Free Big Apple Dreams by Kamery Solomon Page A

it weren’t for work. You are always out with him!”
    “I’ve been at a lot of auditions , too,” I chortled defensively.
    “Those have mostly been during the day , though. I’m talking about at night. You two are always together. I’m starting to worry that you make it back here every time.”
    “What do you mean by that?” I snickered.
    “Oh, come on! You spend all that time with him and you’ve never . . . You know. Spent the night?”
    “Lizzy Robbins, are you asking about my sex life?” I asked in mock horror. 
    “. . .Yes?”
    I burst out into heavy laughter, surprised at her boldness.
    “What?” she said defensively. “I’m not getting any. I’m about to go dig up my grandmother’s romance novels. It would be a lot easier if you just gave me some deets.”
    “Nothing’s happened,” I said after I’d gotten my chortling under control.
    “At all?”              
    “I’ve come home every night, haven’t I?”
    “Well, that’s no fun!” she huffed in disappointment. “I thought for sure The Boy Toy was a stud in the bedroom.”
    “Oh my gosh, Lizzy,” I said, another fit of tear inducing laughter starting. “Stop. Please!”
    “Well, look at him!” She waved her hands in front of us at an imaginary figure of Chris. “He’s totally ripped, has gorgeous eyes, is exactly the right height, and the voice that comes out of those perfectly shaped lips is like melted chocolate flowing into a never ending river of peanut butter! All he has to do is let a woman get a sniff of his cologne and she’ll be passed out on the street!”
    “Lizzy,” I gasped, doubled over.
    “I don’t know how you do it, Mara,” she continued without missing a beat. “I would have locked him in a bedroom and had my way with him weeks ago.”
    “And that sounds like my cue to turn around, leave, and act like I was never here.”
    We both looked to the front door and the room fell silent for a moment as we surveyed Evan. His hand was still on the doorknob, a bag from the grocery store clutched tightly in the other. He was wearing all black and a matching leather jacket clung to his torso.
    “Evan,” I said, clearing my throat.
    It was no use, though. As soon as his name left my lips, Lizzy and I burst into uncontrollable laughter again.
    “I’m going to regret staying, aren’t I?” he asked, crossing the threshold and closing the door behind him.
    We couldn’t answer, and he seemed to take that as a confirmation.
    “Well, I brought ice cream. It’s peanut butter cup , so you better help me eat it. If not, I’ll take it back to my place and . . . It’s not very manly to stay home and eat a carton of ice cream by yourself. So eat up.”
    “What’s wrong?” Lizzy asked , wiping her eyes.
    “Nothing really,” he shrugged. “I just felt like ice cream.”
    “Why not take it home and eat it slowly?” I asked, regaining control as well.
    “I’m a fat kid at heart,” he laughed, giving me a wink as he pulled a couple of bowls out of the cupboard.
    “Yeah, then he discovered girls and spent every waking minute with them, or at the gym,” Lizzy teased, joining him in the kitchen.
    “What can I say? The heart wants what it wants,” he said in a mocking tone while shrugging.
    “Until you met Steph,” Lizzy said coolly. “Then your heart cut its own wrists and jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge just to get away from her.”
    “Lizzy,” he said in a soft warning tone.
    “So do you guys want to watch a movie?” I butted in, sensing that they were treading on thin ice.
    “Do you have anything that’s not a musical?” he said as he looked over at me again, eyes sparkling. “I went through your movie drawer the last time I was here.”
    “Then you should already know the answer,” I ribbed back.
    “All right. What do you girls want from the video store then?”
    “Cut it out,” Lizzy said, slapping his arm.
    She grabbed her bowl and mine and sat back down, patting the spot next