So it goes [Breakable Heaven #1]

10. Stamp of approval

"So you're saying you spent all the free time you had in Madrid with Rory? Like, voluntarily? And she came with you to a lesbian bar to keep you company while you drowned your Lilian-induced sorrow in beer?" Jean asks me with the incredulous tone of voice of someone who has just been told that scientists have confirmed the Earth is flat, and I just mumble in confirmation. I can't really talk, as I'm applying eyeliner on my lid, and one word would make me mess it up. I'm actually really good at makeup, but eyeliner is a bitch, and no matter how hard I try or how long I practice, I always struggle with it. When I say that I can't do anything straight, people always laugh and assume I'm referring to my sexuality, but it's not entirely true. I can't draw a straight line to save my life, and that obviously applies to eyeliner as well.

"And you had - and I quote you - a pretty pleasant evening. With Rory," she continues, and probably coming from everyone else this repetition of everything I have just told her would irritate me to no end, but Jean is Jean, and she just makes me giggle.

"Yup."

I critically stare at my freshly made lines. They're so not matching. Dammit!

"I cannot believe it."

"She was just being nice in a moment when I needed a friend and you weren't there," I dismiss what happened. For some reason, I like to keep everything Rory and I shared those two nights we spent in Madrid to myself. It might have something to do with Jean's animosity toward my new friend.

"That statement about Rory coming from your mouth will never cease to shock me," Jean shakes her head and leans closer to the mirror to apply her lipstick.

"You should get to know her better, you would be surprised," I suggest. Since I was a child, I've never really felt comfortable in situations where two of my friends didn't get along, and now that I'm starting to consider Rory as such, I would love for her and my best friend to be at least civil with each other.

She snorts. "Yeah, I think I'll pass, if that's ok with you. But I'm glad you had a pleasant time, considering what day it was. How are you feeling now?"

"Eh," I sigh. "I'm not fine, if that's what you're asking, but I think I'm ok. Or I will be. But at least I got through that day and I went to bed without any unwanted thoughts. The power of beer, you know."

"Or the power of Rory," she teases me and I stick out my tongue to her as I leave the bathroom to go to my room to put on some clothes, not wanting to admit that, somehow, she might actually be right.

As soon as she's done with her lipstick she joins me and sits on the bed while I get dressed. It takes me a really long time to do my makeup, but once I'm done with that I can be ready in five minutes.

We're going out for dinner with Nataniel, the guy Jean met on the plane when she came back to Seville at the end of August, and who she has been casually dating ever since. It's the first time I meet him, and I'm pretty curious to finally get to know the person responsible for making Jean smile the way she recently has.

"I'm a little nervous," my friend confesses while I put on my shoes.

I turn around to face her. "Why?"

She shrugs. "Well, I'm introducing you to this guy who I really like, and it might even become serious... you know how important your stamp of approval is to me."

"Are you gonna break up with him if I don't like him?"

"Of course not. But you know how I get when I really like someone: I can't really see the whole picture, I focus only on the things that I like, and I don't know, maybe I'm just worried that you, from the outside, might see something that I'm missing, something bad, or fishy."

"Look, J, the dude makes you happy, and that's enough for me to like him already. Besides, you're not a bad judge of character, so I highly doubt you're missing something so huge that I would immediately spot just because you're into him."

"Right," she nods. "I'm a good judge of character. Except for Rory, obviously, since apparently she's the nicest person ever now."

I roll my eyes and decide to ignore the teasing. There's no point in arguing in Rory's favor with Jean. I do want them to be on better terms with each other, but I can recognize a lost cause when I see it.

"I just want you to like him," she adds. "It's important to me that you like him."

"I know. And I'm sure I will."

I get her point of view. Jean and I have been like sisters for these past two years, and we're such a fundamental part of each other's life. We always say that we're the only family we have in this part of the world, so it's pretty understandable that she's a little scared of this dinner. It's like taking a boyfriend to meet the parents. I would be nervous too, if I were the one introducing my new significant other to her. Luckily, I am not planning on dating anyone anytime soon.

At the end of the evening, when we return home, we laugh at how unnecessarily anxious she had been. Nataniel is a really great guy - handsome, smart, funny, he is a nurse who spends his life taking care of other people, and he looks at Jean like the sun rises and sets in her eyes. What more could I want for my best friend?