Since Sophia and Whit had normal jobs and, therefore, normal hours, I knew they'd both be up and getting ready for work. And I had to see them. Talk through what had happened. Try to get a grip on my thoughts, which were running a million miles a minute.
I brushed my teeth, fed and gave Rosco a bowl of water, and then paused long enough to get a sweet hug from the dog before I left. Then I threw on some shoes before running out the door.
I needed a plan, and I only had a few days to think up the perfect one. The one that would bring Easton and me together forever. And for that, I needed help.
"Hey?" Sophia said with a perplexed look on her face as she opened the door to her apartment, blinked her eyes, looked at her smart watch and then back at me.
Yes, I knew the sun hadn’t even risen. But I came bearing coffee and donuts. I held both out in front of me, causing a grin to break out on Sophia's face.
"Not that I'm not just happy to see you," Sophia said as she took a cup and the bagful of steaming donuts out of my hands. "But we just saw you last night."
She turned and walked back into her house, allowing me in as well. Where my apartment had more of a bachelor pad feel, Sophia's looked like it was being featured in the pages of a home decorating magazine. She was in a farmhouse chic stage, and everything went perfectly with her aesthetic from the huge, brass wire clock boasting roman numerals to her gray tufted sofa, which sat on dark wood legs. She even had, from my quick count, four vases full of fresh flowers all around the space, whereas I was pretty sure I hadn't had real flowers in my apartment in ... well, years.
"So what can we do for you, Jos?" Sophia asked when Whit suddenly came rushing out from the back of the beautiful apartment.
"Is Rosco hurt?" she said between rapid breaths.
I shook my head immediately. She must’ve heard Sophia say my name and assumed the worst. "No, no, he's fine. I just left him with a bowl of his favorite chow. He's not even having any of his normal breakfast issues," I said.
Whit's tense shoulders immediately relaxed. She looked from the bag of donuts in Sophia's hands to the coffee cup in mine, and she tilted her head when her gaze came back to my own.
"But you're here," Whit said as if she were trying to figure out a complicated puzzle.
"I am," I said as I handed her the cup still in my hands. "I didn't sleep well," I added.
"Because of Rosco?" Whit asked.
I shook my head again. "I’m going to preface this visit. None of this," I waved a hand over my presence in the apartment, "has anything to do with Rosco."
Whit nodded as she held her cup in both of her hands and brought it up to her lips.
"So then why are you here?" Sophia asked, adding when Whit shot her a frustrated look, "Not that you have to have a reason. But you have a reason, right?"
Whit gave Sophia the same look once again. I was sure Whit was just as curious about my appearance, but Whit knew that I didn't usually spill my guts when prompted to do so. I usually took better to a more roundabout approach. But this was no normal morning, and Sophia's directness would work fine.
"I have to leave for work in like half an hour. We need to get a move on with this conversation if I'm going to be a part of it," Sophia said in response to Whit's looks, and Whit shook her head with a small smile on her lips. Sophia wasn't afraid to be direct. Come to think of it, Sophia wasn't afraid to be anything.
I drew in a deep breath and knew where I had to start this conversation if I wanted to get the girls on my side. Not that they wouldn't be on my side no matter what, but I needed them to feel as passionate about this turn of events as me. I needed every ounce of their strength if I was going to follow through on my yet-to-be-created plan.
I'd gone over the words I would say on my way over at least a dozen times. The rearview mirror of my car now fully supported my decision to make a grand gesture to tell Easton just how I felt about him. How I might have always felt about him?
"Easton almost kissed me," I said, and Whit gave me the wide-eyed reaction accompanied by a gasp that I’d been expecting.
"What?!" Sophia screamed, stopping abruptly when she remembered the early hour and the fact that she had neighbors.
She set the donuts and coffee down on her kitchen counter before pulling me by both of my hands into the living room and then setting me on her couch.
"Tell us everything," she said as Whit followed us and took a seat on the love seat next to the couch.
Whit nodded so hard and fast that her wide-eyed look disappeared for a moment. But as soon as her head was still again, she went back to looking like a deer in headlights.
"I'm guessing it was after Taco Tuesday?" Sophia asked, and I nodded.
"Let her tell her story," Whit demanded, and Sophia clamped her mouth shut.
"After you came with Rosco," I said as I turned toward Whit, and Sophia scrambled up from her seat on the other side of me to set herself on the floor between Whit and myself so that she could see my face. She somehow managed to sit cross legged, even in her work outfit of a black pencil skirt and sky high heels.
"This way you won't have to keep looking back and forth between me and Whit," she said, and I nodded before proceeding.
"We decided to play a game. He started winning, and of course I accused him of cheating."
Whit barked out a single laugh, and Sophia turned around to glare at her.
"What?" Whit asked.
"Who's interrupting the story now?" Sophia asked.
"You," Whit said, returning Sophia's glare with one of her own, causing me to laugh. These women loved one another with the bond of sisterhood, but they also fought like siblings.
"Back to Josie," Whit said as she ignored that Sophia was still glaring at her and turned to me.
I was still smiling as I kept on going. My friends amused me, but I had to admit the smile on my face had everything to do with Easton.
"I got into his face because ... well, because he was cheating," I said, and Sophia nodded, as if I'd done the most logical thing in the world.
"And when our faces were close, his eyes dropped down to my lips," I said.
This time it was Sophia's turn to gasp. "He didn't," she said, and now even Whit was so entranced by the story that she didn't argue with Sophia to keep her mouth shut.
"He did," I said with a grin that could have lit up the entire state of Tennessee.
"And then?" Whit asked because I hadn't gone on for a few seconds since I was still basking in that moment. The moment I'd waited for for so many years.
"Rosco got up, and we were startled," I said.
Whit shook her head. "No! Seriously? I have you watch my dog for one night, and he does this?" Whit asked.
I didn't know if the he she was talking about was Rosco or Easton, but it was easy to see she was frustrated with both.
"But he wanted to kiss you," Sophia said.
I nodded. "He wanted to kiss me," I said.
Sophia grinned.
"Wait, so what happened after Rosco?" Whit asked.
"Easton got all weird," I said.
"So you know you weren't the only one to feel it," Sophia said with a satisfied smack of her lips.