Only the Good Die Young

Chapter Thirteen

I haven't told Michelle anything yet. I decide to drive over and give her a surprise visit, since Officer Thomas is working today and Karen has a soft spot for me.

I knock on the door, which gets answered right away. "Hello, Ryleigh. Is Michelle expecting you?" Karen asks. She's standing in the doorway in loose sweatpants and a half-zipped sweater. She steps aside to let me in from the cold.

"No, I just thought I'd swing by and keep her social health from failing," I reply, stomping the snow off of my shoes on the front mat and setting them down next to the other boots.

"Oh, you girls. Of course. John shouldn't get back until seven, so you're welcome to stay for lunch and dinner," Karen offers.

"Maybe lunch, thank you. Happy New Year!" I call on my way upstairs. I speed to Michelle's room, open her door, and jump on her. Michelle's lying in bed, cocooned under her covers. She groans and tries to shove me off. "Morning!"

"Get off," she yells, elbowing my side.

"I have some important news to tell you!"

"It better be."

"So you know how I was at Peter's the other night..."

"What happened." I didn't even sound like a question, more like a command. She must've been up late watching movies, since it's eleven in the morning.

"Well, I may or may not have kissed Peter, may or may not have asked Eric for a break, and may or may not have kissed Peter a few more times."

"Shut up!" Michelle's fully awake now, grinning and punching my arm.

"Ow! And why are you so happy? I thought you wanted Eric and I to be together forever," I reply, laughing with her.

"Because Peter's so lonely and he's obviously head over heels for you. Well, Eric is too, but he's leaving soon. I figured you'd have to break up and you'd be all upset but now you have Peter and Peter has you and you're happy. Good thing I made him godfather."

"Yeah, but Peter and I aren't like 'together' together, we're just friends who discovered that we like to casually kiss each other whenever the hell we want."

"Did Ryleigh just cuss? Ohhhh!" Michelle is still laughing. It feels nice to have her to back me up, instead of siding with Eric and yelling at me for breaking up with him.

"Yeah, I know, this is what it's come to."

"You make it sound like your life is awful because of boys." Michelle is smiling, so I'll guess that she's poking fun.

"Well, it was a lot more simple before them, that's for sure!"

Michelle looks down. "Do you ever wonder what it'd be like without Simon or Peter or Eric?"

"I definitely would still be a lip virgin," I reply, grinning.

"Shut up, no you wouldn't. Some boy at school would ask you out if you weren't taken."

"Technically I'm not taken anymore."

"Yeah, but what if you and Peter start dating? I mean, you can't go around turning boys away, saying you have a boyfriend. Someone'll get suspicious."

"Then I don't date Peter? I don't know if I'd even want to."

"Right. Because you're the only girl I know that would turn dream-boy Peter down."

"Dream-boy?" I ask.

"Yeah. He's got the hair, the badass vibe, and no parents around so he can do whatever he wants. And then he turns out to be a nice guy. The girls in contemporary fiction fall for guys like him. Let's be honest."