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After lifting the wiper blades off the windshield, he headed into Micah’s building. It was going to be a long night. Thank God Sabina would be around. For once he was grateful for their combative relationship. It would take his mind off of things.
He climbed the stairs to her apartment. Her front door was ajar, her snow-covered shoes appearing to have been shed midstep, blocking the doorway. He kicked them aside and placed his next to them, careful not to step in the quickly growing puddle of melted snow.
It was quiet—too quiet. “Where’s Sabina?”
“She’s at the party already.”
Of course she is.
“You should have seen her costume. She is going to be miserable in it all night.”
“Oh, I can only imagine what she would have worn.”
She yanked off her jacket and threw it on the chair by the door. Something caught his eye. Her shoulders were bare, revealing portions of her back. If he was not mistaken, he could have sworn he saw a tattoo on her shoulder. Had she gone without him? Work had caused him to cancel on her, but he’d just thought she would postpone and wait for him.
As she walked from the living room to the kitchen and then disappeared into her bedroom, he strained to make out what the tiny new piece of ink was. It was a heart, but it wasn’t the one she’d said she was going to get. No, this heart was different. Why had she changed her mind?
She had left him alone in the apartment. This was awkward. It never had been before, but it definitely was now. After twelve years of friendship, things suddenly felt alien between them. He didn’t know what to say or what to do. He definitely didn’t feel comfortable touching her anymore. The easiness that had once been a natural part of their relationship now ceased to exist. “I’m going to use your bathroom.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
When he returned, she still had not come out of her room. “Mind if I make myself some coffee?”
“You know where everything is?” she yelled back through the door.
“Yup.” Not that it was difficult. She had one of those cheat machines: insert prepackaged coffee cup into machine and hit the button. Ready in under a minute. No one could ruin that. “You want a cup?”
“Yeah. I never made it into the coffee shop. They were closed.”
“Even the coffee shop had the good sense to stay home tonight,” he mumbled under his breath.
“I heard that,” she said, surprising him from behind.
“Which kind do you want?”
“Hazelnut, please.” She had changed into sweatpants, her typical Micah wear. Her makeup had been washed off, contacts removed and the familiar black-framed glasses were back in place. He could handle this; butterfly wings and leather leggings, not so much.
“Did you have dinner yet?”
“No.” His stomach took that moment to grumble, as if in response to her question. She heard and laughed. “Guess I’m hungrier than I thought.”
“I’ll throw something together then. Let’s see what I’ve got here...hmm. Sabina has provided us with so many healthy options. Yuck. Stir-fry doesn’t sound too bad. What do you think?”
“That’s fine with me.”
“Here, slice these up.” She handed him zucchini, carrot and onion. “Cutting board’s under there.”
He stared at the vegetables in front of him, trying to figure out how to go about this task.
“So how’s Taylor?”
“Who?” Josh looked down at the onion. “You know I hate cutting onions. I hate them, period.”
“Oh, get over it. Stop being such a baby.” She spun to get something else out of the fridge. “And what do you mean, who? Taylor. Your girlfriend. Is that not her name?”
“Oh. Yeah.” He had forgotten about her. How could he not when he was in Micah’s presence?
“Did you forget you had a girlfriend?”
“No. She’s not my girlfriend. We just went out once or twice. I haven’t even really seen her since Hanna’s party.”
“Oh.”
Why did he just tell her that? He could have used Taylor as a buffer without Micah being any wiser.
He could not help but try to gauge her response, watching for any sign or hint as to how Taylor’s presence in his life affected her. She gave up nothing. This was ridiculous. They had been friends forever. He could not think of a person he trusted more. And what he was thinking about, what plagued him day and night, could easily ruin it all. It was not worth it.
“You want beef or chicken?”
She stood by the open refrigerator waiting for his response. But he could not think around her anymore.
“Josh? Are you all right? You seem off tonight.”
He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. “Sorry. Beef.” This was going to be a long, long night.
“I didn’t really get a chance to talk to her the other night. What’s she like? Tell me about her...”
“She’s great. She, uh...likes Neil Diamond and stuff.”
“Mmm...she sounds very interesting. Where did you guys meet?”
“The firehouse.”
“She works with you?”
“No.” What was with the twenty questions? He didn’t want to answer questions about Taylor. Mainly because he did not know the answers. And talking to Micah about other girls was just strange.
“No?”
She would not stop until he answered her questions and her curiosity was satisfied.
“We put out a fire at her parents’ house two weeks ago.”
“That’s nice.”
“Yeah, you know, we’ve had fun together so far.”
“What? Singing ‘Sweet Caroline’?”
“No, we talk and hang out.”
“Already this is sounding better than Miss Just-Changing-the-Lightbulb.”
“Actually, she turned out to be Mrs. Just-Changing-the-Lightbulb.”
“She was married? And needed help changing a lightbulb?” She tossed him a judgmental glance over her shoulder, shaking her head. “You sure know how to pick them. But let me guess, this one is different, right?”
“Well, so far this girl knows how to change a lightbulb and knows how to get herself home in a snowstorm.”
“Ouch!” He loved the way her face lit up when she laughed. “Good one.”
“I try.”
He chopped and diced the vegetables as instructed while she started cooking. When he was finished with his given tasks, he leaned against the counter and held his coffee in one hand. Micah turned and gave him a quick once-over, laughter filling her eyes.
“What?”
“Your zipper is down.”
He looked down and sure enough, it was. He looked back up at her as she giggled. “It’s been down this whole time and you’re just now telling me? My eyes are up here, Micah. Let’s try and keep yours above my waist level.”
“Ha! Whatever! I was not checking you