Easier to simply say yes.
So that’s exactly what she did.
“Oh my god, thank you,” Adri said as soon as the “Okay” was out of Stevie’s mouth. She leaped out of her chair, nearly knocking over her mug, and launched across the table to gather Stevie into a hug.
And Stevie found herself sort of . . . melting into the embrace. Adri still smelled the same—the rainwater lotion she used, cinnamon from her toothpaste—and the smoothness of her cheek against Stevie’s was almost too much. Stevie very nearly nuzzled her, for god’s sake, and it wasn’t because she was still in love with her ex.
She simply hadn’t been touched in so long. Ren wasn’t much of a hugger. Their comfort usually came in the form a slap on the back, along with an admonition to suck it up. And while Stevie had told Adri and Vanessa she was one hundred percent fine with their blessed union—she was, goddammit—she hadn’t really touched either of them since they started dating. She hadn’t touched anyone, and now, with Adri’s cinnamony breath in her ear, her skin sort of . . . woke up.
She turned her head, just a little, ready to give in to the urge to press closer. She just needed—
“Hey, hi, wow, what’s going on here?”
At the sound of Ren’s voice, Adri pulled back, laughing awkwardly even as she held on to Stevie’s hand. Stevie blinked the café back into focus, winced as Ren glared down at her.
“Stevie here has agreed to be my Benedick,” Adri said, totally oblivious to Ren’s dagger eyes.
“Has she now?” Ren said, their voice dripping with sarcasm.
The glaring continued.
Adri, however, remained clueless. She gathered her things together, tossing the copy of Much Ado into Stevie’s space. “I need to get going.” She stood and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Stevie, auditions for the other roles start next week. Let’s get together soon and talk about some logistics?”
“Yeah,” Stevie said, still slightly dazed. “Okay.”
“I’ll text you,” Adri said, then headed for the door. As soon she stepped outside, she nodded and said something to someone off to the left. Suddenly, Vanessa appeared, launching herself into Adri’s arms. The two kissed, linked arms, and disappeared down the street, Adri gesticulating wildly in that way she did when she was excited.
Guess Vanessa didn’t need to get back to campus all that soon after all.
“Holy shit, did you just get played,” Ren said, falling into Adri’s now-empty chair, lifting their drink to their mouth.
Stevie turned back to look at her friend. “You heard all that, did you?”
“Oh, I did. Hearing like a bat,” Ren said, gesturing to their ears, which were loaded with tiny studs and hoops.
Stevie sighed. “It’s not like I have anything better to do right now.”
“You keep telling yourself that.”
“It’s a play,” Stevie said. “It’s exposure.”
“Same town, same stage. What’s it been? Ten years?”
Stevie shook her head. She and Ren had had this conversation many times—Ren wanted Stevie to branch out, move to a bigger theater city. Stevie was terrified to do so. Etcetera, etcetera.
“Okay,” Ren said, waving a hand, short nails painted black as always. “Fine. You’re doing the play. Save the Empress. Great. None of us want it to go under. What I’m more concerned with is . . . what the fuck was that? A cuddle? A snuggle?”
Stevie groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “I know. It was bad.” She looked up abruptly. “Did Adri notice? Do you think she could tell?”
Ren winced. “I mean . . . I could see her face and she didn’t look like she was ready to nuzzle back, I’ll say that.”
“Shit,” Stevie said. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“It’s fine,” Ren said. “She was too distracted by roping you into yet another career-stalling role to be too concerned.”
“That’s not what she’s doing.”
“I know she doesn’t mean to do it, but it’s still what she’s doing.”
Stevie rubbed her forehead. “I’m just a little lonely. Like for physical stuff.”
“You mean horny.”
Stevie blushed. “Call it whatever you want, but that’s all this is. I haven’t been out with anyone since Adri and I—”
“Hold up.” Ren presented a hand. “No one?”
“You know I haven’t, Ren.”
“I mean, yeah, I know you haven’t dated anyone, but I didn’t realize you hadn’t even, like, had a dating app hookup or anything.”
Stevie gave them a look. “Really? You do know who you’re talking to, right?”
Ren grinned. “Okay, by hookup I mean sharing a nice meal and going for a walk through the park, followed by a cuddle on the couch while watching While You Were Sleeping, possibly concluding with a little French kissing. You know, a Stevie-style hookup.”
Stevie plunged her head back into her hands. “God, I’m fucking pathetic.”
Ren laughed, pulled down Stevie’s hands. “You’re not. You’re just terrible at one-night stands. There are worse things to be.”
Stevie nodded. Ren was right. She was awful at one-night stands, but she wanted to be different, even if just once, to prove that she could. That she wasn’t the friend left behind sniffing her ex’s neck at the first sign of physical affection. That she could meet a stranger she liked, talk to them without embarrassing herself, kiss them, fuck them, and say goodbye. She liked sex. A lot. That was never the problem. It was building up to that point with someone she barely knew that she could never handle.
But she wanted to.
“Okay, so help me,” she said.
Ren lifted a perfectly sculpted brow. “Help you do what?”
“Have a one-night stand.”
Ren’s eyes widened. “I’m not exactly an expert.”
This was true. Ren had certainly had their share of hookups, but they preferred an actual dating relationship as opposed to fevered one timers.
“Yeah, but you know how to talk to strangers,” Stevie said. “Charm them. How to act like a person who knows how sex works.”
Ren laughed. “Okay, well, when two people like each other, sometimes, they’ll take off their clothes and—”
Stevie threw an empty straw wrapper at them. “You know what I mean. Come on, even my therapist thinks I need to do this,” she said.
“Keisha told you to go have a random hookup?”
“Not in so many words. She said I should take a friend with me and ask someone out in a bar. To, you know, get more comfortable in that atmosphere.”
Ren’s brows popped at that. “How long ago did she issue that prescription?”
Stevie winced. “Four months?”
“Jesus.” Ren sighed, looking at Stevie through narrowed eyes. “All right. I’ll help you. But let’s do it tonight before you lose your nerve. Knowing you, you’ll get a good night’s sleep and come to your senses.”
Stevie nodded, nerves sparkling through her belly. “Okay. Fine. Tonight.”