against her cheeks. Reaching up, Kristine gripped the bottom of his shirt like an anchor. She held on tight, as though the slightest movement could wash them away.
Twenty-three
“There you are!” Sally raced toward Chloe in a blur of wild, curly blonde hair. “I can’t believe it.” Tackling her in a huge hug, Sally bounced up and down. Chloe bounced along, delighted to finally see her good friend.
Sally had been Chloe’s roommate at undergrad. They went on to share a crappy apartment in the “real world,” until Sally met her future husband and moved in with him. Ben liked to joke that the two friends were polar opposites, thanks to Sally’s distinct loathing for academia and, without exception, children.
“Let’s go outside and catch up, then,” Sally chirped in her adorable British accent. “It’s going to get much too loud in here, isn’t it?”
Chloe surveyed the club. The small stage was set with microphones, guitars and a drum set. Their friend from college, Michael, had gotten a small deal with a record company and was setting off on a cross-country tour. Even though she hadn’t seen Michael in years, Ben kept her up on his latest activities. Supposedly, Ben was coming to the show, not that he’d bothered to text Chloe. Four days had passed since she’d seen or heard from him. Four days! Of course, he’d probably just act like everything was normal when he showed up and pump her with questions about her date with Geoff.
“Do you want to get a drink?” Sally thrust her glass toward Chloe. “This is pretty good. Some sort of flavored-vodka thing. Peach? Pineapple? I don’t know, really.”
“No drinks for me.” Dramatically, Chloe stuck out her lower lip. “I have to study after this.”
“Aww,” Sally groaned. “Hurry up and open that practice because I’ve got a million problems to talk to you about.”
In her pink corduroy jacket and with her bright, rosy cheeks, Sally looked like a girl whose biggest problem was finding her favorite marshmallow in a box of Lucky Charms cereal. That was one of the things that Chloe loved most about her. After all of the crazy, heart-wrenching stories she had to deal with day to day, she appreciated being around someone as light as cotton candy.
Outside, it was a little chilly, so they congregated around a fire pit in the center of the concrete porch. Apartments towered over them from above, their lights bright in the dark night. The pungent odor of weed drifted over from a group of teenagers standing in the corner. Chloe grinned, happy to be part of the real world instead of stuck at her desk, slaving away at yet another paper.
“So, my date with Geoff was fun,” Chloe told Sally. “I met him next to Tiny Tumblers and he’d set up a whole picnic in that little garden, you know, the one next door?”
Sally’s eyes widened. “That’s so romantic. I love it.”
“It was the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” Geoff had set up a blue blanket on the ground with plates, wineglasses and even two long, tapered candles. “He was afraid we’d get busted by the fire marshal, but it was so fun. Then, he took me to that little piano bar for coffee and Irish cream.”
“Get to the good stuff.” Sally’s eyes were wide. “Did he kiss you?”
“Outside the piano bar.” Geoff’s kiss had been warm and secure. It didn’t end with him slamming her up against the door or anything, but who wanted that anyway?
“You kissed him?” a familiar voice growled. “And how was that?”
Chloe turned to find herself face-to-face with Ben. Dressed in a ratty blue baseball cap and a U2 Joshua Tree T-shirt, he was more attractive than ever. Crossing her arms, she glared at him.
“The kiss was great,” she said. “Believe it or not, he even called me the very next day.”
“Ben!” Sally bounced up and down. “Hello, gorgeous.” Rushing forward, she leapt into his arms.
As Sally wrapped her white jeans-clad legs around him, Chloe felt a pang of jealousy for her cute blonde friend. Now that there was some weird boundary between Chloe and Ben, it would be a while before she could hug him at all.
“Ben, can you believe Chloe has a boyfriend?” Sally screeched, sliding back to the ground. She boxed Chloe’s arm in excitement. “Maybe Norman will stop telling me we got married too young, if we can finally have some decent couples to go out with.”
Ben looked at Chloe in surprise. “He’s your boyfriend?