The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(12)

I coughed a few more times but managed to swallow the piece of chicken. My eyes watered. “Wrong pipe,” I said, taking the bottle.

Lala watched me drink. “Thank God! I haven’t done the Heimlich since eighth-grade gym class. I’m not even sure I remember how.”

It took another minute to stop the burn in my throat, but at least I could breathe.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have asked such a personal question.”

“No, it’s fine. I never want you to feel like you can’t ask me something.” Though I had no idea what the answer to her question was. How many women did I sleep with in a month? It wasn’t like I kept count, but whatever number I gave her was going to make her think I was a manwhore. “I guess the number varies. Sometimes it’s none and sometimes I go out a few times.”

“Do you…bring someone home every time you go out?”

Fuck. I was making this worse. “Not always, no.” Because there was that one time four months ago that I wasn’t feeling so good and left the bar early alone.

She shook her head and held her hands up. “I didn’t mean to intrude or offend you by asking.”

I shrugged. “It’s fine.”

She stared at me for a few seconds. “I bet you’re really good at it then…”

My brows shot up.

Lala covered her mouth. Pink bloomed in her cheeks. “Oh my God. I can’t believe I just said that. It’s just that…you know, practice makes perfect.”

I smiled. “I love that you still turn red when you’re embarrassed, like you did when you were a kid. You didn’t outgrow that.”

“Yeah well, obviously I haven’t outgrown saying embarrassing stuff, either. I’m sorry for being so inappropriate. I’m not sure what came over me.”

“It’s fine.”

Lala finished unpacking the last box, and I broke it down. We were done now, but I wasn’t ready to call it a night. “You up for a glass of wine? I have white and red next door.”

Lala hesitated, but then smiled. “Sure. That would be great.”

“Red or white?”

“White.”

I nodded. “I’m just going to take these boxes down to the dumpster, and then I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

After I ran downstairs, I went back to my apartment and grabbed a bottle of pinot grigio and two glasses. But rather than go next door, I opened the window in my kitchen and climbed out onto the fire escape.

“Hey, Lala!” I leaned toward her apartment window a few feet away and yelled. When she didn’t come, I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Hey, Ellison! Open the window!”

A few seconds later, she lifted the window in her apartment and stuck her head out. “I couldn’t figure out where you were yelling from.”

I waved to her. “Climb out on your fire escape.”

She looked down. “Is it safe?”

“Safer than sitting on the roof of your parents’ house when everyone else was sleeping like we did when we were kids.”

Lala smiled and climbed out. There was only about a foot between my fire escape and hers. I poured two glasses of wine and slipped her one through the metal balusters.

She took it and looked up at the sky. “God, I used to climb out on that roof all the time to study the stars.”

“I know. I used to join you whenever I slept over and Ryan would fall asleep before me. You always had your astronomy textbook and a bunch of colored pens with you.”

She sipped her wine. “I liked to write down the stars I could identify and color code them based on the constellations they belonged to.”

“Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, Orion, Canis Major, Centaurus Crux, and Carina,” I said. “Your favorite was Carina. At one point, you wanted to change your name to Carina.”

Lala looked over at me. “I can’t believe you still remember that.”

“I remember a lot about those nights we used to talk…” I probably should’ve stopped there, since I’d already taken this conversation further than I should’ve, but I’d always had boundary issues. “You know, you were the first girl I ever felt like I could be myself with when we were out there on the roof. Like, I would tell you dumb shit I dreamed of doing someday, and you never made me feel stupid. You always listened and made me feel like anything was possible.”

Lala nodded. “Do you think Ryan knew we used to sneak out and talk like that?”

“Definitely not,” I said. “He would’ve kicked my ass for it.”

“Why? We were just two friends talking.”

“First of all, I was letting his little sister sit on the roof, when I should’ve dragged your ass back inside the house where it was safe. And second of all, Ryan knew me well. My intentions always started good with a pretty girl, but they didn’t always end so well.”

“You…thought I was pretty?”

“Of course I did. Any guy with one eyeball did.”

Lala looked into her wine glass with a shy smile. “I thought you were kinda hot, too.”

I grinned. “I know.”

Her eyes widened. “What do you mean, you know?”

“I used to notice the way you’d check me out, like when I got out of your pool and stuff. Sometimes you’d do it from your bedroom window when you thought no one could see you.”