13

I successfully avoided Everly until Wednesday. I kept my door closed and dodged her invitations to hang out. It was hard avoiding my best friend for four days, but it gave me some clarity I needed.

Everly is my lifelong best friend.

Sabrina is a new part of her life.

I know and trust Everly enough to understand that she would never let someone come between us.

I need to tell her about Tyler.

After I was done with classes, I sent her a text.

Me: Meet me at The Roasted Bean?

She responded almost immediately.

Everly: YES

Everly: I can be there in twenty minutes

I ordered each of us a strawberry lemonade and was waiting at a table when she walked in.

"What happened?" she asked, sliding into the seat across from me and taking a long sip. Her black and purple hair fell over her shoulder and fanned onto the table.

"I just…I had to think about some things."

"You're upset because I left to hang out with Sabrina," she said, picking at the label on her cup.

"I was. But, I'm the one that told you to answer her call, and to leave. Did you talk to her?"

"I did. Just…give her a chance, okay? We're trying to figure some things out. Speaking of which," she moved her cup and leaned close to me. "Tell me about Tyler."

"I went to the shelter last Monday to volunteer with the dogs and I ran into Luisa there. Oh, I was supposed to see if she wanted to meet up on Monday."

I'll have to ask her about next week.

Everly snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Lexi. Focus. Tyler?"

"He was at the shelter. Playing guitar for the dogs."

"Oh, swoon," she put her hand on her forehead and pretended to faint.

"Stop it," I said, but I couldn't keep the smile from creeping onto my face. I tried to hide it by drinking my lemonade, but she saw right through it.

"I still think you're going to be more to him than just some girl in his History class," Everly swirled her cup, trying to break up the ice.

"Yeah, maybe. I invited him to sleep on my futon when his roommate's girlfriend spends the night in his room."

Her jaw fell open. "You did what? Has he come over yet? When do I get to meet him?"

I shrugged, causing Everly to narrow her eyes at me. "No he hasn't spent the night yet. When he does, I'll introduce you." I looked at the time on my phone.

"What are you doing after this? Do you want to finish the scavenger hunt?"

She took one last slurp of her lemonade and stood. "Yes. Let's finish it right now."