Page 60 of Thirst For Me
She maintains to this day that in all the years of traveling to many continents on tour, that is the only time she’s ever done that. I choose to believe her because it makes me feel special, but come on.
Either way, if anyone knows how to meet people, it’s Soph.
“Do it for me?” she says. “You’ve always, always been there for me. No matter where I go or how long I’m gone or what crazy chaos I bring back when I come whirling in and out of your life, you have been the most unfailingly loyal and fun best friend. And I need to know you’re okay when I won’t be here to have your back.”
Shit.Don’t remind me.
The fact that Sophie has to leave Orchard Cove as planned, right after Sunshine Fest, is even more depressing now that I’ve got this war with the hottest guy in town to deal with. But just becauseImight want to extend my stay here a little longer doesn’t change the fact that Sophie has a big, beautiful life beyond occasionally helping me out with my pop-up shops.
“Two more weeks and then you’re gone,” I lament, laying it on thick. “My heart is breaking already. Who’s going to leave long raspberry hairs all over my stuff now?”
Classic me: trying to pretend it doesn’t matter when someone leaves me, when really, it does. A lot.
Sophie knows it, though, and lobs my bullshit right back at me. “I know. Who’s going to sing ‘Shake It Off’ off-key in the shower while I have my morning matcha?”
“Who’s going to snore so loud it shakes the walls and wakes me up at night?”
“Who’s going to make up lies about how I snore because she can’t think of more than one annoying thing about living with me?”
Damn it. It’s true.
“You make weird yummy noises when you eat deep-dish pizza,” I inform her.
“My unbridled passion for cheese is annoying?”
“It’s not. Just go on the road with your amazing husband and the amazing rock band. I’ll be fine.”
She eyes me as I hold up my phone, trying to catch a signal again. “See, this is why we’re going out tonight. In the city, you’re way too caught up in your phone, your social media, what people think of you. Even here, without cell service, you’re somehow still plugged into all that toxic drama with Kyle.”
“Totally your fault for letting me use your phone today. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found out that Kyle’s little douche-dick of a cousin made that meme. Athirteen-year-oldtrolled me, for fuck’s sake. Just because he has an iPad and thought it was funny. And let’s face it, totally gleaned that his older cousin dumped me for the hot blonde upgrade because I own a purple rubber penis.”
“Yeah ... I’m gonna stop letting you borrow my phone.”
“It’s probably for the best,” I mutter. “I don’t know how people live in small towns by choice. The inconveniences are innumerable.”
I finally give up and shove my phone away. Annoyingly, my cellular service provider doesn’t have a nearby tower—unlike Sophie’s; her phone continues to work perfectly—so I have to hang out on certain roads in town in order to get (spotty) service. We’re so close to Washington State here, my phone keeps trying to connect to a US network on roaming. To fix this, I’d have to drive down to Victoria, the nearest city, during business hours, to sign up with a new provider and switch my phone over.
Who has that kind of time?
“Maybe I should just forget thereisan outside world.”
“I’d die without my phone,” Sophie muses. “Petey and I have phone sex every night when we’re apart.”
“Sophie. Dear god. Have some compassion for those of us who have no sexat all, phone sex or otherwise. You cruel, heartless wench.”
“Sorry. Sometimes I forget.”
“That we haven’t all met our soulmate and rock ’n’ rolled off into the sunset with him?”
“Well . . . yes?”
“Sadly, I’m coming to think that’s the worst part of losing Kyle. Goodbye, regular sex. And by regular, I do meanregular, as in nothing special, as you know.”
“Hearing about how that man left you unsatisfied keeps me up at night. It’s a travesty.”
“It wasn’t all bad. Sometimes it was ... adequate.”
Sophie scrunches her nose. “We need to talk about your standards, babe. You are kind and beautiful and fucking funny, and that ass won’t quit. Fuck adequate. No more settling for less than he-made-me-see-stars. That’s your new baseline. Deal?”
