Page 34 of FWB

Tiegan

W e speed away from the resort, Kiersten behind the wheel of her white Subaru Outback.

Thank god she came as my date and volunteered to be my designated driver tonight.

I had a sneaking suspicion that Kenny was going to be in attendance.

Jerome was way too cagey any time I would talk to him this week. I knew something was up.

“What was that back there?” Kiersten asks, as she turns the wheel to take the interstate, merging into flowing traffic.

“I don’t know!” I sob. And I truly don’t know what happened in that ballroom. Between Kenny insisting on talking to me by asking me to dance, of all things, let alone him showing up to the party at all, and his continuing reluctance to tell me what’s been going on, I don’t know what to think.

And what was up with that phone call? It sounded like he was about to tell me what’s been eating at him until he was interrupted by that damn call!

What was he about to say? “ Tiegan, I’m–” Tiegan, I’m what?

I’m dying of cancer and only have six weeks left to live?

I’m leaving Nashville to become an Eskimo in the Alaskan wilderness?

Tiegan, I’m… married? No, that couldn’t be it.

Could it? I’ve been over to his house before and it’s a total bachelor pad.

But I’ve never actually seen signs of Sam living there either …

Maybe it’s possible Kenny is married and has kept it a secret from everyone, me especially.

My vision blurs. The world starts to spin around me. I’m going to be sick.

“Pull over!” I bark as I hold in my impending vomit.

“What?” shrieks Kiersten.

But it’s too late. I reach for the nearest thing I can be sick in—a large to-go cup. This will have to do as I proceed to hurl the copious amounts of alcohol I’ve had tonight, along with the meager dinner I managed to choke down.

Kiersten gags at the smell, but doesn’t take her eyes off the road. She pulls off at the nearest exit with a gas station available.

Once she puts the car in park, I stumble over to the empty trash cans that frame the doorway into the 7/11 where I toss the puke-filled cup.

Still feeling queasy, I make my way inside to the ladies’ room and stumble into the first clean, open stall I come across.

I lock the latch behind me, bend over, and proceed to get sick again.

Once I feel like everything is out of my system, I stop by the drinks section and grab a couple of Dr. Peppers to get the taste of vomit out of my mouth. After I’m paid up and back in the car, I hand Kiersten her Dr. Pepper. “I’m so sorry,” I blurt, feeling miserable and sorry for myself.

“Tiegan, look at me.” She waits until I lift my smudged eyes to meet hers. “Stop this. You are better than this. No man is worth all this pain and turmoil. You’ve got to let him go.”

I begin to cry again. “I don’t know how, Kiersten! I went and fell in love with him, and now I have to see him all the time at work, knowing he doesn’t feel the same!”

“If he can’t see that he’s losing out on the most wonderful, kind, smart, talented, funny, sexiest woman on the planet, then fuck him.”

“I already did,” I say with a sarcastic laugh. “That’s part of the problem.”

“You know damn well that’s not what I meant.” She playfully swats my arm.

“I know. It’s just that … I bared my entire soul to this man.

I told him everything there is to know about me.

And never once did I feel judged by him.

I felt seen, heard. He opened up about his troubled past, too.

I didn’t judge him for anything he revealed.

I just don’t know what could be so monumental that he feels like he can’t share it with me. How did it all go wrong so quickly?”

Kiersten rubs my back as I cry again. I don’t know how I have any tears left to shed. My tear ducts are working overtime tonight. She sits there silently rubbing circles around my back, letting me get it all out.

When I finally stop my weeping, Kiersten says, “C’mon. You’re staying at my place tonight. I already texted Aunt Tweetie and I informed Trevor earlier that he was officially being kicked out of the condo at 8:00 p.m. sharp.”

“What? You didn’t have to kick Trevor out of his own house,” I say, feeling like an imposition.

“Don’t worry about it. He went to visit his parents for the night. They’re thrilled to have him all to themselves for an evening.”

“Okay, as long as you’re sure.”

“Positive. Besides, I already had Trevor stock the house with all our favorite junk foods in case we didn’t like the fancy schmancy food at the party.

I had him pick up, like, three different flavors of Ben & Jerry’s because I didn’t know what you’d be in the mood for.

Plus, we haven’t done late-night living room karaoke since college! ”

I give her the first genuine smile of the night.

I love this woman with every fiber of my being.

If Trevor happens to go before Kiersten—RIP—I’m gonna marry her and become domestic life partners.

We’ll live out our days in an assisted living facility with conjoining rooms, freaking out the other residents by pretending to be a couple of witchy lesbians who dance naked in the moonlight while casting spells. It’ll be great.

“Yeah, that sounds like a plan,” I say as Kiersten pulls out of the 7/11 parking lot on her way to her condo for a much-needed girls’ night.