Page 90 of Something Spontaneous

She scrunches her shoulders innocently, turning her palms up. “What? I was just curious where she’s going next.”

“It’s fine,” I say, unconvincingly playing it off like that isn’t the question I have been dreading. Judging by the way I feel Sly’s body tense beside me as his grip on my waist tightens, I think that makes two of us who still don’t want to discuss this particular topic.

I start to think of how I want to answer that question, but without missing a beat, my best friend steps in to, hopefully, save me this time.

“You might think that TJ and I go with the flow, but Josie is the true wildcard.” She glances at me, and I flash her an appreciative look. “I bet she hasn’t even thought about where she’s going next.”

“Actually, yeah. I haven’t really thought about it much, and I haven’t made any decisions.” I clasp my margarita in front of me and lean forward, mustering a half-hearted smile because the man next to me is probably hanging onto my every word. I know Sly almost better than I know myself, and I can tell that he’s been consumed by the same question that’s kept me awake until his comforting embrace lulled me to sleep the last several nights.

Where do we go from here?

That question and its looming answer are why I’ve avoided making any commitments beyond deciding which acts and after-parties we plan on attending this weekend. The weight of everyone’s gaze on me, including the one I can feel boring into the side of my head, is enough for me to answer honestly.

I hitch my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of Sly. “Outside of dropping this guy off in Sterling Springs on Monday, I don’t have any plans yet.”

Surprisingly, Kelsey’s eyes light up. “That’s amazing. I’ve hardly left my hometown my whole life. I can’t imagine being that free.”

I can tell from her expression that she’s being entirely genuine, like everyone else has been tonight. Grace is being herself, which is all I ever want her to be. TJ’s reminding me why he’s worthy of being married to my best friend. Sutton has been the same infallibly sweet boy—now man—that I remembered growing up with, and Kelsey seems to be the perfect foil to him. And then there’s Sly, who’s soaking up every second he can—just like I am too—until our blissful bubble inevitably has to pop.

I can tell from the collective silence that everyone else’s mind has gone to that same question, and same conclusion—Sly and I, whatever we are—will come to an end, once again. While it might be on entirely different terms than the first time, the end result will still hurt all the same.

Sly’s thumb slowly rubs one of my ribs below the water—as if telling me he knows it too. I don’t dare to look back at him and those glacially blue eyes I know are waiting for me.

Instead, I watch Grace, who’s looking down at her husband’s hand as she intertwines hers into his. Whether she realizes it or not, she beams at his touch, and she traces her fingertip over the tattoo on his ring finger.

She doesn’t take her focus off their joined hands when I see her lips start to move. She absentmindedly begins to talk to herself, and maybe TJ. “Well, I think they should just say screw it and get hitched. It worked for us.”

My eyes widen because I’m positive that: One, she doesn’t realize she said that out loud, and two, there’s no way she said that.

Judging by how Sly spits out his soda again, she definitely said it out loud, and he heard it too. In fact, we all heard it, because Sutton and Kelsey also whip their heads toward Grace.

So much for my bestie coming to my rescue. Instead, she pulled the pin and lobbed a grenade right into the middle of this hot tub.

I glare at Grace when she finally looks up after hearing Sly’s coughing. “Oh, did I say that out loud?” She gives a one-shoulder shrug.

TJ laughs and kisses the top of her head. “Yeah, you sure did, Rainbow.”

I continue to glare at her in disbelief, and she turns her palms up. “What? I’ve been telling you all along the universe puts us where we’re supposed to be.” She waggles a finger between Sly and me, as TJ loops his arm around her. She leans into him and sighs contentedly. “The universe clearly knows better than you two.”

Neither Sly nor I say anything because what is there to say about a bat-shit crazy idea like that? We continue to stare at her with gaping mouths, or at least I assume Sly’s is gaping like mine because I still haven’t looked back at him. I’m too busy trying to give my best friend a death scowl.

“I mean, your route back to Sterling Springs does go right through Vegas.” Sutton’s voice trails up in question. We all shift our attention to him, and he shrinks back into himself. “Nope, never mind. Forget I said that.” He looks down at his drink and slurps some through his straw. “I’m going to go check on the grill. Dinner should almost be ready.”

He hops out of the hot tub, with TJ following right behind him. Sly takes his time to get out and dry off, before putting on his prosthetic and joining them.

I turn back to Grace as she watches her husband with the Sterling brothers. She finally turns her attention back to me, looking like tonight is a completely normal night, in her typical unfazed fashion. “So, what are we doing for breakfast tomorrow? We have a long day of shows to see.”

Kelsey takes the conversational lifeline and starts talking about food, but I’m left thinking about what Grace said. Not the getting married in Vegas part, because yeah, that’s unhinged for anyone other than my best friend and a retired rockstar. No, I’m left contemplating that maybe there is something more to my story with Sly.

Maybe we were brought together for some reason besides a poorly built or serviced transmission that chose the New Mexico desert to finally unalive itself.

CHAPTER 39

JOSIE

Stop Running

I wasn’t exaggerating when I told Kelsey her margaritas might be as good as mine. That’s why I probably had a few too many, because I had to be sure. After what Grace said about the universe and joking-but-not-really-joking about getting hitched—combined with the steamy hot tub bubbles—they were exactly what I needed to wash away the idea she put in my head. Otherwise, I would’ve spiraled into my own feelings.