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“I know,” I forced myself to say, while my heart screamed at her heart to hold on just a little bit longer.
24
All Aboard Jacob’s Ladder, the Work Ladder
CLAIRE
“I’m still waiting, guys,” I crooned, as I set three disposable cups of hot chocolate down and joined my friends at the table they had managed to snag in our favorite coffee shop the following afternoon. “Tell me you’re super proud of me.”
“Super?” Lizzie rolled her eyes and reached for her mug. “What are we? Five years old again, Claire?”
“Nope, we’re all sweet sixteen and never been kissed,” I chirped back, feeling better than I deserved given last night’s antics. Apparently, I had the stomach of a horse and the immunity of a demigod. Hangover who?
“Speak for yourself,” my dry-witted friend shot back with a snort. “Isn’t that right, Shan?”
“Liz.” Shannon choked out a laugh. “Don’t be bad.”
“Okay,” I drawled. “Let me rephrase that to I’m sweet sixteen and never been kissed. You two are modern women of the world, all loved up and married off to your rugby studs.”
Shannon beamed, while Lizzie gaped at me in horror. “First off, I’m closer to seventeen than both of you. And second, I would rather shit in my hands and clap than marry anyone,” she deadpanned. “Much less Pierce.”
“What?” My mouth fell open. “You just texted this morning saying it was back on.”
She shrugged uncommittedly. “I spoke too soon.”
“Poor Pierce,” Shannon mused. “He really likes you, Liz.”
“Oh, please, Shan. He really likes my tits.”
“Lizzie!” she squealed, slapping a hand over her mouth to bury the snort that escaped her.
“What?” Lizzie shrugged uncommittedly. “It’s true. And as for you, Miss Sweet Sixteen…” She paused to point a finger at me. “You’ve been kissed.” Winking, she added, “Twice.”
“Oh yeah.” Shannon’s eyes lit up. “Jamie Kelleher at the school disco in second year, wasn’t it?”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me,” I groaned, burying my head in my hands. “That was a horrendous ordeal I would sooner saw my arm off than repeat.”
“And don’t forget Thor,” Lizzie added, expression laced with disgust. “He came first. Claire let that creep put his mouth on her during a game of spin the bottle long before Jamie ever came along.”
“Hey,” Shannon and I both said in unison. “He’s not a creep.”
“No, he’s just related to one,” Lizzie shot back, tone laced with venom.
I narrowed my eyes in warning. “Liz.”
“Which makes him a creep in my mind.”
“Oh my god, you are like a broken record!”
“Okay, okay, let’s change the subject, guys,” Shan was quick to interject before another full-blown argument ensued. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Lately, Lizzie’s moods had been turbulent to put it mildly, while my patience with her bad attitude was running thin. When I had tried to talk to her about the cut on her leg, she’d all but taken my head off. When I told her that I was going to talk to her mother, she flipped out even more. Then, after giving me the cold shoulder for a week, Liz had told me that I was, in no uncertain terms, to keep my nose the hell out of her business if I valued our friendship.
Apparently, it was okay for Shannon to broach the subject, though, because she received no such response when she tried.
I got that Lizzie had an issue with Gerard, but it was a completely irrational and unfounded one that I, quite frankly, had enough of excusing. I was getting tired of being pounded on, too. I was always the punching bag. Never Shannon.
“I’m super proud of you,” Shannon offered then, smiling across the table at me. “For getting the job. It’s amazing news, Claire.”
