“But I brought your favorite pie – Key Lime.” I can practically see her pout from here. “And some movies with tons of action, killing bad guys, all that gory type shit you like. I even think a chick gets blown up in one, or at the very least she gets her ass kicked.”
I twist my neck to look at her. “Watching a chick get her ass kicked? That’s how you intend on cheering me up?”
“Hey, I’m no expert. I’m just doing what my best friend did for me a few years ago when my heart got ripped in two.”
I roll onto my back and look at her, remembering how I sat in Beth’s room with her for a day and a half straight after that bitch Monica Teller had broken her heart.
Beth was crazy about her—kind of how I am for Mia.
And that bitch Monica told Beth she was in it with her too, wanted to be with her, but when it came down to it, she was too chicken shit to tell her religious folks that she was a lesbian, so she dumped Beth and married the douche they wanted her to marry.
Beth cried for a week straight after Monica got married.
And now she’s here, trying to help me like I did for her.
I feel a pang in my chest for my best friend. Sitting up, I take her face in my hands and kiss her forehead. “Thanks, Beth.”
“Eww! At least use mouthwash or something before you kiss me. I could catch cooties from that days old breath!”
I chuckle, climbing from the bed and turn my iPod off, silencing Damien Rice.
“Get the bitch ass-kicking movie ready while I take a shower.” Reaching the bathroom door, I pull my t-shirt off and toss it in the laundry basket.
“Beth?”
“Hmm.”
“You know how much you mean to me, right? That you’re not just my best friend, you’re like my sister?”
She glances at me, smiling. “Are you getting all emotional on me, Matthews?”
I shrug. “Maybe. A little. I just wanted you to know that I love you is all.” I close the door on her shocked expression.
Beth knows I love her, I’ve just never told her before now. It felt good to say, and kind of awesome to see the happy it put on her face.
I make a mental note to tell her more often from here on now.
I guess I have Mia to thank for opening this up in me. She got me feeling again … maybe more than ever before.
***
“I thought there was no romance in this movie?” I complain, licking the pie off my fingers.
Fuck that was some good pie.
Beth grabs the case, reading over the back. “It said there wasn’t. Just, and I quote, ‘plenty of high action ass-kicking’.
“Well the only ass-kicking going on right now is from her stilettos, digging in his ass while he screws her.”
“I guess maybe sex isn’t classed as romance nowadays.” Beth tosses the case to the floor and tilts her head at an angle, watching the two getting it on, on screen. “Seriously, I’ll never understand a woman who likes cock.”
I let out a laugh. “That’s because you’ve never had it.”
She look across at me grinning. “And I intend on keeping it that way, thank you very much.”
“I wasn’t offering.”
She jabs me in the arm.
“You hit like a girl.”
“I am a girl.” She folds her arms.
I look back to the TV. They’ve finally finished going at it, but now we’re into the post coital bliss where they’re cuddled up in bed.
Fucking excellent. Just what I want to see. A happy couple together.
I grit my teeth, thinking of Mia in my arms. How soft and warm her body felt against mine.
I miss her.
Jesus.
I close my eyes on the ache in my chest.
“This movie sucks,” I grind out.
“The movie does suck, you’re right, but it’s not the movie that’s bothering you.”
I let out a resigned breath. “I miss her.” I open my eyes and turn my head to look at Beth. “Is it f**ked up that I miss her this much after knowing her for such a short time?”
“No. Who’s to determine what’s wrong or right. You feel what you feel. Time is irrelevant in my opinion. And I’m always right, before you have a comeback.”
I can’t muster the energy to find a comeback. And honestly, I think she’s right. Though I’d never tell her that.
I glance back at the TV, drumming my fingers on my thigh.
“Dad thinks I should write Mia a letter,” I say quietly.
Beth sits up, putting herself in my eye line, blocking my view of the TV. “I think that’s a really good idea.”
“And he also said I should send her a mixed CD.”
A grins slides across her face. “Okay, so maybe leave the mixed CD out of it. What would you say in the letter?”
Sliding down the bed so I’m flat on my back, I rest my arm over my eyes. “I don’t know…” I shrug. “I guess I’d tell her that I miss her. That it’s getting harder and harder to breathe without her. For every day she’s gone … every day that I don’t get to see her face or hear her voice, takes me a step closer to insanity.” I hear the break in my voice, and it stops me talking.
I swallow past the pain.
Beth lies down beside me and rests her head on my shoulder.
“I think you should write her a letter saying exactly that.” She sniffles.
“Are you crying?”
“Of course I’m f**king crying! I’m a girl, aren’t I?”