I shake my head.
“There’s a home game on Friday. The Hawthorne House throws an after-party every time they have a home game.”
“He didn’t mention it.”
“He’s busy.”
“Yeah.”
Mara, half drunk on the floor, says, “Lucy Moss and BensonReeve.” She looks at me and smiles. “I cannot believe it.” She turns to Gianna. “I can’t believe it.”
Gianna says, “Me either. My brother is a catch.”
Mara slurs, “That he is.”
Gianna says, “So, the party. We’re all going.” She turns to me. “And I don’t care if you’re with my brother, you’re hanging out with us all night. You’re not ditching us for him.”
I nod. “Okay.”
Penelope leaves a little after midnight. She walks the two blocks home. Mara is on the floor in front of the coffee table with her face against a throw pillow and her hand still around the stem of her wine glass, asleep. Gianna and I work together to lift her onto the couch and tuck the blanket around her. I take her wine glass to the sink.
Gianna goes to bed.
I go to my own bed.
In the dark, I lie awake longer than I expected to. I think about Benson and seeing him tomorrow.
I wake up to a text at eight-fourteen.
Benson:Good morning, baby. I’m excited to see you today. Come over when you wake up.
I lie in bed and look at the screen for a bit, reading the text over and over again. How can someone like him be so sweet?
Me:Morning. I’ll be over later. I need to do a few things first.
Benson:Okay. Can’t wait to see you.
Me:I miss you too.
I lock the phone and get up.
The thing I need to do first is take the longest girl shower in the world. I shave everything, lather soap, wash every inch of my body, and then lotion my entire body. I dry my hair in waves the way Gianna showed me three weeks ago. I do my makeup the way I do my makeup when I am trying — which is not heavier, just more careful, the eyeliner clean along the lash line, and the mascara done in two coats.
I put on cute jeans that hug my bum but flare at the ankles. I put on a few layers of shirts and giggle at the thought of him taking them off. I don’t mind it because two tank tops look cute together, and the cardigan has buttons. I’ll also need my coat for my walk over. I swipe the vanilla lip gloss I just bought over my lips and pucker them in the mirror. I look pretty.
Gianna is on the couch in pajamas with a coffee. She looks up when I come out of my room. Her eyes go from my hair to my face to the cardigan to the jeans to the boots in my hand, and she sets her coffee down on the coffee table.
“Do you have a hot date?”
“Benson invited me over,” I mutter.
“Oh,” she sits up. “You’re going to the Hawthorne House.”
I side-eye her. “Yes.”
“Well, my brother is one lucky man.”
“It’s nothing.”
