my brother-in-law took that as a sign to keep going, so he did.
“But, B, did he cheat on you? Lie? Because he seemed like a nice guy, but I’ve never been a White Oaks fan, so I’ll do it. Next time I get a B-12 shot, I’ll save the needle and use it as proof,” Richard claimed, everything about his narrow face totally serious.
“What else do you know that you haven’t told me?” my sister whispered.
“I don’t know anything for sure; I just have my guesses.”
His guesses. This man was wasting his life in the army when he could probably make a fortune being a goddamn psychic—or at least fool people into thinking he was a psychic.
I was stunned.
“What’s going on? Is there something going on with you and Zac?” Boogie asked again, aiming his nearly black eyes at me.
Shit balls.
Scratching the tip of my nose, I held my breath for a second and decided I’d walked right into this—asked for it really, because why had I thought they wouldn’t notice something was wrong with me? They knew me better than anyone. Including Richard.
But one thing at a time, starting with my cousin. “No, there’s nothing going on with me and Zac,” I told him.
He sagged, but it was Connie who sat up straighter before pointing at me. “You’re lying.”
“Don’t use your mom voice on me, heifer. I’m not lying. Nothing has gone on with us other than hugs and some kisses on the cheeks, which I give everybody in the first place.”
My cousin still looked relaxed, wary but relaxed. He knew I wouldn’t lie to him, and that made me feel better. He just wasn’t going to like what I was going to tell him next. That was for sure.
But there was no way around it now.
“But I was dumb and I started to really… like him, as more than a friend. It’s not like I meant for it to happen, but it did. Again. I told myself not to let it happen, but again, it did. And I knew I had no shot in hell of him being interested in me like that, but….” I shrugged, resigned to being in the same damn position all over again—the idiot who fell in love with her cousin’s best friend. And not just any normal, mere man. But Zac Travis. The butt cheeks of Texas. “I’ve just been upset a little because I let my guard down and he did something innocent that reminded me of why I knew better.”
The looks on their faces were questioning, so I sighed.
“Some girl posted a picture of them together, okay, nosey? She was sitting on his lap. It hurt my feelings, but we aren’t together. At all. He doesn’t even like me like that. I told him, and he started to say something about how he wished I wasn’t your cousin, Boog. So there. He didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t want to stop being friends with him. If anything, I just need to remember what kind of friends we are, and that’s platonic, and I’ll be fine in no time. I’m not planning on spending the rest of my life spray painting ‘Bianca loves Zac’ onto any railroad cars or overpasses. I’ll find someone else to date, maybe we’ll get married, and maybe I’ll have a couple kids, but maybe I’ll have a couple dogs or cats and be a cougar someday. I don’t know. I’m pretty open. So anyway, I’m fine, nothing happened. I’m not traumatized for life or anything, so can we please never talk about this again?”
Boogie didn’t exactly look stunned, but he looked… surprised? Thoughtful? Maybe even… uncomfortable? “Nothing ever happened between you two then?” he asked slowly.
I shot him a look. “He’s your best friend, Boog. No. We’re both affectionate and comfortable around each other. I’ve never seen his wiener, even though I might have tried.”
He jerked back, and his eyes almost bugged out. “Bianca!”
“What? That’s what you were asking, I could see it.”
Connie nodded, one eye still on her husband. “That is what you were asking, and I would have asked if you hadn’t beat me to it.”
She totally would have.
“He’s my best friend too, Boog. You’re my best friend. All three—four of you—are my best friends.”
And fortunately, my cousin had to know that to his bones because he didn’t wait to nod even though his uncomfortable expression went nowhere. “But you like him as more than that?”