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“Bex gave me a ride.” I attempted to say the words casually, but my voice broke on her name. I hated the flurry of emotions her name elicited in me. Not all of them positive, but even worse, not all negative, either.
“Did she give you any trouble?” Ames frowned, a crease forming between her eyebrows. I sidestepped the question, parroting out the goal I’d been trying out over the past few weeks, since I’d given up trying to win her over.
“I just try to give her her space.”
“Bex doesn’t respect space.” Ames shook her head in annoyance even as an indulgent smile crossed her lips. It was a familiar combination, the one that came to Ames’s face most often when she talked about her sister, who was her only family but also had a history of getting into trouble. “She respects boldness. Anarchy. Defiance. When our parents died, I rejected all those things in favor of order, and our relationship definitely suffered as a result. Why do you think we get along so well now? I’m marrying my stalker, for fuck’s sake. If there’s one thing I could’ve done to earn Bex’s respect - other than help raise her sorry ass - it was that.”
We laughed at the ridiculousness of her statement, both of us fairly new to the lives that had come along with the men in our little group. But her words also had me thinking. Attempting a friendship with Bex when we first met a few months ago had only brought me a silly, short-lived infatuation and crushing disappointment as she treated me like a pariah. Giving her space had brought on more of the same treatment. Eyes that bored into mine with barely-restrained disdain offset by total ignorance of my presence at other times.
Maybe Ames was right, and by giving Bex space I had only shown her I could be easily pushed away. The small flinch when I flirted with her in Alex’s car came to mind, and the beginnings of a plan formed in my head. I affected Bex more than she wanted to let on, and I was more than willing to take advantage of that if she pushed me. If what Bex respected was defiance, I would be all too happy to show her every ounce of mine.
* * *
My chance cametwo days later. Despite the slow creep into fall, the weather took a warm turn, getting into the eighties for the first time in weeks. I showed up at Ames’s house, planning to take full advantage of the birthday present I received a few weeks prior.
“Mom, Dad, I’m home!” I called once I opened the front door with my key, knowing full well that Alex had likely already gotten an alert on his phone when I arrived on the property. With any luck, that would prevent me from walking in on something that would make me want to bleach my eyeballs.
“Just Mom today,” Ames called down with a laugh, dressed in a loose black sundress that flared around her upper thighs. “Why aren’t you working, young lady?” She shook her finger in mock parental anger, and I couldn’t keep a straight face as I took her in.
“I left the girls in charge this morning. Taking advantage of the slow season while I can.”
One of the perks of running my own business: reduced hours in the off-season. Flower sales usually dipped as the weather got cooler and picked back up right in time for the holidays, so I always adjusted my shop hours for the season. Lulls also allowed me to let the college students I employed part-time run the shop - taking orders, doing pick-ups, delivering gift baskets - though I still took full control of the arrangements.
The time off kept me from burning out after running myself ragged all spring and summer and allowed me to sneak over to participate in my new favorite activity.
“Ah. Are you here to use your birthday present?”
“You know it,” I told her with a grin, “Were you planning to join me?”
She nodded. “I was planning to text you if you didn’t stop by soon. Let me grab some drinks, and we’ll head out together.”
I hopped up on the kitchen counter while Ames filled a couple insulated tumblers with ice and lemonade. I petted Nyx when she emerged from the shadows under the dining table and jumped on the stool next to me. The cat liked me more than her brother did, who preferred to hop onto your back from high spaces and scare the living daylights out of you. Only Bex seemed to tame the aptly-named Chaos, who I’d often catch rubbing against her ankles as she tried to hide in the shadows at our get-togethers.
I shook the woman from my mind as I tried to focus back on Ames, who was talking about a few of the vases I’d commissioned from her for my floral shop. Having talented friends had its perks.
We kept up the conversation about her vases as we made our way through the sunroom, my fingers brushing over the textured leaves of the plants that flourished in the space. Ames’s collection had even inspired my recent incorporation of more greenery into my arrangements, which had been a hit with a few of my regular customers, Ames included.
I followed her through the french doors and onto the familiar patio, taking a deep breath of air as I closed my eyes. It felt silly to do, but I never minded feeling silly and knew Ames wouldn’t judge me as I gulped down lungfuls of air from her backyard. Despite having driven the whole way here with the windows down, something about the air here in Ames and Alex’s backyard made me feel at home. It was like coming home from college for Thanksgiving break and getting that first hit of the familiar, comforting scent of your childhood.
Only I never personally felt that relief coming home in college. The first time I felt it was here, when Alex first bought this house. I loved my apartment, but the fresh air mingled with the scents of the forest surrounding the property and freshly-turned dirt from the garden would always beat the slightly stale air that came from sharing vents with an entire building. The home-smell had only grown more potent in recent months, as the house transformed into the heart of our little group. It smelled slightly different now, but the smell my birthday present gave off only made me love it even more.
The saltwater pool glistened in the early autumn light, its surface rippling slightly as the wind blew across the yard. The newest addition to Alex and Ames’s yard had been installed in record time, the rest of them somehow keeping it a secret by claiming that a sewage pipe had burst in the backyard. That excuse was enough for me to avoid the backyard for the few weeks it took to build the pool, the entire process expedited thanks to the money thrown and strings pulled by Alex.
I had begged for a pool ever since Alex bought the house, wanting to put all of my bikinis to good use away from the pervy eyes of the residents at my apartment. Alex refused until my birthday, when the lot of them surprised me with the freshly-built pool in the backyard. Alex wouldn’t share what changed his mind, but I would bet money it was the passing comment I made about seeing Ames in a bikini. Or maybe it was just to make me happy, which I wouldn’t put past Alex, despite his usual unwillingness to share his emotions with anyone but Ames.
Either way, I didn’t care about what changed his mind or why. What I loved was my present, not only the thought and effort that went into it but also the gift itself. The pool had been incorporated seamlessly into the landscape, the gray stone of the patio extending a little further into the yard to encompass one side of the large, kidney-shaped pool. Stones rimmed the other edge of the pool before immediately transitioning into grass leading into the rest of the backyard. Plants had been arranged around the natural edge of the pool, making it feel more like a cohesive part of the landscape rather than taking away from the natural beauty of the rest of the yard. A few more matching lounge chairs sat on the patio around the closest edge of the pool, allowing us ample space to toss our phones and clothes as we stripped down before we jumped in.
The cool water punched the air from my chest in the best way, forcing a quick shiver from me as I pushed my way to the surface of the water. The colder nights had already started to cool down the water, and I wondered how many more days we’d get like today before the pool had to be covered for the winter. By the time I emerged from beneath the water and took a gulp of air, Ames positioned herself on one of the floats, pushing another in my direction so I could hop on.
We settled in, ankles hooked together so we could stay together as we lounged with sunglasses perched on our noses.
After an hour of drying off in the sun, I finally took in Ames’s bathing suit choice. It was a dark burgundy bikini that reminded me of the dahlias and anemones I liked to put in her arrangements when Alex ordered them most weeks. The color went well with her dark brown hair and the green of her eyes.
“Nice bathing suit. It suits you.”
Even though half her face was covered by oversized sunglasses, I could tell she rolled her eyes. “Thanks. My best friend picked it out for me.”
“She must have great taste.”
