because her thoughts about Ren were much different than mine.
With finals right around the corner, I knew I needed to get my head in the game. That meant not worrying about what Theo was thinking when it came to us. Instead, I had to focus on passing Ribbons’ class since I’d gotten a C- on my exam and making sure I proved to her I was more than my last name, and being Tiffany’s puppet since she was adamant on me dancing with her. I wasn’t sure why she was so keen on getting me to start again, but she promised she wouldn’t pressure me to talk to Judith. I believed her, even if a part of me was hesitant. She’d proven to be a good friend, maybe even better than I offered her considering she didn’t know a lot about me, but it was something.
Blowing out a breath, I relented to her demand because I knew I wouldn’t have much else of a choice otherwise. “What time?”
She beamed. “Nine too early?” We both knew we’d had earlier days when we danced together at Judith’s. “You have my address still, so just come on over. My studio is in the backyard. It’s a converted pool house.”
I blinked, sometimes forgetting she came from money. She didn’t act like most other people did when their families were well off. Then again, had she ever? She always wanted to work as a cosmetologist, and the reason she didn’t was probably because of how she was raised. It made me think about Sophie’s lectures to me growing up.
“You don’t need to work, darling. Just look at your mother. She stopped when she met your father.” But she hadn’t. My mother was a well-known interior designer who did leave her job, but it was to pursue charity work with non-profits. It kept her busy, busier than when she worked for a living.
I nodded. “Fine. But—”
“Nope. I’m not going to listen to self-doubt or boring excuses. You’ve got this.” I glared at her as she winked. “Oh, and we’re going out tonight. Thank your boy toy for that, he kept bugging me to tell you about it.”
“But—”
“What did I say?” she cut me off again, making me groan loudly. “Listen, since yoga was moved to today, that means we have all tomorrow to recover from a hangover. We both need to have fun.”
She must have forgotten that Sunday brunches were a thing with Sophie. Tiffany couldn’t stand my aunt, a lot of people couldn’t. But unlike those people, Tiff didn’t hide it.
“I don’t want to go out and have fun.” What I wanted was to sit in my living room with my favorite popcorn and binge watch new episodes of Mysteries at the Museum like the nerd I was. Maybe even text Theo. Okay, I was definitely doing that, even if part of me said to hold off. I liked seeing his texts first, knowing he was thinking of me. Like the one he sent this morning of him and Ramsay. He was making a face at the camera while the dog licked him, and all the caption said was good morning from your two favorite men.
My heart had melted a little right there on my kitchen floor while I grabbed a protein bar from my cupboard before leaving.
“Which is your problem.” Her laugh drew people’s attention, making me elbow her as we started toward the sidewalk. “I’m trying to be your friend, Della. Even Ren said you needed to get out and enjoy yourself more.”
I eyed her. “Since when do you and Ren talk when I’m not around?”
She shrugged. “He annoyed me at first, but he’s grown on me like a fungus. Even though he called me a bitch.”
Cringing, I shot her an apologetic look. He did call her that when they first met. And what did she do? Shrugged, said she’d been called worse, pulled out an apple from her backpack, and hung out with us at the Hut while we had coffee between classes.
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Tiffany snorted. “He’s honest. Not a lot of guys are. Anyway, it isn’t like we paint each other’s nails and trade secrets about you. We just happened to exchange numbers and he told me that we were going out because you needed it.”
That was a classy way of saying Ren needed to get out and find a new toy to play with, but I didn’t tell Tiffany that. If they were friends now, she’d learn it soon