Page 12 of Finding My Charming

It had been that way our entire friendship. Well, back before we could drive, she had a housekeeper drop her off at my house. Most people in her situation would have abused the freedom she had or resented her parents, but Ari seemed to simply accept the way her life was and made the best of it.

Having an immaculate backyard with an infinity pool overlooking the lake did help. She might be lonely, but she was never bored.

“I decided to take the boat out today.” She smirked at my glare. “I wanted to lie out without interruption, and our spot near North Bay was calling my name.”

I stopped walking just outside her bedroom and nearly turned and walked out. “That’s a low blow, Ari. I was stuck under fluorescent lights for eight hours, and you went to our spot?”

She giggled with a shrug before tugging me into her room and flinging herself onto her king bed. “School’s out, so the view wasn’t even that great.”

Our favorite spot by the North Bay of the lake wasn’t due to the unobstructed view of the Portland skyline or the cove that minimized wake from passing boats. Oh no. Our spot was just close enough to the park on the south side of Union University. We could scope out the local college boys from the safety of the boat. It made for many interesting experiences.

I flopped down next to her and sunk into the dozens of pillows decorating the bed. She had a tiny addiction with throw pillows and blankets, bordering on obsessive. They covered her bed, sofa, and desk chair.

“Still rude. I don’t even feel that bad anymore.”

“Feel bad for what?” She rolled to her side and propped her head on her hand.

“I didn’t make a list.”

She blinked a few times as if she was giving me time to take it back. When I didn’t say anything else, she collapsed onto her arm and groaned. “Elle! You need to find him, and I’ll help you as much as humanly possible, but I can’t remember last night for you!”

I hesitantly nudged her to get her to look at me, but she was putting up a fight.

“I know, and I appreciate you for wanting to help me, but I’ve thought about it, and I don’t know, Ari. Something doesn’t feel right.”

“Yeah! Because you met your true love last night, and now your heart knows he’s missing!”

Now it was my turn to groan. “No, I don’t think that’s it. I shouldn’t have to hunt him down. If this whole thing was fate or magic or whatever caused it, don’t you think that I really would have met him?”

She twisted and peeked one eye open. “You’re saying fate only meant to show you that you had, in fact, met him, but then decided to laugh at you and yank him away?”

Now it was sounding like fate was a person with a sick sense of humor.

I clenched the stupid charm that had caused all of this unnecessary drama. “Don’t turn this into a fairy tale. Yes, according to this stupid necklace, I met a guy last night that things could have worked out with, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be!”

“Maybe, you’re just supposed to work for it. Finding your soul mate shouldn’t be something that comes easy.”

I rolled my eyes at her word choice. “You can’t possibly still believe in soul mates. Now that is a fairy tale.”

She jerked into a sitting position facing me. “Of course there are such things as soul mates!”

“No, there really aren’t.”

“That is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“This is the most delusional thing I’ve heard you say, and you once tried to convince me unicorns existed in the far reaches of Europe.” I shot her a look, hoping to drill in my point, but it seemed to push her even more.

“You have a soul mate, and you met him last night, Elise Benson. It happened, and it matters!”

I could see we were at an impasse. Either I back off now, or we end up in a silent standoff for a few days.

“Fine, Ari. Maybe he was my soul mate, and maybe I need to find him, but right now I need to focus on my life that’s happening now. I’ll worry about this later.”

“This weekend?”

I ignored her puppy-dog eyes. I actually was immune, but I gave in anyway. “We’ll see. I’ve got to get home though. Don’t want to stay up too late before a big workday!”

We laughed together down the stairs, and I gave her a hug before walking out to my car. As much as she drove me crazy, I did appreciate her pushing me. Maybe this weekend we could try to figure this mess out.