“It’s so good to see you!” she was saying. “Where’s Lee?”
“Sleeping in,” Rachel said with an affectionate roll of her eyes. “He and Ashton ended up going out with the football team last night after their movie. I think he’s gonna have a sore head today,” she added in a whisper.
“Oh, oh right,” Amanda whispered back with a serious nod, pressing her finger to her lips.
Noah caught my eye just long enough to wink at me, then drew a deep breath.
“Lee!” he bellowed, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Lee Flynn, get your ass out here!”
A few seconds later, there was a faint grumbling and scuffling coming from Lee and Rachel’s room.
I laughed, while Rachel shot Noah a stern look and Amanda elbowed him and gave a sharp sigh.
Lee dragged himself out of his room, wearing just his boxers and rubbing his face. “What the hell, Noah? Are you kidding…” His eyes settled on Amanda, blowing wide. His cheeks flushed, which only made me laugh harder. “Shit, Noah, you could’ve said we had a guest.”
“Don’t worry yourself, big boy, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” Amanda told him with a nonchalant wave of her hand. “Good to see so much of you, Lee.”
He laughed. “Nice to see you again, too, Amanda. I didn’t realize you were coming.”
He said this with a cutting look at me and Noah, and all I could do was give him a guilty shrug. I hadn’t even seen Lee yesterday, we’d both been so busy; Noah obviously hadn’t thought to mention it to him either.
“Surprise!” She held up her purse, then a navy leather tote. “Oh, and I come bearing gifts.”
She pulled out two little white squares, handing one each to me and Lee. A refrigerator magnet that read I heart London.
“I know technically you haven’t been, but I thought you could add them to your magnet collection.”
When Lee and I had taken our road trip on spring break, we’d made a point of picking up magnets in every state we’d passed through, as souvenirs of our epic trip. It was a really thoughtful gift, and we both grinned at Amanda and thanked her.
“I also brought shortbread because Noah told me he’s never had it before, and you guys have not lived if you’ve not had proper Scottish shortbread.” She pulled out a red tartan-patterned box from her bag and handed it to Rachel.
“Anything else in that purse?” Lee asked.
“Not unless you want my lipstick or a used tissue.”
“Think I’ll pass.”
“Hey, you’d better get dressed anyway,” Noah told Lee. “There’s supposed to be a viewing today, remember?”
“No, there’s not.”
The three of us looked at Lee.
“Uh, yeah, Lee,” Rachel said slowly. “Remember, your mom texted to remind us all a couple of days ago—”
“They canceled.”
“What? Since when?”
“The…the realtor called to tell me.”
Lee was an awful liar.
No one was buying it, but he clenched his jaw and glared around at each of us, daring someone to call him out. I didn’t know what the hell Lee was up to, but he had to be up to something. Plus, this was like the fifth time something had been “canceled” in the last couple of weeks, which was pretty suspicious now that I thought about it.
Right now, though, I was happy to let it slide.
“Come on in,” Noah said. “I’ll give you the grand tour.”
“Do you want some coffee, Amanda? Tea?” Rachel offered, the perfect hostess. “Cold drink?”
“Ooh, I wouldn’t mind a cup of tea, if you don’t mind?”
I wanted to laugh at how cliché she was, but I had a sneaking suspicion it’d just sound mean and bitchy coming out of my mouth, so I stayed quiet, smiling as Noah led her through the house, and took myself to the kitchen with Rachel.
“Is it still weird for you?” Rachel whispered.
I didn’t have it in me to pretend right now. “A little. But honestly, mostly because it makes me feel so stupid for ever feeling jealous, you know? I trust Noah. And I know they’re only friends. And she’s great, right? So I just feel like such a bitch for ever believing otherwise.”
Rachel pulled a thoughtful face, humming. “She was part of why you guys broke up, though, right?”
“Well, yeah, but it was more because he was keeping a secret, and he wouldn’t tell me what. The distance was…It was hard. Plus the time difference. I know it’s only three hours, but we both had our own schedules and our own social lives, and it all felt totally out of whack, so it wasn’t like we were talking maybe as much as we should’ve been, and then when you throw in the new mystery female friend…”
I watched Rachel’s face fall and a concerned look darken her features—and realized what she’d really been asking and what I’d just said.
“Not that you and Lee will be like that,” I added hastily, and I hoped she could hear how much I meant it. “I mean, he’s made that whole stupid schedule for when you guys can see each other. I’m sorry, I don’t mean it’s stupid. It’s not. It’s really sweet. I just mean…”
Oh God, this was why I’d mostly just stuck to hanging out with the guys for so long. I was the worst at this kind of stuff. I tried again, being as emphatic as I could. “Lee’s devoted to you. He’s made that whole schedule to figure out when you’ll be able to see each other around the holidays and stuff. And you guys are smarter than me and Noah. You’ll figure it out.”
“But that’s just it,” she whispered desperately, eyes filling up, and oh crap, what had I said now? “You and Noah are like…You have all this passion. It’s crazy how intense you two are. I can’t stand to be in the same room when you two are looking at each other sometimes. And Lee and I aren’t like that. So it just makes me worry, knowing how hard you two found it, and let’s face it, if you hadn’t had Lee, there’s no way you would’ve seen Noah at Thanksgiving and ended up clearing the air and getting back together. But I don’t have that.”
I thought for a moment, trying to choose my words carefully.
Because honestly, as scared as I had been about the whole long-distance thing with Noah, I had never even thought to be concerned for Lee and Rachel’s relationship.
“You’re right. You’re not like me and Noah. You guys are smooth and steady. You’re probably way better at communicating than we are, and you don’t bicker over things all the time like we do, so it’s probably gonna be so much easier for you guys to air what you’re actually feeling and if you’re missing each other or finding it hard. And, no, you don’t have a Lee to be a bridge between you guys, but you’ve got me. I know you probably feel like you got lumped with me because of Lee and that we’re, like, a package deal, but I…I’d like to believe we’re friends without him, Rach. I’d like to think of you as my friend.”