Curvy Girls Can’t Date Best Friends by Kelsie Stelting

Twenty-One

Callie

Some time with my girls was in order after the kind of week I’d had. From finding out about Carson’s mom to having Merritt invade my space, I was having trouble finding my footing. We sat around Rory’s studio, using watercolor pencils to make our own creations. Before I broke the news about my relationship, I started by telling them about my new co-worker.

“You're working with who?” Rory demanded, shocked.

I looked away from the mess I had on my own paper. “Voldemort.”

“You might as well be,” Jordan said. “Why is she even interested in working at the animal shelter?”

Zara swallowed the caramel-dipped apple slice she was chewing on. “She's probably going to suck their blood.”

“You know it’s about status,” I told them, running my pencil in an arc over the page. “She’s just doing it to make her family look good.”

Ginger shook her head, just as disgusted by that as I had been. “Are you going to find a different job?”

“I don't know.” I sighed. “Zara, big movie producer. Any need for a semi-talented teenage girl on set?”

She laughed, waving her pencil through the air. “We're only the first day in, and it's so much more than I know what to do with. I'm still trying to understand the book we're adapting and figure out how to work with my dad.”

“Is everything good between you guys?” I asked. They had been fighting so bad just months ago that Zara had lived with Jordan for a while.

“He's reading a lot of self-help books if that tells you anything.”

I laughed and shook my head. “My dad just reads philosophical stuff. Like about how to be a better Christian or improve the world around you.”

Ginger snorted. “That's better than obsessively reading food labels. My mom still has to make sure that everything that goes into our house is perfectly organic. Which is weird now that my boyfriend's a cowboy.”

“True,” I agreed and then sighed. “Maybe I should start reading self-help. Lord knows I'm going to need it if I keep working with Merritt.”

Rory set her beautiful water color drawing of a sunset aside. “Why would you need help? You’re basically a saint.”

“Actually...” I began, and then I told them the story about spraying Merritt.

Each of my friends thought that was the funniest thing they'd ever heard, and Rory was still wiping tears from her eyes when she asked, “Did you get in trouble?”

“No, I told Lorelei it was an accident, and she gave Merritt an extra pair of clothes that they keep on hand for volunteers.”

Jordan snickered. “I bet she loved wearing something without a label. That someone else had worn before, no less.”

Actually, the sight of Merritt in an extra-large T-shirt and sweatpants held up by a string was going to be something I remembered for the rest of my life, but I still felt guilty. “I have no idea what came over me.”

“Did she say something to you?” Jordan asked, leaning back against the wall.

I looked up at the ceiling, the one blank space in Rory’s studio, and groaned because I couldn't tell them what Merritt had said about Carson without telling them that Carson and I were dating. Fake dating, but Carson thought they didn't need to know that. And I wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize Carson’s help because I knew I needed it if I was going to have a chance with Nick.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rory lean forward. “What did she say?”

I let out a sigh. I might as well tell them now, before Merritt had the rumor going around social media.

“Carson and I are dating,” I said. And if I thought that me spraying Merritt with a hose had gotten a reaction, this was ten times elevated. They were each grinning and cheering, and Rory said, “Should I break into my parents’ liquor cabinet and get some champagne?”

My cheeks were blushing bright red, partially because of the lies and partially because of how excited they were. Didn't they see that Carson and I were just friends? That it would be weird for me to think of him as more than that?

Ginger scooted over to me and put her hands on my shoulders. “Callie, we have been waiting for you and Carson to start dating since we all started hanging out together. You guys are made for each other.”

I shook my head. “You’re all crazy.”

“But I don’t understand,” Jordan said. “What does this have to do with you spraying Merritt?”

I closed my eyes, more embarrassed now. “She called him a shaggy dog.”

Laughing, Zara snapped her fingers. “No one better mess with Callie’s man.”

Fake boyfriend or not, I thought.

Ginger patted her lap excitedly. “You know what this means, right?”

“What?” I asked.

“Quintuple date!” she cheered.

Zara grinned, Jordan clapped, and Rory nodded eagerly, leaving me as the only one not completely thrilled by the idea. “How is that going to be any different than normal?”

“Because,” Ginger said, “we’re all in love.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“Hold your horses, cowgirl,” I said. “We just started dating.”

Ginger nodded approvingly. “Nice ag pun.”

Shaking my head, I said, “It’s still so new with Carson and me...” I didn’t want them to get too invested in Callon, only to get their hopes dashed when things worked out with Nick. He was the one I wanted to quintuple date with.

Jordan put her finger thoughtfully to her chin. “It’s not really that new, though. You and Carson have known each other forever.”

“Yeah,” Rory agreed. “You guys probably know each other better than any of us and our boyfriends.”

Zara waggled her eyebrows. “Speak for yourselves.”

My cheeks heated as I laughed. “I do know a lot about Carson. Like the fact that he goes to the bathroom at exactly 6:03 every morning.” The girls laughed. “And that he takes one bite from each item on his plate and cycles through an entire meal that way.”

Jordan sighed dreamily. “That is romantic. You know each other better than anyone else, and you’re still choosing each other, flaws and all.”

Which was exactly why a relationship with Carson could never work. On the off chance we were attracted to each other at the same time, we would know too much. There would be no mystery, no excitement. Even if him holding my hand sent my heart into a frenzy.

Of course, I couldn’t tell them this because it would break Carson’s rule. So my friends and I continued creating art, them thinking Carson and I were in love, and me wondering if they would ever forgive me that we weren’t.