Page 13 of Stick Around
Grace took a deep inhale and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I think so? It hasn’t all sunk in yet.”
The women each took a bite of their dinners and chewed in quiet contemplation.
“Wait.” Meg swallowed her bite. “How did Mr. Avery call an ambulance if he fell and hit his head?”
Grace braced herself. She wanted to tell Meg the rest of the story of her night, but she also knew her friend was going to have some strong opinions about it.
“Well, he wasn’t alone.” She paused. “Billy was with him.” Meg set her Pepsi can down and narrowed her eyes. Grace’s cheeks flushed pink under her friend’s scrutinizing stare. “He called 911,” she continued, “and then stayed with Mr. Avery on the ambulance ride over.”
Meg shot her hand up, palm facing Grace. “Whoa. You saw Billy Miller last night and you are just now spitting it out?” Grace scraped at her bottom lip with her teeth and Meg leaned in closer. “You’re lying to me.”
“I am not,” Grace shot back.
Meg leaned back and crossed her arms. “Well, you aren’t telling me everything, then. You expect me to believe you saw Billy last night and you have nothing to say about it? You’re sitting here all red-faced, chewing on your cheek—you think I don’t know what you look like when you’re keeping a secret?”
“Okay, fine.” Grace stared at Meg for a moment before flinging her hands up to cover her face. “I shment wipf bibib lashnit,” she mumbled from behind her hands.
“What?”
Grace lowered her hands, revealing flushed cheeks and an embarrassed grin. “I slept with Billy last night.”
Meg’s mouth dropped open, and she popped off the bench like a spring. “You slept with BillyfuckingMiller last night?”
“Shut up.” Grace grabbed Meg’s sleeve and yanked her back down. She spun her head around to see if anyone else was nearby.
Meg lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m sorry. But—” she screamed silently, flailing her arms above her head.
“I know. It’s—”
“It’s frickin’ bananas,” Meg finished. “Okay.” She pushed up her sleeves. “I need all the details. How did it start? Where did it happen? How was it?”
Grace’s face flushed once again. “Meg, it was… it was somehow completely unexpected and yet everything I dreamed it would be. All at once.” Her shoulders tucked up and in. “It was, like, sweet and soft, but also, like, hard and intense. It was…” Grace closed her eyes, allowing herself to be washed over by the memories of her encounter with Billy. The flashback of his touch spread over her skin like electric embers.
She opened her eyes to find her friend staring. Meg’s face had dropped. The corners of her mouth now turned slightly down from the playful grin they’d held moments before.
Grace tipped her head and frowned. “What?”
“I want you to be careful, that’s all. It sounds like this was more than a one-night thing for you.”
“Of course it was. It’s Billy, Meg.”
Meg reached across the table and squeezed Grace’s hand. “I know. And I know how you feel about him. I was right there beside you when you were practicing your Mrs. Grace Miller signature over and over again.” Grace yanked her hand away and rolled her eyes. “You’ve had a crush on Billy forever and I get that. But, you know how he is, Grace.”
Grace picked her salad back up and stabbed at a hunk of cucumber. “It’s not a crush. Maybe that’s how it started. Maybe that’s what it was in high school. But it’s more now.” She waved her fork across the table in Meg’s face. “And I’m not stupid, either. I know Billy’s had more experience than I have. But that doesn’t change anything about what happened last night. It has nothing to do with it.”
She blew a strand of hair off her rapidly heating forehead. “Besides, do we even know for sure that Billy has been with all these women? I know what his dad did, and I understand why everyone holds such a grudge about it.” Back when Billy’s dad was a teenager, he’d slept with his sixteen-year-old girlfriend then broken up with her when she became pregnant. The town had never forgotten or forgiven. “But let’s be real, half the reason people love to stick their noses up at him is because he doesn’t come from money. And either way, none of that is Billy’s fault. He doesn’t deserve to inherit his dad’s reputation.”
“Okay, okay.” Meg held her hands up in surrender. “Jeez. Just be smart. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Of course I’ll be smart. That’s all I’ve ever done in my life. Be smart, be careful, make the right choice.” Grace slammed her salad dish down and sighed. “I don’t care if last night was reckless. Actually, Ilovethat last night was reckless. It felt good.Ifelt good. I felt brave and more like myself than I maybe ever have. So, if there are consequences, fine. I’ll take them. Because I wouldn’t take last night back for anything.”
Meg looked at her friend and smiled. “I’ve never seen you like this.”
“I’ve never been like this,” Grace whispered in reply.
“Fine. I’ll be happy for you. You can gush and squeal and I’ll be happy, okay?”
A warm smile spread across Grace’s lips. “Thank you.”
