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“Give yourself time,” Jake suggested.
“Rachel said the same thing.”
“Woah,” Coop twisted as he sat up. “You talked to Rachel about this?”
“Yeah…some of it, anyway. Last week, after I broke up with him and then on Sunday when she and I went to get coffee after work.” I’d been a little late getting home.
“How much did you tell her?” Worry filled Jake’s eyes.
“A lot, but I trust her,” I told them both. “She’s not going to throw it out like gossip for consumption. She’s been—pretty awesome, actually.” From Mr. Thorns, my mysterious admirer, to Rachel, my friend. It had been an interesting transformation considering our previous love/hate relationship.
Coop and Jake looked at each other again.
“Stop it.” It was kind of funny, but I really was beginning to recognize the look for ‘protect Frankie’ they shared periodically. While it used to be annoying, it was becoming kind of endearing, if a little frustrating. “Rachel figured it out before I did that you guys all liked me. She also figured out that I was having trouble with it.”
“In all fairness, baby girl, everyone knew before you did.” Jake spread his hands like what was he going to do.
I settled for flipping him off, and he grinned. “My point,” I continued, “is she’s my friend, someone I can talk to, and it helps.”
“You can talk to us, you know,” Coop reminded me. A note of reproach crept into his tone, and hurt flashed in his eyes.
“Of course I can,” I told him. “Don’t be a dork.”
He straightened.
“Seriously, I know I can talk to you guys. But the thing is...it’s hard to talk to you about each other.” I chewed at my lower lip. “It was different before. If Archie said something stupid, or Coop was driving me nuts with his mothering…”
He opened his mouth to protest but shut up as Jake shook his head once.
“Or even if I wanted to smack you for being so possessive and acting like a jerk to anyone who wanted to talk to me when you were there.” The last bit I directed at Jake. Who for his part, just shrugged. “It was different when we were just friends.”
“We’re still friends,” Coop said.
“But we’re also more,” Jake conceded. “You need a friend.”
Coop groaned. “That friend has to be Rachel?”
“Well, at the moment, yes. One, because I like Rachel. She’s sharp, acerbic, insightful—and she doesn’t judge me.” Right now, that was really important. “She’s been on my side when the other crap happened. She did the whole flowers thing because she wanted me to have something to smile about.” I’d really enjoyed the roses.
“The flowers you wanted to be from us,” Jake grunted.
“Yes. Two, Rachel’s on my side, at least where the other girls are concerned.” She’d clapped back at Patty, snarked at Sharon, and pretty much given hell to anyone looking at me sideways. “Three, she was there for me at the party after everything went sideways.”
Coop sighed, but he didn’t argue the point.
“Four, she has a thing for you,” Jake pointed out.
“Yes and no,” I corrected. “She kind of hoped I’d be into girls, but even if I’m not, she still thought I could use a friend, and I think she needs one, too. Though, honestly she’s surrounded by other girls so maybe not. Maybe I’m just the lucky one. But there’s another big point in her favor.”
“That is?” Coop asked, skeptical.
“In no world has she had sex with any of you or been a part of your points game.”
They both winced, then Jake sighed. “Fine, you win.”
I laughed. “It’s not about winning or losing, I promise. I’m—coping with the whole points thing. But it’s kind of nice to know someone who hasn’t wanted to be right where I am now.”
“I get that,” Coop said slowly. “Sorta. ‘Course, the fact she’s someone who wants to be where we are…kind of shoe on the other foot.”
