Kara grinned. “Tiffany thinks everyone wants to be her friend.”

“Not me.”

“I know. She doesn’t know that.”

Eyeing her, I asked, “Why are you saying this stuff to me? You’re not being loyal to her.”

“I’m loyal to Derek and he likes you. And I still consider you one of my residents. I’ve told Tiffany she’s being dumb. It’s obvious how much Jesse cares about you. You’re not going anywhere. She needs to accept that and move on. Even though she doesn’t see it that way, I’m trying to help her in the long run.”

“Oh.” That made sense to me.

“In her defense, she’s never met a girl in Jesse’s life before. Those two were close last year, as close as I think he’d get to another female as a friend.”

I nodded. Jesse had explained it to me one night, but he made sure to reinforce that he never saw Tiffany as more than a friend. I wasn’t too sure about that. He had slept with her. Twice. But she wasn’t his family. I was.

“What about Chandra? I thought she was friends with you two.”

Kara looked down at the table now. “Cord doesn’t want her here so she’s not allowed to come over.”

“Yeah, but you guys are friends with her.”

She looked up. I caught the sadness there before she masked it. She shrugged, forcing a smile to cover. “It doesn’t matter. We can still be friends with her outside of this house, but she has to respect Cord’s wishes.”

Remembering that first day, I thought there’d been something extra between the two. I said as much to her, but she shrugged again. “If you haven’t noticed, Cord doesn’t like getting close to any girl.”

“Yeah.” I had noticed. I had witnessed it a few times. Marissa had emailed me one time, asking if Cord was mad at her. He had never responded to her emails, phone calls, or text messages. My old friend was getting the snub. She knew it; she just needed to accept it.

“You know, you can have your friends to the house. That’d be okay.”

“My friends?”

“Beth and Hannah.”

“Oh.” I frowned. “Isn’t that weird? I thought Hannah was fighting with Tiffany again?”

“They’re always going to be fighting. They’re sisters, but Jesse said you live here too so you can have your friends over.”

“Yeah, I guess.” But it felt weird. There was an unspoken rule to keep the house from people. I knew Beth and Hannah would be fine, but I didn’t want to get comfortable. When I did, something bad would happen. So I kept being there, but not living there. It would be safer for me in the long run, when that bad thing did finally happen. I loved Jesse, but I was still trying to save myself from other attachments. It’d be hard enough to lose him. And I knew it would happen. Nothing good happened to me, nothing that lasted.

Thanksgiving came and went.

I still lived with Jesse, but our time had dwindled because of basketball practices. It’d been a month into the new season until they had their first home game. Even though Kara mentioned having Hannah and Beth over to the house, I never did. Instead, the three of us began hanging out at a diner off-campus. We were leaving the place when I invited them over. It was my first time ever. Jesse and the guys were gone. They’d be at their game. And Tiffany and Kara had already left to watch the game. At the thought of being alone for the rest of the night, I heard myself inviting them over before I knew I was going to do it.

Hannah shrugged. “Sure. Can I get drunk?”

Beth hit her on the arm before she frowned at me. “Aren’t you going to the game?”

“And sit by myself?”

“Oh, come on. There must be lots of fakeys that will warm up to you. You could have fake friends all you want. Think of the possibilities.” Hannah spread her arms out, laughing at her own joke. “Fake people everywhere!”

“Yeah, I get it.” Beth frowned at her cousin.

“I’m down. Let’s throw a rager.” Hannah caught my look. “Kidding, Alex. Chill.”

“Oh.” Relaxing, but only a little, I didn’t know what I was so tense about as we drove in our separate cars to the house. I led the way, Hannah and Beth behind me. When I pulled into the driveway, a visitor was waiting for me.

She’d been waiting on the stoop.

Angie Russo. She and Marissa had been my best friends. Marissa had been smart. She checked out earlier, but Angie had tried to hang in there. Even in my darkest days, but it hurt. When she left for college, her truck and her boyfriend’s were both parked on my street. Justin stayed inside his truck when he never would’ve considered that before. She could barely stand being in the front entrance before she said her goodbyes and rushed off. I hadn’t heard from her since.

As I got out of my car, she stood, smoothing her hands down her pants. Her blonde hair had been styled. She was beautiful, but she had always been beautiful. With a willowy tall figure and smoky blue eyes, I wondered if she had finally stepped in front of the camera. Angie had never boasted about her looks, but I knew there’d been a few scouts when we were younger. Her parents wanted her to remain in school and to go on to college.

I saw the silver Prius in the driveway. “You retired the truck?”

Angie relaxed, a little. She grinned, a little, and eyed Beth and Hannah warily. “No. My little sister’s driving it now. I bought this last weekend.”

“That was a nice Thanksgiving present to yourself.”

She shrugged and hugged herself. “Yeah, well, I’m modeling now. I can afford it.”

“So can Alex.” Hannah stepped closer with her hands on her hips. She drew her chin down, leveling Angie with suspicion. “She won’t say a word, but I can tell. I can smell money on people and Alex has it. You’re not here for that, are you?”

“Hannah,” Beth groaned. “Let’s go inside.”

“Can’t. The Missus here has the keys.”

Rolling my eyes, I dangled my keys in the air.

Hannah snatched them but cast a warning eye over Angie. “She’s my friend. Just so you know.”

Angie’s slim shoulders lifted up and down in a deep sigh. “Yeah, well, she’s my friend too.”

“I haven’t heard about you.” She raked her up and down.