He smiled sheepishly. “Fair point.”
“So yeah, aside from my vibrator’s premature death, things are good.”
“You should’ve invited her,” Brendon said. “Tonight. That would’ve been fun.”
Everyone nodded.
Margot let herself imagine what it would be like if she were to bring Olivia along to a game night. They might have even numbers for a change. Margot’s eyes swept the room, lingering on Annie’s head propped against Brendon’s shoulder and Darcy’s hand resting on Elle’s thigh, the way they seemed to naturally gravitate toward one another without even thinking about it.
She sucked in a shaky breath. Even numbers might be nice.
“Maybe next time.”
Margot shifted, crossing her legs the other way, frowning when something poked her in the hip. She leaned back, wiggled her hand inside the pocket of her jeans, the tips of her fingers brushing up against—what was that? Folded paper? Odd. She didn’t remember leaving anything in her pockets, and she’d just washed these jeans yesterday.
The paper gave, slipping free. In Margot’s hand was a folded rectangle of notebook paper, the kind torn free from a composition notebook, blue lines bisecting the page. It had been folded meticulously, with care, the creases clean, the flap tucked just so, a perfect miniature envelope. Margot flipped it over. A heart, drawn in pink gel pen, adorned the front. There was no name, not that it needed one. There was no doubt who it was from.
Careful not to rip the paper, Margot unfolded the tiny origami envelope by pulling on the tucked flap. The paper gave easily, opening in her hand.
Have a great day ?
The way her lips curved in a replica of the smiley doodled on the paper was completely involuntary.
Margot hadn’t done laundry yesterday. Olivia had, and she’d left Margot a note, the exact kind they’d stealthily passed each other during class.
Suddenly warm, Margot folded the paper back up, returning it to her pocket the way she’d found it. When she lifted her head, Elle was staring at her, head cocked to the side curiously. Margot shook her head and mouthed, “nothing,” even though it felt like something. Something she didn’t understand. Something she didn’t want to try to explain.
She turned her attention to the TV. The movie they’d had playing in the background had ended, the Netflix home screen auto-playing a preview of a movie she hadn’t seen.
“What do you guys want to put on next?”
Annie yawned. “I think I’ve got to call it a night, guys.”
Margot double-checked the time. “It’s not even eleven.”
And they hadn’t ever gotten to charades like Elle had promised.
Darcy stood, stretching her arms over her head. “Annie’s right. I’m beat and we’ve got to wake up early.”
Elle groaned. “Five a.m.”
“What in God’s name do you have to get up at five for?” Margot asked.
She was pretty sure, in all their years of friendship, that she’d never seen Elle awake at seven, not unless she’d pulled an all-nighter.
“Yoga class,” Annie said, gathering the glasses from the table.
“Oh.” Margot nodded slowly. “You guys are taking a yoga class. Together.”
Without her.
Elle frowned. “We’d have invited you, but you hate yoga.”
“I never said I hated yoga.”
“You said the class I took you to wasn’t for you,” Darcy said.
True. Darcy had dragged Margot to a Slow Flow yoga class, and the instructor had gone on and on about focusing on her flow and quieting her mind, and all Margot had been able to think about was how she wasn’t supposed to be thinking, chastising herself for thinking about thinking, wash, rise, repeat.
“Well, okay. Maybe I said that.” Margot stood. “But you still could’ve asked.”
One of Darcy’s brows rose. “Even though you’d have said no?”
Margot crossed her arms. “Okay, when you put it like that, it sounds stupid.”
She just wanted to be included. If she was going to opt out, she wanted it to be on her terms. Was that really so much to ask?
Elle smiled softly. “We’ll definitely invite you next time.”
“Thank you.” Margot turned and nudged Brendon with her elbow. “Want to go climbing tomorrow?”
Brendon ran his fingers through his hair and winced. “Uh, I would, but see—”
“It’s a couples’ yoga class,” Annie said, biting her lip.