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“I can’t say right now.” I shook my head. “Sorry.”
“Oh fuck, it’s not Lily, is it?” Polly sounded scandalized. “She’s not pregnant and going to try and pass it off as Creepy’s?”
“No.” I rolled my eyes.
“He’s actually quite dishy, isn’t he?” she said as she looked back. “I thought he’d have three chins and a wart on his nose the way she was talking, but he’s quite handsome.”
“Yeah, he’s better looking than I thought he was going to be,” I admitted. It was also painfully obvious to me that Creepy was really into Lily. He’d arrived with a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, and a bag of gifts. I’d been slightly jealous. I wanted flowers. I’d never been given flowers by a man. In fact, I’d never been wined and dined. A wave of sorrow fell over me as I thought of how I’d lost my virginity. It hadn’t be as romantic and sweet as I’d hoped it would be. I’d thought my first time would be under the stars in the arms of a man that never wanted to let me go. And while Chandler and I had talked about making things serious, I wasn’t sure if he’d just been saying that because I was naked in his arms with blood on my sheets. We hadn’t slept together since that first time, either. In fact, I hadn’t seen him since he’d left later that morning. I’d told him I needed time to think. I hadn’t even spoken to him on the phone. I’d just laid in my bed, eating ice cream and watching dating shows on Netflix. I hadn’t wanted to think about what had happened. I hadn’t wanted to analyze what everything meant. I’d also been sore. Sorer than I’d ever expected. I’d soaked in the bath every night, which had felt marvelous.
“Whatever is on your mind right now better be good.” Polly pinched me again. “Because you’re totally ignoring me.”
“Sorry,” I said with a rueful smile. “I just have some things on my mind.”
“And I want to know what.” Polly pouted. “Is it good or bad?”
“Polly!”
“What?” She sighed. “You would want to know if it was you.” She looked out of the window. “I really hope this is going to be a fun weekend. I’m not that into camping. I will die if I see a snake.”
“Snake?” I shuddered. “I hate snakes.” I thought about my solo tent and sleeping bag, and all of a sudden I didn’t want to sleep alone anymore. What if a snake tried to attack me? Or an alligator or something? I would tear the entire campsite down.
“Same.” Polly shivered. “That’s why I told Max we’re going to share the same sleeping bag.”
“Omg, really?” I rolled my eyes.
“What?” She laughed. “I want to stay close to him.”
“You’re always close to him.” I looked over at Max, who was still talking to Chandler about something. I wanted to know what, but I didn’t want to go over to them. I also wondered if Max knew about me and Chandler. I trusted Polly, but I knew that she was the sort of person to tell her partner everything. At least she hadn’t been able to tell him that I’d slept with Chandler. I did feel slightly guilty that I hadn’t told my sisters. We all knew everything about each other. We’d always shared everything. But now we were getting older and partnering off, and we weren’t each other’s number ones anymore, and that made me really sad. Would we all end up drifting apart? The idea scared me.
“So have you thought anymore about our store?” Polly asked, as if reading my mind. “Harriet and I were talking, and she thought it might be cool if there was a space where she could teach art classes.”
“That would be really cool.” I nodded enthusiastically, remembering our store. If we all worked together, there was no way we would drift apart. I smiled at her eagerly. “I think we can make that happen, especially if we invest in a retail space. We can choose which building best suits our needs.”
“Invest in a retail space?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise, her brown eyes crinkled slightly. “Wow, you’re learning a lot already.” She narrowed her eyes. “Wait, what do you mean by invest in a retail space?”
“I mean, we buy a commercial space and become landlords and tenants at the same time.”
“What?” She looked taken aback. “How can we buy a commercial space? We don’t have money for that.”
“Business loans.” I shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I haven’t gone through the class entirely yet.” Well, the class hadn’t even started yet. And I’d gotten a lot of information while in bed with Chandler, but she didn’t have to know that.
“Okies.” Polly nodded. “I guess the three of us can sit down and go over everything and figure out what works best.”
“Yeah, I think that would be really nice.” I smiled at her. “Thanks for being amazing, Polly. You’re an awesome sister.”
“Aw, thanks, Chelsea.” She beamed and then stilled. “Wait, what’s going on? You never call me an awesome sister. A bitch, yes. Amazing, no.”
“Maybe I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you.”
“Wait, are you pregnant?” She laughed, and I blushed.
“Of course not,” I said a bit too adamantly.
“Wait, did you have sex?” she almost screeched, and I felt like slapping her for being so loud. I glared at her and shook my head. I could see her studying my face closer now, and I knew that she knew that I had had sex. “Oh, my giddy heart.” Her eyes widened. “When and with who? And you didn’t tell me?” She crossed her arms. “Really, Chelsea.”
“I was going to tell you and Harriet later.” I sighed. “It only happened recently.”
“Oh lord.” She looked back to the front of the bus. “Travis?”
