“So, just how long have you and Craig been sleeping together?”
My grip slips and I thud against the rocky surface with an audible oomph, wholly dependent on Maren to steady me and my harness before I find my handhold and footing again.
I make a grab for another hold and pull myself up before answering. “We aren’t sleeping together.”
“Maybe not right this second, no, but you are definitely sleeping together.”
“Okay,” I concede with a soft huff, straightening and letting my one hand loose and shaking it out. “Allow me to rephrase. We are no longer sleeping together.” And because I know she won’t let up until I tell her every detail, and because I need to tell someone, I signal that I’m going to belay down. Jumping down the cliff’s surface in long, careful leaps, I’m back on the hard ground within seconds.
“It’s always so unfair how it takes such an enormous amount of time getting up the cliff and only seconds to get back down. The fun, easy part should last longer.”
“I feel like there’s a metaphor in there somewhere,” Maren says, her expression shrewd.
I snort. “Probably. It’s probably one of those obnoxious ones that’s supposed to teach a lesson. Let’s not try to figure it out today, hmm?” I walk over to where our packs are sitting in a pile near several stacked boulders and pull out a couple of granola bars, offering one to Maren and twisting the cap off my water.
We drink and snack in silence for a few minutes, idly watching a couple of other climbers ascend a far more dangerous route farther away on the cliff. Maren doesn’t ask me her question again. It’s not as though I’ve forgotten it. She knows I’ll share in my own time. Finally I sigh and settle on the top of a boulder, gesturing for her to join me, and lean back on my hands, letting the sun freckle and warm my skin.
“Short story short, we decided, consensually, to try that precarious friends-with-benefits situation I mentioned weeks ago, because we suspected—well, okay we knew from some experience that things between us can be very, very good. And it was exceptional. Like.” I fan myself and I’m not even being dramatic. I legit feel sweat slip between my breasts. Sure, I’ve been climbing a mountain in the midday sun, but this sweat is all Huck.
“A lot of sex, Mare. Sex in our apartment, in his office, on his motorcycle…”
“Okay, we’ll circle back to the logistics of that, because I am definitely curious.”
I grin, and I am one thousand percent sure it’s straight-up dopey. “And then, I don’t know, I blew it, but I’m not exactly sure how. Jennifer had me do that apology tour and the final interview basically exploded in my face and my name became this cussword in country music all fucking over again and I was just trying to protect Huck, you know? He has this brand-new business and he’s so talented at what he does. He deserves success and, you know, all the good things that come with that. The studio should be everything to him. He doesn’t need an association with me to mess it up.”
Maren’s brows pull together in a tiny crease. “Did he say that?”
“No, but come on, Huck would never. He’s too nice. And that was my point! He lets people take advantage of him and his good nature time and again, and I wasn’t about to be one of those people.”
“So, let me see if I understand this. You think having sex with Craig was taking advantage of him?”
“No!” I practically shout, scaring a couple of birds before lowering my voice to a more reasonable level. “Okay. The sex was a separate thing. I haven’t gotten to that part yet. I told him we shouldn’t be seen in public or at his studio together because he would be tainted by association. I’m protecting the asshole. But he got all pissy about it, saying he wasn’t Drake and I should know he wouldn’t care about that, which again proves my point. But anyway, then he said that he couldn’t keep sleeping with me because he can’t do casual anymore.”
“So then you aren’t working together anymore?”
I sigh and brush my fingers together, clearing them of dirt. “No. Obviously we’re still working together. He insisted on that part, actually. He was like, ‘You better be in the studio in the morning,’ so I was. Well, eventually. First I got glutened. But anyway, after that, you know what happened from there…”
“The duet goes number one.”
I nod, still feeling the flip in my belly at the thought.
“So, objectively speaking, being associated with you professionally did not ruin his business at all.”
I press my lips together and nod again.
“All right. And just to recap, you said he should stop being seen with you professionally and he refused （again, thankfully）， but then he said you should stop sleeping together, instead.”
“Yeah.”
“So he reinstated the original boundaries.”
“Apparently.”
“But the sex was good.”
“It was out of this world.”
“Lorelai.” Maren’s face is pinched, though she still manages to look pretty. “He’s in love with you, you idiot.”
“He’s not. He’s Craig!”
“That’s his name, not his feelings. And furthermore, you’re in love with him.”
“God, Maren, I’m a mess. Admittedly this week was amazing and the duet is doing well, but personally I’m still a shit show in this town.”
“That’s your status, but again, not your feelings.” Maren’s soft grin is maidenly triumphant. “Face it, Jones, you’ve been in love with Craig for a long while now. You just confused it with lust.”
“Oh, I definitely lust…”
Maren rolls her eyes and crumples her wrapper between her fingers, tucking it in her bag to toss later. Ever the park ranger.
“Look, as far as I can tell, as a very much nonexpert in relationships, people in love turn into idiots for each other. So because you love Craig, you are concerned about his career on his behalf.”
I frown to myself. That makes some sense. I mean. Of course I love Huck. Of course I care about him. But am I in love with him?
My heart lurches in my chest at the very thought, as if to say: YES, BITCH, OBVIOUSLY.
Maren is plowing along. “And because he loves you, he refuses to abandon you just because of some deejay assholes, which by the way, Shelby, Cameron, and I fully support him in that. And he can’t stand the thought of casual sex instead of a relationship.”
“You’re saying he loves me and wants a real relationship.”
“I’m saying you love each other and you deserve a real relationship.”
“Well.”
Maren narrows her eyes, her head tilting to the side and her ponytail swinging over her bare shoulder. “You really are surprised by this, aren’t you?”
I can feel my face get hot under her scrutiny. “Well, yeah.”
“Fucking Drake Colter. I’m sorry, but I wish I had been around back then, because I would have kicked him in the ball sac and ruined his singing career. Drake is one guy. He was the wrong guy, but that wasn’t your fault.”
“I know that,” I insist, feeling annoyed. “Deep down, I do. I’m working through it.”