Jack took a deep breath then huffed. “Sorryabout the whole thing.”
I tried not to, but I smiled, and thenbrought both of my brothers in for a ridiculous ‘Brady-Bunch style’hug. “Okay, you guys. We need to talk.”
They both pulled back, and we startedtalking about what they could do to help me pull off amini-celebration engagement party for my friends.
***
When Alexis and Todd finally got in fromwork, we, my family and I, were all hiding in the kitchen. When thedoor opened, I jumped out and flicked the light on, scaring Alexisto death.
“What the fu…”
My mom cleared her throat, and we allstarted laughing.
“Surprise!” I yelled.
Todd started laughing, and looked at Alexiswith that signature deer-caught-in-the-headlights-look.
“You didn’t forget her birthday, Todd,” Isaid, and both my brothers laughed.
Todd sighed. “Our anniversary?”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “No, you moron, thatwas a few months ago. You bought me the…well you know,” she said,and for the first time in my life it looked as though Alexis wasembarrassed.
I laughed. “What was that?” I joked.
“Never mind,” both Alexis and Todd answeredat once.
“Happy Engagement party!” I yelled. Momstarted laughing, and the twins came and handed Todd a beer apiece.
“Nice,” Todd said, and looked at the twins.“So, you are?”
“Ah, these are my brothers, Seth and Jack.Seth’s the one with the stubble, and Jack has the bruised jaw. Sethjust punched him.”
Mom’s eyes widened. “What happened?”
I looked at Mom and she, in turn, looked atJack. “You didn’t tell him?”
Seth put his hands up once more and shookhis head. “I seriously can’t believe you all kept it from me.”
“What happened?” Mom asked.
Seth sighed. “Cassie told me she couldn’tget married. I asked her why.”
I looked at Todd and Alexis. “Sorry,” Isaid, wincing.
Todd smiled. “It’s life. Look, Keri, I’mused to divorce and all that. My parents, remember? What I havewith Alexis is… perfect.”
Alexis smiled and grabbed Todd’s hand. “He’sright, and I couldn’t agree more.” Alexis leaned in and kissed Toddon the lips.
“When are you two going to get married?” Iasked, feeling happy for them.
“Not for another three years. I promised myparents that we’d graduate first.”
Todd looked at me and opened his beer. “Ipromised mine the same.”
I smiled. “I’m so happy for you guys. Ireally think you’re going to make it.”
Alexis grinned and let go of Todd’s hand andgave me a hug, then whispered in my ear, “And I think you andPayton will, too.”
I turned my head and whispered into hers.“We had sex.”
Alexis shot back, her eyes were wide.“Bedroom, you, me, now!”
Everyone just then looked at us, and Ishrugged. “Girl talk.”
Mom looked at me oddly, but didn’t sayanything. Todd just continued drinking his beer, pretending thatnothing was wrong with the whole picture of him not beingtwenty-one and all.
As soon as we got into the bedroom,Alexis squealed. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” I said, and nodded. I could feel theheat invade my skin, and I was embarrassed.
“When?”
“A week ago.”
Alexis’s eyes widened. “You’rekidding?!”
I shook my head. “Nope. You guys had alreadygone inside—it was after we got the posts set.”
“Are you kidding? Damn, Keri, we have theentire base built already. When were you planning on tellingme?”
“I wasn’t,” I said and winced. “It’s notthat I didn’t want to tell you, I did. It’s just…it wasn’t exactlysomething to brag about.”
Alexis laughed. “Oh, honey, I know the firsttime sucks, but the next time is way better. And guys, well theysuck the first time, it’s like they just explode, and it’s awkward.You have to let him give it another go.”
I laughed. If only it were that easy. “We’renot, uh, seeing each other.”
“I’m not following.”
“Well, it’s just. He has a girlfriend.”
Alexis let that fact roll around in herbrain for a little bit, then she looked as if she’d go and findPayton herself and bit the crap out of him. “What do you mean heSTILL has a girlfriend.”
I swallowed. It did sound bad. “Well, he wasstill dating her when we, you know?”
“Well then he should have broken up withher, Keri.”
“I know that, and you know that, but hedoesn’t quite know that, and it wasn’t that easy of a situation. Itjust sort of happened?”
Keri didn’t look fooled. “Seriously? I can’tbelieve you just said that. What did you fall on it?”
I laughed. “No.”
“Then how did he put part a in slot b?”
I snorted and swatted at Alexis. If I didn’tlaugh, I’d cry. “You’re crazy.”
“So are you. How do you feel?”
“I mean, I feel different, I guess.” Ididn’t want to mention that I thought about Payton nearly 24/7 now.If I’d thought it was bad before, I had another think coming. “Inever knew how much…”
“Yeah, you’re thinking about him constantlynow, aren’t you?”
I nodded. This was the right thing to do, totalk to Alexis. “I’m so glad you’re here. I really needed to talkto someone.”
Alexis grabbed my hand and we sat there andtalked. Just talked about boys as if we were two normal girlshaving a perfectly normal conversation about boys and the greatloves of our lives. But it wasn’t like that.
I was in love with a guy that had agirlfriend.
I slept with a guy that already had someonein his life.
“This sucks,” I said, and really meant it. Astray tear slipped from the corner of my eye and traveled down mycheek. “What am I going to do?”
“Do you still love him?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“Do you want to fight for him?” she asked,and I was glad that she did. I hadn’t given it much thought overthe last week. I nodded.
“I do.”
“Then we’re going to finish that damn treehouse.”
I smiled at Alexis and leaned in to her andgave her a hug. We sat there for a few minutes and I thanked Godfor her, and for our friendship. We had something special. “Thanksso much, Alexis. Thanks for coming out here and helping me. Thanksfor making me feel better.”
“You’re going to make me cry,” Alexis said,and then pulled back. “You’re my best friend, Keri. We’ve gotthis.”
I nodded. She was right. We did.
“So, what do we do next?”
“You call him.”
My eyes widened. “I’m not sure that’s theright move.”
“It is. You need to call him, and Todd and Iwill
