Page 24 of Crashing Into You

“No phones!” Sal shrieks, as I go to pick it up.

“No, it might be Bryce!” Joss smacks her on the arm. “Is it him?” She turns an expectant face to me. “Oh my god. I cannot believe you’re dating him!”

“No, Sal is right. I won’t look. Sorry.”

But they both scream at me so loudly I start laughing, then pick up my phone. A notification pops up, complete with a winking kissy-face emoji:

Can’t wait to see you tomorrow

“It’s Bryce. He says he’s looking forward to seeing me tomorrow,” I say, putting my phone back down and picking up my glass.

“Look at how casual she is with this,” Sal says to Joss. “Just some sex god surfer telling her he misses her. Nothing special or anything.”

“It’s not nothing,” I say, heat in my cheeks as I take a gulp of wine. I sit down on the sofa, trying to sort out my tangled thoughts. I can’t wait to see him either, which feels stupid, considering this is a fake arrangement. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since I came back from Melbourne. I need to remind myself that we’re just helping each other out, and magnificent abs or not, it will all be over in a month.

I just hate lying to my friends, that’s all.

“What is it, then?” Joss leans forward.

“Well, I guess we’re dating?” My voice goes up, like I’m not sure. Even though it’s not technically a lie.

Joss screams. Sal shakes her head. “Yeah. I got that part from the Insta photo, you lucky bitch.” She grins, swirling her wine. “We’re going to need more than that.”

“What we really want to know,” Joss continues, “is whether you’ve popped that cherry of yours with him yet.”

My mouth drops open. “As if I wouldn’t tell you! And as if I would have done it yet! I barely know him.” Even though he’s already turned me on more than Simon ever did in a whole year of trying. I take another gulp of wine, wondering why it’s so warm in here.

“You don’t need to know him to ride him. That man is hot!” shrieks Joss. “Didn’t you just spend the night with him in Melbourne? What the hell were you doing? Playing cards?”

“No! I mean, he was… It’s just… We’re taking our time.”

“So that’s a no, then?” Sal is barely holding back laughter at this point. “Holy shit, half your luck, Claire. You really know how to trade up.”

“Ugh, don’t.”

“No, you know we love you, Claire, but it has to be said. This will hopefully get Simon off your back. You should have seen his face when Bryce was kissing you!”

“Shhh.” Joss flaps her hand at Sal. “She doesn’t want to know that.”

“Yeah, I do.” I’m intrigued, despite myself. I realise I haven’t thought about Simon since Bryce sent him that last message. It’s a relief.

“He looked like a little kid who just dropped his ice cream.” Sal is giggling. “Utterly crushed.”

Ugh. The guy is a nightmare, but I hate the idea of crushing anyone.

“Hey.” Joss grabs my hand. “Remember what that dickhead did to you–isstill doing to you. You deserve this. And if this is what it takes to convince Simon it’s finally time to move on, then even better.”

“I know,” I say. “Yeah. I do know this. He needs to move on. I don’t know why he can’t.”

“Because you’re a fox, and he fumbled you badly,” Sal says. “Typical, really. Doesn’t know what he has while he has it, then can’t accept reality when you finally leave him. If Bryce can send him on his way, then that’ll be a bonus.”

“I wish it didn’t have to be another guy to send him on his way,” I mutter. “But I suppose he never listened to me when we were together, either.”

“Forget him,” Joss says. “Seriously. He’s in the rearview now. Fuck him. You’ve got a real man in your life now.”

“Yes!” Sal lifts her glass. “To real men!”

We all clink our glasses, laughing, my mood lifting again. Our conversation shifts, and we discuss our lives in general, solving the world’s problems as we always do whenever we get together.