The Science of Growing Apart

41- Surprise

"So he's an info sec developer and I don't know exactly what that is, but he's really smart. And he's handsome, don't you think he's so cute?" Natalie ranted on about Michael.

I nodded my head in agreement as to not interrupt her flow of conversation. It was amazing to see her light up so much when talking about this guy when I'd never seen her act like that before.

"Sorry, am I talking about him too much? I feel like I've been talking too much," she said, slinking shyly into the back of the couch.

I rolled my eyes at her. "After you suffered through six years of me talking about my love life? I need to hear more about your date last night."

With a smile and a blush, she hid her face behind the nearest throw pillow. "The date was amazing and Michael is amazing and I cannot stop thinking about him. Who am I turning into? This is disgusting."

"You're a person in love," I cooed with all of my affection. It had been a month since I met Michael at the mini golf place. Natalie had spent the weeks following talking nonstop about the guy, about his laugh and his sense of humor and the color of his eyes and his listening skills. I spent that time trying to convince her to ask him out on a real date where there was holding hands and maybe a hug or a kiss involved. She never did, but thankfully Michael got impatient and asked himself.

"Shut up," she shoved a pillow in my face. "He asked about my family and the books I'm reading. He even said he'd start playing Stardew Valley because it's my favorite game. He is the sweetest person, I don't even know what I'm doing with myself anymore. I hate the way my stomach feels. Is that normal? I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"That's perfectly normal. It'll go away, eventually." I didn't tell her that it hadn't gone away for me and that my stomach still fell into my knees whenever I was with Casey. Every smile, every touch, every kiss made all of my organs flip inside my flesh bag like Simon Biles. None of that would be helpful information for her, so I kept it to myself.

When her phone pinged with a new text, she nearly jumped completely out of her seat on the couch, scaring Tulip from her cozy spot curled up under the coffee table.

"Is that him?" I tried to reach over the couch to grab the phone, but Natalie was quick to snatch it out of my reach before reading it.

"Yes. He's asking if he can make me dinner sometime next week."

I couldn't help but grin and wiggle my eyebrows at her. "You know what that means, right? Going back to his place?"

She hid her face in a pillow and let out a weird shrieking sound that I'd never heard her make before. "I can't even think about that. How do you do this, Josie? I feel like I'm about to die."

"Casey is the only person that's ever made me feel like that," I admitted to her with a small shrug. "And as painful as it is, it's also addicting. And amazing."

"Casey ruined your life for a solid two years," she reminded me. "I don't want anybody to have that power over me."

All I could do was shrug and say, "I think that's the risk you take when you fall in love. I know it's terrifying and even now, it's still scary. But this guy is so into you and you are so into him, so I think it's worth the risk. You deserve somebody amazing to share your time with."

"I share my time with you," she objected.

I rolled my eyes at her. "You also deserve really great sex and I'm not available."

She started to complain again, but stopped short when there was a knock at the door. We hadn't ordered any food delivery and weren't expecting any more guests, so I was cautious.