Free Definitely, Maybe in Love by Ophelia London Page B

longest seven days in the history of the world,” I moaned.
    “So dramatic,” Julia replied. “You’ll be fine.”
    “With you and Dart making kissing faces to each other over the turkey and cornbread stuffing, not to mention the other inhabitant of that house.”
    Julia lifted her eyebrows at me. She’d been packing all morning. Anabel was heading out any minute, spending the week with her family. I seldom left for holidays anymore. My brothers were also staying away at school, and last I heard, Mom was going on a nature retreat, probably not even realizing it was Thanksgiving. I didn’t want to spend another holiday in my tiny hometown, didn’t need another reminder of what my life might be like if I didn’t succeed in college, if I didn’t get out and make something of myself in the world. I loved my mother, but I did not want to end up like her.
    I should have gone on vacation with Mel, who was driving up to her grandparents’ house in Washington. She’d invited me, but I turned her down.
    Julia actually wanted to stay in town for Thanksgiving. Because Dart was. So the two of us had the whole house to ourselves.
    That was, until we learned that one of our landlord’s other rentals had termites, so all of his properties were being fumigated over the long break. The exterminator was arriving early tomorrow. Those of us who were remaining in town were forced to stay elsewhere while the toxic spray did its thing.
    Julia was singing again, stowing her makeup bag in the small outside pocket of her second suitcase.
    “What’s that there?” I asked when my eye caught a piece of black lace tucked in a corner.
    “Oh.” Julia covered it with a sweatshirt. “It’s nothing,” she said, looking down, moving more clothes around. “Just something from Anabel.”
    “Is it lingerie?”
    “No. Well, sort of.” She tucked some hair behind an ear. “It’s nothing, really. I probably won’t ever wear it.”
    She seemed so embarrassed, I almost laughed. “Bunny, it’s none of my business what you wear for your boyfriend; just be careful about what Anabel gives you, whether it’s a push-up bra or relationship advice.”
    “I will. And what about you?”
    “What about me?”
    “You really like Alex,” she said. “Or should I ask that? Because it’s tough to tell with you.”
    I played with the cuff of my sleeve. “What’s not to like?”
    She twisted her lips but didn’t speak for a moment. “Now it’s my turn to say be careful to you ,” she finally said.
    “Your concern is duly noted.”
    In the purely conventional respect, Alex and I weren’t dating, because dating involved actually going out to places, maybe sharing a meal. The moments Alex and I spent together always began the same way our first date had. No more, no less. A controlled release of pheromones and hormones was a nice way to break up a tedious day of studying. Alex was good for that. Sometimes we talked a bit about his past with Henry Knightly, although I wasn’t very comfortable with the topic, so I usually cut him off. And I never breathed a word to anyone else about what he’d told me the night of our first date.
    “We don’t know anything about him,” Julia said, hauling suitcase number one toward the door.
    “ You don’t,” I said, “but I do.”
    “I asked Dart about it a few weeks ago, because it’s obvious Alex and Henry have a history.”
    I glanced at her. She was fiddling with the zipper on her suitcase.
    “He knows they went to high school together and had a falling out. Dart said Henry doesn’t like to talk about it.”
    “Of course he doesn’t,” I agreed, bending my knees to sit cross-legged.
    Julia frowned.
    Very easily, I could have put her mind at ease. Alex and I had a good run, but the rush of dopamine and norepinephrine stimulating my senses had rapidly decreased. I was crazy-busy, and I was bored. It took a lot to hold my interest, no matter how good the kissing.
    “Do you trust Alex over