the concert, where, even if she was technically alone, she could be surrounded by other people who liked the same music she did.
And so all three of them had ended up there, wearing the exact same argyle-print ModCloth dress. None of them looked the same in it—Kirsten was tiny and pale with a blond pixie cut, Eleanor was plus-size and Korean with long black hair and blunt bangs, and Teddy was sized somewhere in between them with brown hair that rolled past her shoulders in waves. When they spotted one another, it had been like one of those movie moments, all long glances and slow smiles and being drawn together across the room as if by magic.
They discovered that even if they didn’t have much in common other than the music and the dresses, they were deeply in friend love with one another.
Teddy had met and started spending the bulk of her time with Richard soon after that, and so she’d missed out on doing most things with Eleanor and Kirsten. But now that she was here, she thought maybe she would feel like an equal part of their relationship again, that maybe she could turn the isosceles triangle of their friendship into an equilateral triangle.
“This is the first time all of us have been under one roof,” Eleanor said, eyes wide, jolting Teddy back to the present. “That reminds me: we need to have a pajama-movie night.”
“We’re all in our pajamas right now,” Teddy said.
“Yeah, but this isn’t planned. Pajama-movie nights are a production. We have themes and snacks and decorations,” Eleanor clarified.
“You guys don’t need to do anything special on my account,” Teddy said, shaking her head.
“But we’re so glad you’re here,” Kirsten said, “because we hated Richard.”
“Kirsten,” Eleanor said, her voice a low warning.
“It’s true. He treated you like garbage.” She pronounced the word gar-BAJ, like it was French or something.
“He didn’t treat me like garbage,” Teddy muttered, mimicking Kirsten’s pronunciation. “Not all the time, anyway. Not at the beginning.”
“Well, we’re way past the beginning now, and that dude sucked. What was it he used to say, when he asked you to read aloud his textbooks to him like you were a human audiobook?”
Teddy swallowed hard. Kirsten had been so horrified by this detail that Teddy had stopped telling the girls anything about her relationship (which, of course, had only made her even more isolated). “Behind every good doctor, there’s a good woman.”
“Riiiiiight,” Kirsten said slowly.
“That wasn’t very kind,” Eleanor pointed out, sounding like she was talking to one of her kindergartners. Teddy almost expected her to say, That’s not how we treat our girlfriends, is it?
“And what did he say when you wanted to hang out with us?” Kirsten asked.
“He liked it when I was at home! And I liked being there! I liked being around when he needed me.” Teddy crossed her arms.
Kirsten nodded, lips pursed. “And did he ever take your needs into account? Did he ever prioritize your interests? Did he ever give one single solitary shit about what you wanted, or was it the ‘Richard Show,’ twenty-four seven?”
Teddy sighed. She couldn’t possibly explain to them that she’d been happy to do whatever Richard wanted because it took the pressure off her. Richard wasn’t cruel, but she couldn’t deny that he’d been happy with her only when she was serving him.
Well, until he wasn’t, anyway.
“And listen,” Kirsten continued. “I understand that his job is important. I respect the field of dermatology—I myself had a precancerous mole frozen off last week. But my dermatologist is a kind and professional person who doesn’t act like she’s Sandra Oh performing surgery in the first season of Grey’s Anatomy.”
“Love Sandra Oh,” Eleanor murmured.
“The first season is great,” Teddy agreed.
“Sandra Oh’s greatness is not under scrutiny here. We’re talking about Richard,” Kirsten said, crossing her arms and staring at Teddy.
Teddy looked toward Eleanor for help, but Eleanor winced.
“He was kind of . . . well, a dick,” Eleanor whispered, and Kirsten whooped.
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Teddy protested.
“We’re not saying this to make you feel bad, Teddy. We’re saying, Good for you. You’re free of that loser. No longer must you cook the same five bland meals. No longer are you shackled to his demands. Now you get to do what you want. And look at you! You have a breakup bob!”
Teddy smiled bashfully. “I do.”
“And it looks amazing,” Eleanor said, placing a hand on Teddy’s arm.
“Forget Richard,” Kirsten said. “Seriously. That guy doesn’t exist. From now