Page 71 of Pride and Protest

“Oh my gosh, girl.” Liza held her hand to her chest. “What’s up? It’s early, right?” Liza grabbed her phone, but Chicho lunged for it.

“Don’t look at that.”

Liza tapped her Instagram notifications. Chicho had posted a story?

“I wanted to tell you before you saw it online. I wanted you to know first.” Chicho’s tone was so pleading it raised alarm bells.

A video played of Chicho’s wheat-colored hand wearing a lovely princess-cut diamond ring.

“What, you’re pretending to be engaged?” Liza laughed but noticed Chicho’s left hand was conspicuously behind her back the entire time.

“Not pretending.”

“What do you mean?”

“Colin asked me to consider a proposition, and I said yes.”

“You’re marryingColin?”

“Yes. He said with the demographic change in DC and Virginia, a Latina wife was polling better than he realized.” Chicho said this with no recognition of how ridiculous it sounded. Liza winced at her friend’s language.

“Don’t. Don’t look at me like that,” Chicho said.

“Oh, Chicho. No. He’s...”

“He thought you were beautiful and got a little besidehimself. Colin admitted that to me. But he said you turned him down.”

“I’d do it again.”

“Liza, marriage can be full of love, but it can also be a cheat code. I rarely agree with Ms. Bev, but if you find someone who can take you out of a dangerous cycle, you gotta go for it.”

“Do you think he’s the best you can get? You’re better than this.”

Chicho’s face snapped back as if she’d been slapped. “Liza, you’re perfectly okay with me being the sidekick, the plain girlfriend who you never have to worry about taking your man. They’re going to give me a six-figure job and my own house. I can take my little brother and enroll him in a better school district. I’m so sorry if Colin isn’t as hot as WIC, but I think I’ve done pretty well for myself here.”

“Chicho, that’s not what I meant.”

“You know who you remind me of? That arrogantcome mierdaDorsey. You two are more alike than you think. You think you’re so much better than everyone.”

Now it was Liza’s turn to recoil. “Fine. Have a nice life. Don’t call me when you have to stand by your man at a press conference when he inevitably gropes an intern.”

“That was a shitty thing to say.”

“This is a shitty thing todo. There are better ways to secure your future.”

“Excuse me if I don’t take self-help advice from you. This time next week, I’ll be in the damn PTA and making three times your salary.” Chicho stormed out of the room, and Liza’s face fell. It wasn’t until she heard the front door slam that sheallowed herself to cry. She pulled out her phone and shot off a text to Dorsey. She didn’t know why she thought of him first. Why did her thumbs hover over his number in her phone all the time now? She just needed a different kind of interaction.

Question number 20: What does friendship mean to you?

Liza wiped her eyes to see the phone clearly. Three wavering dots appeared.

Having someone you can show your scars to without their judgment.

Someone who shows up for you when you’re emotionally, physically exhausted.

Someone you can laugh with so hard you fart and pee a little.

She laughed an ugly-crying laugh and drifted off to sleep.