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Your Bryce

That had been it. She’d risked it all. She knew that Sophie couldn’t easily get away from work while she could work anywhere, so it made sense for her to be the one to offer. Shejust wasn’t entirely sure if the offer should’ve come so soon. They probably should’ve at least talked on the phone before she offered to pack her things and hit the road – or, in this case, buy a plane ticket because she wasn’t sure she could avoid getting ten speeding tickets while she tried to make her way to Sophie.

She sighed when she read Sophie’s email. Sophie had said yes. Bryce should visit.

“What are you going to do?” Kelsey asked.

“Go.” She shrugged. “Obviously.”

“When? Like, now?”

“I’m going to ask her,” she replied. “I’ve just been thinking about how nervous I am. What if I’m crazy? What if we both are? What if when we meet, it’s horribly awkward, and the chemistry we had is gone?”

“What if you keep talking to me, and you never get to see her again?”

Bryce stopped in place then. She’d been walking from the living room to her kitchen to deposit her coffee cup into the sink to deal with later, and she stopped. The thought of never seeing Sophie again was one that she was all too familiar with, but now that she’d found her, thinking like that felt even worse somehow.

“I’ll message her right now,” she said as she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Kelsey asked from her spot on the sofa.

“Yes.” Bryce walked back and started typing her message to Sophie.

“Megs… Is she good?”

“Good?” Bryce asked after hitting send.

She sat down next to Kelsey, who seemed like she was somewhere else entirely.

“Yeah. Like, with this new girl she’s seeing – is it good?”

“I think so. I don’t know. It’s been what, one date? Maybe two; I’m not sure. I’ve been a little preoccupied recently,” she said.

“Yeah,” Kelsey let out, but that was all for a while before she finally added, “We’ve been getting closer.”

“You and Megs?”

“We’ve been hanging out a lot recently. Sean was busy with work and pining over you, complaining about this Sophie thing all the time, so Megs and I just started hanging out alone. And no offense: you were busy, too, pining over Sophie, so it was just easier for the two of us to spend time together making fun of both of you.”

Bryce laughed softly and said, “I guess I’ll let that go.”

“Thanks,” Kelsey replied. “And it’s like now that she’s met someone, she doesn’t want to be alone with me. Getting her to pick me up for dinner the other night was like pulling teeth. She kept saying she’d just meet me here, but my place is on the way to yours from her apartment, so logic prevailed.”

“You think she’s avoiding you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Kelsey shrugged.

“And that bothers you?”

“Yes. I don’t want her to avoid me at all, but I kind of wish…”

“You knew why?”

“No, I know why,” Kelsey shared.

“You do?”

“I’m not an idiot, Bryce. I know Megan likes me.”