CJ answered with more snorting noises. I turned back to Lisa.
"It really wasn't that bad, I swear." I gave her a weak smile, and she answered with her own smile.
"Believe it or not, it used to be worse." She turned to leave, and I followed her to the door. "See you later, neighbor."
“When?” I asked.
“Um, I don’t know.”
“I hope you won’t make us wait another two weeks.”
“We’ll see.”
"DidI see Lisa leaving your house this morning?" Kimberly was crawling after CJ on the sitting room floor at Mom and Dad's. It was just the three of us. Our parents went to the movies after breakfast, RJ was at MIT, and Adam was in Barbados. CJ and I were also leaving soon. I wanted to pick up some things from the grocery store and maybe catch Lisa on the way home from her jog.
“You know you did. So, ask me what you really want to ask me.”
“Okay, what’s going on between you two?”
“Nothing. We’re just friends and neighbors.”
“Well, I don’t do the stride of pride from my neighbor’s house.”
“Doesn’t your fiancé live down the street?”
"Not the same thing, and stop avoiding my question."
"She had a little too much to drink last night, and I took care of her."
"Hmm," was all she said before resuming her slow-speed chase with CJ.
“What?”
“Nothing. Sounds perfectly innocent and neighborly.” She smirked.
"Seriously, nothing happened. I heard Lisa coming home last night. She was out of it, so I brought her inside and put her to bed." I realized telling that story to anyone that wasn't my sister would have sounded shady, but Kimmy knew me better than that.
"I thought she didn't drink." Kimberly doesn't drink either. She also snores but nothing like the noises I heard last night. The memory of them made me smile, and I realized that I missed the feeling of Lisa: warm, pressed against me, and sleeping in my arms.
“She usually doesn’t, but she did last night.” I shrugged, not willing to go into details about Lisa’s tumble off the wagon.
“So what are you two up to today?” she asked, tickling CJ’s belly.
“Whole Foods and then a walk around the neighborhood. Wanna come with us?”
“I wish. I am working.”
“It’s Saturday.”
"I am aware," she deadpanned. "Vittoria is due to drop that baby any day now, and instead of working less, she's in overdrive. I'd be surprised if she wasn't dictating emails between contractions. It's a good distraction since Adam couldn't come home this weekend. Vittoria knows I spend Saturday mornings with my family and Sunday mornings with Adam's family, but I should get going soon."
“You’re going to his family brunch without him? Isn’t that weird?”
"At first, but they're a pretty amazing family, and Mom used to model with Abby's mom in the nineties."
“Yeah, you told me… Hey, how much do you charge for the ground floor?”
“Why?” Her face lit up. “Are you thinking of renting your apartment?”
