Brain Games

32. Crash Landing

As soon as I see a flash of long caramel hair, I bolt through the airport towards my best friend, my tiny frame allowing me to dodge and weave my way through the crowd.

"Liv!" I cry out, capturing her attention.

"Dee!" she squeals excitedly, and I jump into her arms, wrapping my legs around her waist. I nearly knock her tall, slender frame over, but I don't care, only squeezing her tighter.

A large frame appears behind her, helping to keep her upright as she holds me.

I unbury my face from her neck, tipping my head back to look up at her fiancé over her shoulder. "Hi, Bronx!"

Bronx, Olivia's fiancé, is here in New York for business. He's currently a trainer for a D1 division college football team—the college we all went to for undgrad—and his team is playing in the city this weekend.

"Hey, Dee." Bronx smiles warmly. "Let's try not to break my fiancé, yeah?"

I untangle myself from my best friend, after not seeing her in over a year due to medical school and now residency. We've managed to talk on the phone biweekly with our hectic schedules, but that's just not enough. I've missed my best friend.

"I'm not going to break her," I insist. "She needs the practice for when she has to carry around your giant ass giraffe babies someday."

Bronx is well over six foot with a wide, athletic frame, and while Olivia is slender, she's about five foot nine, so I know they're going to make tall, model babies.

Olivia rolls her eyes while Bronx chuckles.

"Speaking of babies," I say, grabbing Olivia's hand, animatedly swinging our arms back and forth between us as we begin to move with the crowd of big, burly football players going to the bus waiting for them outside, "you two going to start popping those out soon? Because remember, you're required to name your first born after me," I tease, referring to the time Bronx jokingly offered to do so as an apology for not telling me he was proposing to my best friend.

Bronx chuckles again, eyes twinkling as he looks at Olivia with a wolfish grin. "Not anytime too soon, but we're practicing."

Olivia gasps, her cheeks turning pink in embarrassment. "Bronx!" she scolds, swatting his chest with the back of her hand.

His grin only grows, and he captures her hand, kissing the back of it, not letting go.

I can't help smile, wondering how the hell these two ended up together; given they're complete opposites. Bronx is bold and unapologetic while Olivia is more shy and sweet.

Back in undergrad, Bronx was the popular star quarterback and a total player. He was the typical fuck boy that hooked up with a majority of the female population on campus, while Olivia was practically The Virgin Mary. She kept to herself, got good grades, and was the girl-next-door type. They ended up as lab partners our senior year and it was clear Bronx was interested in her. Anyway, one thing lead to another and Bronx finally got his shit together and stopped messing around. He and Olivia have been inseparable ever since.

Olivia glances from our conjoined hands to her and Bronx's, shaking her head. "Why do I need more children when I already have two," she grumbles, exasperated but amused. 

Bronx and I just smile at her and then at each other.

"Alright, baby, I'll see you later," Bronx says, kissing Olivia goodbye as his team files onto the bus. "You girls have fun."

Liv and I jump into a taxi and head to one of the biggest wedding dress shops in New York. I booked an appointment for her to try on dresses months ago, knowing we'd need an appointment for such a place. Liv doesn't plan on buying anything today, all the dresses way out of any sane person's budged, but it'll be fun to play dress up.