“Enough!” It is very hard to suppress my laughter, so she has got to knock this off. “Listen, we have to make plans for Christmas. Simon asked what dates you want to fly in and out.” Ever since I’ve lived with Simon, he’s made sure that I get to see Steffi over the holidays. Even when she was with Joan and Cal, the couple who basically kicked her out when she turned eighteen, Simon drove me the hour it took to reach her on Christmas Day. For the past few years, he’s flown her into Boston for two weeks, and she’s spent Christmas and New Year’s with us.
“Oh. Listen...about that,” she says more seriously now.
“What? What do you mean ‘about that’? I don’t like the sound of this.”
“Okay, please don’t get mad, but...I’m going on a cruise!” she says excitedly.
“You’re going on a what? What are you talking about?”
“A bunch of the people I hang out with here are doing a three-week cruise, and one of the girls had to drop out. She’s selling me her spot for dirt cheap, and I can’t pass it up. I’m heading to Hawaii! And ... and ... other places! I don’t even know the itinerary, but it’s a cruise! To top things off, I have a major crush on one of the guys who’s going. His body is enough to make me burst into flames.”
This is not making any sense whatsoever. “So you’re not coming to Boston at all? Oh.”
“Don’t be sad. You hate Christmas anyway, and if you saw this guy, you’d probably dump Esben and go on a cruise with him, too.”
“If you say so.”
She pauses. “There will be other trips.”
“Spring break, maybe?”
“Sure! And definitely this summer, okay?”
“Okay. This trip does sound like it could be really fun, but you have to promise to send me a million pictures. Especially of this hot guy.”
“Deal!”
I’m happy for her, really, but I can’t help being a little bummed out that we won’t be together over the holidays. “I’ll have Simon mail your presents to you.”
“No, no. He really doesn’t need to get me anything.”
“Of course he does. He loves spoiling you.”
“Seriously, it’s not necessary.”
I laugh. “If you think for two seconds that Simon will not be shipping out large boxes to you, then you are forgetting who he is.”
“Ha! Well, that’s true.”
“I’ll miss you,” I say. “But raid the buffets for me.”
“And I will miss you terribly while I’m pigging out at the dessert bar. Now, tell me how things are going with Esben.”
I lie back on the bed and smile. “Good, Steffi. Really, really good.”
“Yeah? Tell me everything. We haven’t talked in a week, so I want all the dirt.”
I gush for twenty minutes until her yawning tells me that she’s finally exhausted enough to sleep. “I think you should get to bed, sweets. You sound totally wiped.”
“Okay. But, Allison? I’m so happy for you. You deserve a great guy like Esben, and, goodness, he’s just as lucky to have you.”
“Thanks, Steffi.” I can’t help sighing contentedly. “I miss you so much, even with your new, idiotic expression, and I miss seeing you every day, so we at least need to talk more, okay? It used to be every day, and now it’s once a week or so.”
“Okay, we’ll work on it. We’ve both got a ton going on, but that doesn’t mean we’re not as close as ever.”
“I know. It’s just ... I’ve never had ... I’ve never had an Esben before. I just want to make sure that you know I’m still here for you.”
“Always. You are my bestie,” she says. “I don’t forget that for a second.”
