Page 29 of C*cky Best Friend
As we pile into the Subaru, Lexi asks Sam, “Okay, now that we’ve gushed about your show, who's the stud?”
From the passenger seat Samantha gives a smile that carries zero awareness of how much she hurt me tonight. To her I’m the brother. Part of this family. Damn, is that bittersweet.
“He’s the one I was telling you about, from New York! What do you think about him? Do you think we looked good together?”
Zoe gushes, “I thought you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen!” her sweet voice lilting and awestruck, “You were pale peach roses and tulips swaying in the breeze on a bright summer day.”
Lexi throws back a look. “You have to be so sappy? That was the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard you say.”
Zoe isn’t fazed. “You guys look beautiful together. You really did! I was just speechless. Crying! Nathan and Wyatt kept making fun of me. And neither of them had a tissue. I’m so proud of you, Sam.”
As tiny knives prick my skin all over I shift in my seat and mutter, “We can’t tell.”
Samantha reaches back and clasps Zoe’s legs, pleased with the praise. “Oh no, I should have brought some of my flowers to give to Marion!”
Lexi turns left on a red light since there aren’t any cars. “I bet she has a ton in her hospital room, Sam. You can always buy her some tomorrow. The ones that were given to you were meant for you. I don’t think she’d want hand me downs, right? She feels bad enough as it is.”
The car is quiet for a second.
Lexi glances around, realizing this is a touchy subject for such blunt honesty. “She’s going to be super happy we’re showing up.”
They talk about their family for a while, I let my eyes glaze over as I stare out the window at our quieting city. I’ve never lived anywhere else. Here I was hoping New York would be my future. I assumed Sam would be there, too, now that I’m thinking about it. But if she’s dating him, how will I feel? I won’t remain here while they rise up, either. No way.
I need to tell her how I feel.
As the car turns into the parking lot, Zoe sighs, “I know if I was lying in a hospital room while a play that I was meant to star in, was going on, I’d be crying my eyes out. Feel completely forgotten.”
Under my breath I say, “It was a really great idea, Sam.”
She turns around in her chair to peek into the backseat, locking eyes with me. My heart stops as she stares a beat before saying, “Just didn’t feel right going to the restaurant like she never existed.”
Lexi slaps the steering wheel and snorts. “Okay, let’s just get one thing straight. I was dancing with you guys when I was a kid too. I am very familiar with Marion and her selfish ego. She used to tattle on Sam and me any chance she got. I swear to God, I never got away with a single thing when we were in classes together. That little pipsqueak was watching in the shadows, stalking us, waiting for us to do something we weren’t supposed to be doing. Which was all the time, if I had my way. You know dance classes bored the shit out of me.”
“I remember.”
Waving her arm, Lexi announces, “Logan backs me up.”
“I was talking about you being bored, not about how Marion acted.”
She glances back to me, demanding, “Are you saying I’m wrong?”
With a smirk I tell her, “Wouldn’t dare.”
“Smart man.”
The car glides into a parking spot while Samantha explains, “I think she was feeling left out back then. You and I are like this.” She crosses her fingers, knuckles white. “And then we made friends with Logan. The three of us were like the Three Musketeers. Before Zoe. Now, I guess we’re four.”
“Thank you!”
Sam throws a smile back at her cousin, before continuing, “Marion found other ways to get attention.”
Zoe whispers, “That’s why outsiders are mean to our family. They wish they were a part of the circle.”
I can’t argue with that logic. I’m one of the few ever invited to their infamous BBQs. There are so many cousins that they were born with friends. And their dads, six brothers who’d take a bullet for each other, married women who get along. Why outsource love when you’ve got so much? There are some friends, but not a need for many.
I remember Hannah letting it slip once that snakes wear masks. But with their family, you never needed to worry because nobody wears one.
We jump out, shutting our doors off beat. Lexi tosses her key fob in the air, catching it and she replies to Zoe’s comment, “Well, if they weren’t such assholes, we would let them in. Duh.”