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"Well, that was interesting," I said to myself as I made my way to passport control. I loved Heathrow Airport. There was always something to do. There were so many stores to look in, restaurants to try, and gifts to buy. As I waited in line, I realized that I hadn't got anything for Alice or Rosalie and decided to stop and get a present for them before I went to wait at my gate. I hadn't seen them in over a month now, and, well, I missed them.
I'd been thrilled to be assigned this project in Europe when Rosalie had moved out because I wasn't sure what would happen living with Alice in my apartment alone. Granted, she had taken over Oliver's old bedroom, but still, it was something new for us. We'd been quite close when we were younger, closer than even Rosalie knew. When she'd gone to college, we'd had an unspoken agreement that we wouldn't keep in touch as often as we had. And while that had hurt me, I'd known it was for the best. I knew she had to grow as a person. I knew she needed to live her life and enjoy it. I'd seen her casually here and there, and we'd said hello and goodbye and given each other hugs, but we'd never had the depth of friendship or relationship we'd had when we were younger. The height of our relationship occurred when I was in college, and she was in high school. One night and morning were permanently imprinted on my brain, but we never brought up the incidents from that time. Now she was back in my life on a permanent or at least semi-permanent basis, and I didn't know how that would go.
As I walked to find something to eat, I realized I was nervous. I was nervous about living with Alice, and I was proud to be able to tell her that I'd only concentrated on work during this trip. I wasn't sure how my sex life would come up in conversation, but if it did, I wanted her to know I’d been sex free. However, it wasn’t like you just went home and knocked on someone's door like, "Hey, guess what? I haven't had sex in ages. Not even when a lady asked me for casual sex in the airport.” I hadn’t even known that airport sex was a thing. Alice would look at me as if I were crazy if I went to her room to tell her any of that.
I let out a deep sigh. I wasn't sure if letting Alice live with me had been the right decision for either one of us. I wasn't sure if it would bring up painful memories for her. I wasn't sure what we were getting ourselves into. I wondered if she'd still want to sneak into my bedroom and spend the night. I wondered if she ever thought about that night and morning. I wondered what would have happened if we’d both said and done different things.
Chapter4
Alice
"So let's create a list," Rosalie said, looking thoughtful as she gazed at me. I could feel myself growing nervous as she studied me. Whenever Rosalie wanted to make a list, it normally went poorly for me. I watched as she pulled out a notebook and a black pen from her handbag.
"A list for what?" I asked as I sipped on my macchiato. It was a little bit bitter, but the coffee still tasted good. I reached over and broke off a piece of the blueberry muffin that Rosalie and I were sharing.
"A list for the sort of man you want."
"Um, okay," I said, chewing on the blueberry muffin and licking my lips. It truly was absolutely delicious. I wasn’t supposed to be eating carbs, but I would take the extra pounds for something this yummy.
"I think we should manifest the man you want, and the best way to do that is to write down a list of must-haves and wants, and then we go through the list and see what you can live without."
"What's the point of making a list if I'm going to cross stuff out?" I said, breaking off another piece of the blueberry muffin. If Rosalie didn't have some soon, there wouldn't be any for her to share.
"Because I was watching this show on Netflix,Indian Matchmaker. Heard of it?"
"Um…" I chewed on my lower lip and tried to think. "Maybe I've seen it on my home screen. I haven't watched it yet, though."
"Oh my gosh. Girl, you have to watch it. It's amazing. It's basically about this old Indian lady. Well, maybe middle-aged. And she's a matchmaker for all these Indian singles who want to get married. And basically, she has them write down a list of what they want. And she says you can get sixty to seventy percent of that."
"Sixty to seventy percent of what? That's nothing."
"It's true, though. There's no perfect man, just like there's no perfect woman. So why set yourself up for disappointment by looking for something that doesn't exist? Remember, Alice, life isn't the movies, and life isn't books. You're not going to meet Mr. Perfect. You can meet Mr. Kinda Perfect."
"Oh wow. What a winning title that would be for a movie, Mr. Kinda Perfect." I started laughing. "You should write a book and call it that."
"Maybe I will." She laughed. "I told you I'd love to write a romance book, right?"
"Um, no. I know you said you wanted to write, but a romance book?"
"Yeah. I feel like I'm so lucky in love, and I can describe the dream to a T because I have it."
"Um, okay." I stared at her for a few seconds, and she burst out laughing.
"I'm just joking, Alice. I'm not that much of a dick."
"Okay. I was about to say." I giggled. “No one wants to hear about how you can write the perfect romance because you have the perfect man when most of us are out here with man-children, fuck boys, or are just plain single.”
"But seriously, let's start your list. So what's number one?"
"Um, good looking." I grinned. “Think a younger Brad Pitt with Idris Elba’s smile and Elon Musk’s money...not his looks...” I paused. “Though, he’s not that bad looking. It’s funny how much intelligence can make up for—”
"That's so superficial." Rosalie shook her head and frowned. “And totally unrealistic.”
"But it's true. I mean, I'm not trying to sound like a bitch, but if he's not attractive, it won’t work. There has to be some chemistry there." I sipped on my coffee. “I want to feel sparks. I want belly flips. I want a man so hot that I think I'll melt into the ground when he even looks my way.”
"You know looks fade, right?"
"Yeah. Well, I'd rather them fade than never exist at all."
