“You don’t need to live vicariously through me,” Holly said. “You’ve got your own slam piece, remember?”
“Josh is not a slam piece.”
“What is he, then?”
Mia got up again and paced across the floor of her small apartment. “I’m not sure there’s a word for what we are.”
“Mia.” Holly’s voice softened. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Not really.” Mia threw a glance at the bathroom door, which was slightly ajar, letting steam and the scent of her shampoo spill out into the studio apartment. “But we can talk about all that when I’m there. We were talking about you and your latest gentleman friend. What’s his name?”
“I’m not telling.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want you to judge me.”
“Why would I judge you?” Mia’s pacing came to an abrupt halt. “Oh god, is it someone I know?”
“Maybe.”
“Who? It’s not someone I dated, is it?”
“Jesus, no. I wouldn’t have anything to do with any of those losers.”
“Thanks very much.”
“You know what I mean.”
Mia did, actually. Holly was fiercely loyal, which meant that once Mia’s boyfriends had moved themselves into the “ex” column, they were officially dead to Holly.
“So who is it?” Mia asked. “Spill.”
“Noah,” Holly mumbled.
Mia rubbed her temple. “Oh Holly, no.”
Noah was someone Holly had dated on and off through high school. He was a skater she’d met at the park where she used to go to smoke with her friends, and Mia had never liked him. Not only was he the first boy her little sister had ever had sex with, but he was the one who’d first introduced her to weed.
“I knew you’d judge me!”
“There’s a reason you broke up with him. Three times, if I remember correctly.” Mia heard the water in the shower shut off and sat on the couch again, crossing her legs underneath her.
“There’s a reason I dated him in the first place,” Holly said. “He’s mega hot. And he’s gotten even hotter since high school.”
“Okay, sure, he’s pretty, but he’s so dumb, Holly. He thinks a double helix is a sex position.” That particular misunderstanding had led to an uncomfortable conversation during which Noah had apparently thought Mia was talking about some sort of orgy when in fact she had been talking about differential geometry.
Holly cackled. “Dude. It is a sex position. Also, since you brought it up, he’s really good in bed now. Much better than he used to be. Like, mind-blowingly good. Just for your information.”
Mia made a face. “Meaningless sex is fine and all, but come on. There’s more to life than sex. What about being able to have a conversation with someone? Sharing common interests?”
“We share plenty of interests and manage to have conversations just fine.”
“He’s barely civilized,” Mia said. “He is exactly who the phrase ‘raised in a barnyard’ was invented to describe.”
When Noah used to come over to the house to hang out with Holly, he’d drink their milk and orange juice straight out of the cartons and then leave the half-empty containers sitting out on the counter to spoil. He’d also had an unpleasant habit of leaving the bathroom door partially open when he peed.
“Now you’re just being mean,” Holly said. “He’s not the same person he was when he was sixteen. None of us are. He’s grown up a lot. You might actually like him now, if you could quit being such a snob for five minutes.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. I am being a snob.” Talking to her sister seemed to bring it out in her. Like what Andie had said about her parents’ visits bringing on arrested development. Interacting with her family made Mia backslide into some of the elitist attitudes she’d been trying to shed.
“You should talk, you know. It’s not like you and your dreamy goat farmer have a lot in common on the surface. Do the two of you have trouble thinking of things to talk about?”
“No, we don’t.” Mia glanced over her shoulder as Josh came out of the bathroom, his hair wet and disheveled, and snatched his jeans off the floor.
“There you go,” Holly said.
Mia bit her lip. “I just want you to be happy.”
Something about Josh’s manner seemed off. He had his back to her, but his movements were stiff and jerky as he dragged his pants up his legs.
Holly sniffed. “I am, actually. Believe it or not.”
Josh’s face was hard when he turned around. Something was definitely wrong. Anxiety prickled over Mia’s skin as she watched him stalk across the apartment toward