I still hadn’t heard the extent of his adventures around the US, but I was giving him time, and I didn’t want to guilt him into telling me. I wanted him to want to tell me.
“Just as long as it’s not Hugh Grant. I can’t stand that guy. I don’t know what it is about him, but I just want to knock his teeth in.” Sloane and I had done a Hugh Grant marathon once when Lucah was home and he’d whined and complained the entire time. You would have thought we were putting him through a rare form of torture.
“Fine. No Hugh Grant. But anything else is fair game.” I could make this really terrible for him if I wanted to. But then he might withhold oral from me as punishment, and I definitely didn’t want that.
I dashed down the hall to knock at my former apartment. I heard her walk to the door and peer at me through the peephole.
“Movie night? Your theme choice. Only no Hugh Grant. Lucah vetoed.” I heard her sigh on the other side of the door, but the lock clicked and the door opened.
“Fine. I guess. Do you have popcorn?” I shook my head, and she let me in. “Must I do EVERYTHING for you?” Man, she was grumpy. She went to the cupboard and got out the bottle of popcorn kernels. She was adamantly anti-microwave popcorn. Plus, she didn’t just put butter on it. Oh no, she made popcorn into an orgasmic taste experience. That was another reason I’d come over. And to make up. There was definitely that too.
“Are you okay?” I knew she wasn’t PMS-ing because we were on the same cycle and had just finished.
“Not really. I’m just really stressed. Finding people to believe in the new lingerie line has proved more difficult than I thought.” Sloane was used to talking and getting her way, and she always got in a terrible mood when she didn’t get what she wanted. Sometimes, like with Ryder, it got out of hand, but sometimes, like with her business, I felt for her.
“Aw, I’m sorry. How can people not want to invest in it? Did you tell them about our success rate?” I had gotten laid every single time I’d worn one of her outfits and so had our friend, Marisol.
“It’s just a really crowded market. That bitch Victoria and her damn Secret are hard to compete with.”
“That whore.”
“Yeah, screw her.” She got out the popcorn popper and started banging around and assembling other ingredients. From what I could tell, she was going with savory tonight, given the spices she was shaking together into a measuring cup. She also got some butter going on the stove and I waited for her to start talking. It was only a matter of time.
“I just thought that this would be easy. I mean, it seemed like such a good idea and I was so sure of it. But now it’s like I’m failing.” She sniffed, her back to me as she stood at the stove so the butter didn’t burn.
I walked over and put my hands on her shoulders.
“You’re not a failure, Sloane. You have never failed at anything you’ve ever done. Everything you ever wanted, you’ve gotten.”
“Except love,” she said in a small voice. Crap, I’d forgotten about that. But it didn’t undo my previous statement. She had gotten everything she’d ever wanted, career-wise.
“You’ll find it. I promise.” She sniffed again and wiped her eyes.
“Why the fuck am I so emotional? If I didn’t know that there was ZERO chance that I was pregnant, I’d be taking a test. This is all your fault, by the way.” She turned and I almost stumbled into the counter.
“I mean, I’m so happy for you, but it’s hard. I miss it just being the two of us. You know I don’t like to share.” No, she didn’t. Except her food. And her clothing designs. Not much else.
“I’m sorry.” Now I really felt like a shitty friend.
She sighed and gave me a hug.
“It’s not your fault. I’m just now realizing what it must have been like for you when I was with someone. But I was never as happy as you are. You bitch. Your life is a fucking love song.” Sometimes it felt that way. And then sometimes Lucah would drag me out of bed and throw me in the shower and yell at me to get ready or I’d be late for work.
“I like him. I really, really do. Shit.” The butter started burning and she had to rush to the stove so it didn’t ignite.
“Wow, Sloane Harris burns something. That has to be a first.”
“Shut up,” she said, but she was smiling. I gave her another hug and helped her dump out the disgusting butter and then air out the apartment as she popped two giant bowls’ worth of popcorn, covered it in fresh butter, and then with herbs and spices. We each grabbed a bowl and went back down the hall.
“My God, I thought you’d been kidnapped. I was about to go and make sure you hadn’t been.” Lucah’s eyes flicked from me to Sloane to make sure we were okay.
“You can stop being weird, Lover boy, we’re okay. I’m not mad at you, I’m not mad at her, so we can all go back to normal and you can continue to appreciate everything I do for you, okay?” She handed him a popcorn bowl and flopped down on our couch.
Lucah and I had picked out a lot of the furniture together, since Sloane had chosen most of the furniture at our other place, and wanted to keep it. There was definitely a lot more red in my new place. Lucah had always wanted the red ones. I’d give him a look and he would play complete innocence.
“So, what’s the theme verdict?” Lucah said, sitting down on the other end of the couch so I could sit in the middle. Like they were trying to share me. Joint custody.
“I’m thinking costume porn. Ball gowns and massive hair and jewels and guys with tight trousers.” I waited for Lucah’s reaction.