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Lila suddenly grew serious. “What’s wrong? You look weird. Why do you look weird?”
Gemma had Lila’s undivided attention for all of five more seconds before her eyes flashed at something over her shoulder. Her face lifted, then fell into the same sultry expression she had been wearing when she opened the door.
Quick, focused footsteps pounded up the stairs, and Gemma turned to see a very good-looking man in a delivery uniform appear on the landing. He held a box with big hands attached to big arms that looked like they could carrya blue velvet armchair up the stairs with no fuss. At the sight of him, Gemma noted the sound of a delivery truck idling in the parking lot below.
“Hey,Tyrell,” Lila sang like his name had tenLs.
“Morning, Lila. Anything good today?”
Gemma stepped aside and let him hand the box to Lila.
She shook it and her face split into a grin. “Always. You can come in for a citrus peel, if you’d like.”
A laugh rumbled deep in Tyrell’s broad chest. “I’ll take a rain check. Have a good one!” He bounded back down the stairs and left Lila gazing after him like a hungry lioness.
Gemma knowingly smiled and watched her friend’s face flush under the citrus peel.
“What?” Lila asked.
“So that’s what all this is?” Gemma waved a hand over her ensemble. She would have answered her own door barefoot in a hoodie if someone came calling first thing in her day.
“What? No. I wear this every morning,” Lila said.
“Yeah, and I bet you see Tyrell every morning too with all the deliveries you get.”
Lilah shrugged in surrender. “Okay, yes. But ifthatshowed up at your door every day, would you not put on something nice too?” She gestured to the parking lot, and Gemma turned to catch sight of Tyrell pulling himself into the open doorway of his truck in a way that made his arms and back ripple through his polo.
“Okay, fine,” Gemma agreed.
“Thank you,” Lila said with a smug tilt of her head. She turned to take her package inside, and Gemma followed.
Lila’s apartment was a bohemian Instagram ad come tolife. Succulents and pampas grass, glass candle vases, jewel-toned furniture, and shaggy rugs. She did her best to store all her samples in her spare room, but the haul inevitably leaked into the living and dining rooms.
She plunked the new package down on her dining table among a small field of others and returned her attention to Gemma. “Why are you asking me what day it is? I hope you didn’t forget my party tonight. You’re not talking your way out of it,” she said as if the Tyrell interruption had not happened. She found a pair of scissors and whipped open the blades with frightening dexterity.
The reminder of her party shot another memory through Gemma’s mind. Jack said they had met at her friend’s birthday party—and that they had kissed there. Seeing that the party hadn’t happened yet, she didn’t know what to make of it.
“I didn’t forget your party,” Gemma said, and realized the words carried a double meaning. She hadn’t forgotten that the party was meant to take place that night, but according to Jack, she had forgotten that it had already happened. “I don’t think,” she added.
Lila sliced through the tape on her new package. She opened it and tore out a handful of tissue paper, then lifted a squat brown bottle with a simple white label. She unscrewed the cap and sniffed. “Yikes,” she said with a grimace big enough to make her flinch. “Not looking good for five stars.” She placed the bottle on the table, and Gemma saw the wordshampoounder a logo she thought she might recognize from an internet ad. “What do you mean, you don’t think? And what happened to your shirt?” Lila asked without looking up from her task.
Gemma had all but forgotten about the coffee stains, which were nearly dry. She realized, looking down at the abstract blotch of brown, that she could answer both of Lila’s questions with the same piece of information.
“I met this guy.”
Gemma worried Lila might have sprained her neck with how quickly she jerked her head up to look at her.
“Youwhat?” She set the twin brown bottle of conditioner down without replacing the cap and hurried around to the other side of the table where Gemma stood. She gripped her arms. “When? Who is he? Tell me everything!” Excitement whipped out from her like gusts of wind in a hurricane. Gemma tried to step back but Lila had begun pulling her toward the living room, the offensive-smelling shampoo and conditioner abandoned.
They landed on her dusty rose sofa, also velvet, and Lila squealed in delight. She was so eager for Gemma to date that Gemma suspected she would overlook the senseless elements of the story she was about to hear. But it wasn’t like Gemma and Jack had even gone out; one night at a party and a kiss that may or may not have actually happened did not count as a date.
“So, this is going to sound ridiculous, and I don’t really believe it myself, but this morning at the coffee shop, I ran into this guy—literally”—she gestured down at her shirt—“and had the strangest feeling that I knew him even though I swear I’ve never met him before.”
Lila studied her shirt and understood. “Accident meet-cutes are the best. Go on,” she said, rapt.
“Well, he proceeded to tell me that wehavemet before, and not only that, we’ve apparently kissed before.”
Lila sucked in a playful gasp large enough to pop her lungs. “Gemma!Kissing boys you don’t remember? Iloveit! You totally deserve that freedom after Nick.”
