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NATALIE
Isit down on my couch with a glass of red wine in hand and let out a deep sigh. This is exactly what I needed. My amazingly comfortable couch, a drink, and some reality TV. Queuing up my favorite guilty pleasure, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, I settle in for a relaxing evening.
I hear a knock on my door, and my heartbeat picks up. Could it be Tucker? Did he come to make good on his offer? Would I even want him to? Based on the way my body lights up, I’d say the answer is yes.
“Nat, are you home?” I hear Sara call from my front door. I feel a sharp sense of disappointment hit me as I get up to open the door for my best friend.
This is starting to piss me off a little bit. One interaction with Tucker and I’ve become a heartsick girl who can’t control her ridiculous crush. I need to shake this off and move on.
Opening the door, I see Sara, Megan, Lucy, and Quinn on my front steps. Each one of them has a look on their face telling me they know all about what happened today and won’t let me get away with pretending like it didn’t. It makes me laugh, and I beckon them all inside.
While my split-level house isn’t huge, it’s completely open, making it feel bigger. From the front door, you can see the living, kitchen, and dining rooms all at the same time. The half set of stairs to the upper floor are to the left where there’s a master suite, a guest bedroom, and a bathroom in the hallway.
I’ve decorated everything similarly to my office with whites, blacks, and golds. It’s my absolute favorite place to be with the exception of the library.
“We brought food and wine as bribes and also because we know you and you’ve probably only eaten popcorn for dinner,” Megan says.
She’s sort of the resident mom of our group and has been since we were in middle school. Her blonde hair and soft face make her look adorable and welcoming which is how she is to everyone she meets.
“You would be correct,” I say, bringing my popcorn bowl and wine glass into the kitchen. “Let’s load up and then I’ll spill.” I know I won’t be able to get away with not telling the story even though they all know exactly what happened.
That’s been our policy since our friendship began. Honesty and openness with each other. No matter if it’s happy, sad, or hard to hear, we share it. It’s created an unbreakable bond between all of us.
We sit down in my living room with our plates and glasses of wine. Megan and I are on my couch, Sara and Lucy are curled up on my loveseat, and Quinn is in the big chair to my left.
“I told everyone the basics of what happened, but we need to hear everything again from the beginning. I know I missed some stuff,” Sara says, crunching on a chip. Her hazel eyes shine with amusement, enjoying my distress entirely too much.
“Okay, so I was supposed to meet with the council today. Naturally, they ran late, and I had to reschedule.” I keep going with the story, telling them about playing flip coin, how hard it was to be so damn close to Tucker, everything.
“I had to hold back from wrapping myself around him like a vine.”
“So, what exactly did you say to make him suggest you guys hook up?” Lucy asks.
“Well, I had to tell him something embarrassing, so I stupidly went with why I get waxed regularly. I swear he looked like he swallowed a frog. His eyes got really big, and he just kept staring at me. It was pretty comical now that I’m not freaking out.” I giggle, thinking about how funny he was after I dropped the bomb.
“Oh my god! You made sexy Tucker speechless,” Megan squeals.
“I swear I tried to move us along, but he just kept trying to talk about it! He said I wasn’t allowed to throw it out there without giving any details?which I didn’t agree with.”
“Because he was thinking about your bare vag and wanted to see it right then,” Sara says, making the girls laugh.
“I’m still embarrassed I said it. I mean, I’ve always fantasized about him, but never, in all the time I’ve had a crush on him, did I imagine telling him something like that.” I put my head in my hands. I can feel how red my face is right now, and I’m lucky to know my friends won’t judge me.
“Hold on a second. I think I’m a little behind here. Did you and Tucker have a thing before or something? How long have you been crushing?” Quinn asks.
Despite Quinn having only moved here five months ago, she’s already been fully integrated into the group. Even though she didn’t grow up with us, it feels like she did. Sometimes, I forget she hasn’t been around the whole time.
She’s gorgeous with her brown hair and bright blue eyes. Almost immediately after moving here, she caught the eye of one of our best friends, Cooper. They got engaged a couple of months ago, which from the outside seems fast, but they went through some crazy shit together. There’s no doubt in my mind they were made for each other.
“So, Tucker and I lived next door to each other when we were little. We played together all the time, and he’d come hang out when his parents were fighting, which was frequently. His dad moved them away after his mom left, but he still did his best to come play with me.
“When I was eleven, we were hanging out close to his new house, and he kissed me. Even though it was just a childish kiss, there were some pretty big feelings exchanged. The next day he stopped hanging out with me altogether. I never understood why. Anytime I tried to ask him, he’d get this heartbroken look in his eyes, shake his head, and just walk away.”
“Wow. That’s so sad,” Quinn says.
“Yeah, it was brutal at the time. It’s also why I’ve never told him I still have feelings for him. I didn’t want to see that look in his eye or have him tell me I was silly for still being in love with a guy I kissed when I was little.”
“But, he told you today he wanted you in his bed. What if he has the same feelings for you too?” Lucy interjects.
