little.
“Shall we do shots?” I ask, grimacing as a wave of panic swallows me whole.