Bea comes in, her hands automatically reaching out to touch everything along the way. It’s like she thinks this is an interactive exhibit at the museum or something .
“It’s really not all that much,” I explain. “Renting a place down here was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. This is all I could find close to work .”
Her eyebrows go up. “Not all that much?” she repeats incredulously. “It’s amazing! Come on, you know it’s amazing! How did you even find this kind of apartment downtown? You must really be pulling in the big bucks, huh ?”
I shrug shyly. “I’m definitely not pulling in the big bucks, but yeah …”
“Did Ethan hook you up with this? Is he in this building or something?” She picks up a set of Russian nesting dolls off the table and immediately starts disassembling them, the hollow wooden pieces clattering against the glass. I find it extremely annoying for some reason, but then, right now strange, random things annoy me. Strange, random things delight me too. Or make me burst into tears in the produce section of Trader Joe’s. My hormones are completely insane .
“Ethan most definitely had nothing to do with this,” I say, a little more snippy than I meant to. “I just decided that it would be really good idea for me to get my own place, you know? Close to work .”
She reassembles a couple of dolls, arranging them like they’re having a conversation .
“Close to work… and far away from your parents and Aden, right ?”
“Can you blame me ?”
She shrugs. “Honestly, no. I don’t blame you one bit. But if it were me …”
Her voice trails off. If find myself getting irritated and tamp it down. These days, I never know if my emotions are real and justified, or maybe just a little too real and a little too justified .
“If you have something to say, why don’t you just say it?” I invite her, as politely as I possibly can .
“It’s just that… I don’t know. If it were me, I might want to be close to my parents. You know, for support or whatever .”
“My parents are not going to be supportive,” I say matter-of-factly .
“You don’t know that for sure .”
“I absolutely, positively, one hundred percent know that for sure,” I counter .
She shrugs again, looking out the window so she doesn’t have to meet my eyes. Suddenly, I’m not entirely happy that I invited her to come along with me to the doctor. She’s going to have an attitude with me all day, and it might just better if I went by myself .
But when she wanders off toward the kitchen, still touching everything, suddenly I feel a little better. I even feel sorry for my sassy tone of voice since she got here. This is my first apartment. And here’s my best friend, coming to take me to the doctor. It suddenly strikes me as so selfish and unnecessarily cranky of me that I want to cry .
Also insane. See what I mean? My emotions are bananas .
“Hey you have a garbage disposal!” she announces, flipping the switch. The machine roars to life, gobbling up whatever is left in the bottom of the sink. Bea looks ridiculously delighted .
“Oh yeah, it’s practically the Fairmont Hotel in here!” I giggle .
She is truly impressed, turning on every light switch then snapping them back off again. When she disappears into my tiny bedroom, I pick my purse up off the table. This is going to be fine, I tell myself. She’s here, I’m here, and I need to just expect the best and go for it .
“Hey your bedroom has a really nice view, too. And another bedroom for baby? Man, you really lucked out! This place is awesome !”
My cheeks get hot as I bask under her praise .
“Thanks for saying that. I’m really glad you like it. I’m sorry I was a bitch before .”
She waves her hand in front of her, brushing the thought away. “Julie has been a bitch to me this entire time, did I tell you that? While she’s trying to get pregnant? She is not even knocked up yet. You’re fine. Don’t worry about it .”
She picks up her handbag, then pivots and captures me in a surprise hug. She squeezes me tight, jiggling me back and forth a little bit .
“You’re my hero, did I tell you that?”
she whispers. “Everything’s going to be awesome .”
I don’t know what to say, but all of a sudden I feel like I’m going to cry if I try to say it. So I just smile at her, clamping my lips closed .