I’m less lucky on the underwear front, because the bikini briefs I wore yesterday are a complete mess. I don’t dare wear them again, unwashed. I fold them up and stash them in my purse.

Well, at least my pants are still wearable. Going commando isn’t exactly how I thought I’d start off the New Year, but I don’t have a choice.

I’m slipping on my pants when Celeste says, “Let me drop you off at your friends’ place.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “I was thinking of taking public transportation.”

She shakes her head. “The train schedule is weird today because of the holiday. Here, if you don’t want me to drive, I can get a car for you,” she says, holding up her phone. “If I request it now, your driver will arrive in around eight minutes. Is that enough time for you?”

“More than enough. Thanks.”

While we wait, Celeste finally goes to her closet and pulls on a long, black pajama T-shirt. She folds her arms across her chest, and we wordlessly stare at each other until my ride arrives.

My head still spinning from everything that happened in the last twelve hours, I don’t let myself fully relax until I’m in the car, on the way back home.

26: Celeste

When she woke up on New Year’s Day to find Gemma standing in her bedroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around herself, Celeste almost broke her own rules.

The sight was too intimately familiar, like the Gemma from eight years ago had somehow time traveled to the present day. Back when they used to live together in their crappy LA apartment, the bathroom mirror would always fog up, so both she and Gemma would have to wrap themselves up in their towels and change in the bedroom, instead. Even though it was an inconvenience brought on by the misfortune of being broke college students, this and other quiet, mundane moments with Gemma were some of Celeste’s fondest memories.

Fortunately, the current Gemma had refused Celeste’s offer to cook breakfast, pulling her back to the cold reality of the present. If she hadn’t, well…

Back in her bed, Celeste stops herself from thinking about might haves and would haves. Instead, she forces herself to, not for the first time, think about what is and what isn’t.

She and Gemma had fun at the party last night. That is a fact. Then they came back to her place and had sex. Also a fact.