#3 Truth and Kisses by Laurie Friedman Page B

Things aren’t normal at all!
    10:32 p.m.
    Sophie just called, and I thought maybe it was because she has some kind of Zen ESP thing and could sense that I needed to talk, but that wasn’t it. “If you had to choose between cinnamon or sage, which color would you pick?”
    â€œAren’t those spices?”
    â€œIrrelevant,” said Sophie. “It’s for a project I’m working on. Don’t think, just pick.”
    â€œCinnamon,” I said.
    Sophie exhaled like I’d given her the answer she was looking for. “So, how are you?” she asked. I gave a rundown of everything that’s happened since the last time we talked. I told her about Billy calling and saying, “I miss this,” and Brynn seeing me with Matt and possibly telling Billy, and hanging out at Matt’s, and then about Brynn asking me to go shopping. “How do I know she’d not going to convince me to buy a dress that looks terrible on me?”
    â€œWow,” she said when I finished. “One thing at a time. First, I thought you were going to tell Billy how you feel.”
    I groaned into the phone. “I was going to. But I can’t now. I don’t know what Brynn told him, so I don’t know how he feels about me. I don’t want to tell him I like him and then have him say he doesn’t like me.”
    Sophie made an ehhh sound, like she didn’t quite agree with my reasoning. “OK, what about Brynn? Why don’t you tell her when you go shopping that you still like Billy and that it bothers you that you think she likes Billy, and you don’t like how it’s affecting your friendship.”
    â€œI can’t.”
    â€œWhy not?” asked Sophie.
    â€œWhat would I say? He was my boyfriend first, and I don’t like that you gave him a nice gift and that you’re writing an article about him so you can spend time with him?”
    â€œSomething like that,” said Sophie.
    â€œBrynn and I are best friends. We should be able to talk about anything, but we can’t.”
    I waited for Sophie to agree. I thought she was going to say something prophetic about how friendships change and it’s hard when they do, but she didn’t.
    â€œWhy don’t you acknowledge how you really feel?” Sophie spoke slowly and quietly, like she wanted to make sure her words sank in. “I think you should admit that you don’t want Brynn to have Billy, but you don’t really want him for yourself. Maybe you want him to always be there for you, but I think the one you want to be with is Matt.”
    â€œNo!” I’d just told Sophie how upset I was about Brynn possibly telling Billy she saw me with Matt and how that messes up all my plans (not that I had any good ones) to get back together with Billy. “I don’t get why you would say that,” I said to Sophie.
    She laughed into the phone like I was the one who wasn’t getting it. “Because it’s the truth.”

I’m the girl who—I call it girl-next-door-itis—the hot guy is friends with … but never considers dating.
    â€”Taylor Swift
    Saturday, February 8, 6:45 p.m.
    Brynn and I went to the mall this morning. When we first got there, I wasn’t sure how the day was going to turn out. Brynn was totally focused on finding her dress first. Once we did, she wanted to look for shoes to go with it. We went into three different stores before she finally settled on a pair of black wedges. But after that, she was totally into helping me. “April, check this out,” she said when we went into a small boutique with cool stuff. She was holding up a pink beaded mini dress. “It’s super cute, your size, and on sale.”
    When she showed it to me, the first thing I thought was that it might be too glam. The dress she’d just gotten was all black and much simpler. The thought that Brynn wouldn’t give me good fashion advice flashed