More Than Friends (5 page)

Lily wanted
to scream with frustration. Mel had him and didn’t want him. She wanted him and
couldn’t have him. Anger, hurt and almighty jealousy roiled her insides. “You
said you thought he was going to propose.”

Mel dropped
her gaze in a gesture of mild embarrassment. “I got my wires crossed. I saw a
receipt on Justin’s desk for a ring and, of course, I let myself get caught up
in the fantasy. It turned out to be a ring for his little sister’s sweet
sixteen.”

Lily had met Bethany
a couple of times and liked the young girl who had been a late-in-life
pregnancy surprise for Justin’s parents.

“But if he
did ask me to marry him,” Mel continued. “I would have said no.”

That was just
dandy. Mel hadn’t thought to let her in on that fact before now. Just left her
to make a fool of herself by accusing Justin and calling him names.

“Look.” Mel
slapped her palms onto her knees and pushed herself to her feet. “Why don’t I
make us coffee? Things always look better after a decent cup.”

Lily nodded
although the one she had at Justin’s still churned in her stomach.

Mel paused in
the doorway, tapping her fingers on the frame. “Since I’m getting over Justin
and you’re taking the break-up so hard, we should go shopping. There’s nothing
like taking the bling-bling cards on a spree to make a girl feel better.”

Retail
therapy, Mel’s number one remedy. “Just give me a minute to hit the shower.” Lily
pushed herself off the sofa.

“Good idea. I
hate to say this, honey, but you look a bit of a wreck. That dress doesn’t hold
up well after a night on a couch.”

Lily cringed.
It didn’t hold up after a night crumpled on the floor beneath Justin’s jeans
either. Mel assumed she slept on Justin’s couch. She hated herself even more
for what she’d done behind her best friend’s back and, if her heart ached for
what could have been with Justin, she had only herself to blame. She knew the
deal, yet she’d gone ahead and made love with him. Totally disregarding all
consequences. Now she had to pay a double price. She couldn’t have Justin, and
she had to live with the guilt of what she’d done to Mel.

Lily took
herself off to shower. If only she could run down the drain with the shower
water.

*
* * *

After two
hours of solid shopping, Lily still felt awful. She might as well face it, she
wasn’t going to shoe or underwear shop her way out of this. Her shame was here
to stay.

“Lily, for
heaven sakes, cheer up. Anyone would think Justin broke up with you the way
you’ve been moping around every since I told you we split. The solidarity was
fun at first, but you seriously need to get over it. I have. Don’t get me
wrong, Justin was a sweet, thoughtful guy, but he had absolutely no libido.”
Mel picked up a pair of crotchless panties in a shocking pink and held them up
for Lily to see. “I wore a pair of these once...” Mel dropped the scrap of
material back where it came from. “Completely wasted on him.”

Lily’s face
burned. Justin had said he never made love with Mel because he had feelings for
Lily. The sceptical part of her hadn’t believed him. Men said all sorts of
things if they thought it would get a girl into bed and she half-expected
Justin was doing the same thing.

“What do you mean?”
Either she was a glutton for punishment or some sort of voyeur who enjoyed
hearing intimate details of her friend’s life. Lily settled on glutton for
punishment.

“He never
wanted to do it. Always had some excuse or other. Finally, I understood the
problem. He obviously had trouble with...” Mel raised her little finger and
wiggled it to demonstrate a limp manhood. “But was too embarrassed to tell me. Honestly,
I was relieved when he wanted to end things. I don’t know how much longer I
could go on pretending it didn’t matter. That I was with him for him. I just
wanted sex. Look at him, the man is beyond yummy. It’s just a shame the
packaging is all false advertisement.”

Righteous
indignation rose up in Lily’s chest. Mel was dissing Justin, and she wanted to
set her straight on a few points. Yes, Justin was one of the sexiest men she ever
met, but there was nothing wrong with his performance. He was more than capable
of getting his thing up and using it to take a girl to heaven.
And
there
was nothing tiny about it, so she could put away that little finger. It was on
the tip of her tongue to tell Mel that there was nothing wrong with his libido
as the six times they’d made love last night attested. But Lily bit her lips
together and kept her mouth shut.    

Thankfully,
she was saved from having to force a comment by the jazzy jingle of her phone.
Fishing it out of her oversized tote, she glanced at the caller ID.

Unknown.

She cancelled
the caller. She had no idea who ‘Unknown’ was, but she’d had seven calls from
the number so far.

“Who’s that
you keep cancelling?” Mel glanced over her shoulder on their way to the
checkouts.

“I don’t
know.” She slipped the phone back into her bag. “It can’t be anyone important,
it’s an unknown number.”

“Probably
some poor sap who got wrong-numbered.” Mel laughed as she handed over her
platinum card. “How many times have we given guys wrong numbers?”

“Me? Never.”

“You’ve never
given a wrong number?”

“I don’t see
the point of deceiving anyone.” Her own words hit her in the stomach with a
mighty force. What was she doing now, if not deceiving her best friend?

Since she
hadn’t purchased anything from the lingerie department, she followed Mel out
the automatic doors. As they exited the store, she glanced at Mel to find that
her friend had turned a sickly shade of pale.

Lily’s heart sunk
into the bottom of her stomach. Did Mel somehow suspect that she hadn’t told
the truth about what had transpired at Justin’s apartment last night?

Lily prepared
herself to come clean and hoped Mel would find it in her heart to forgive her
if she promised never to ever see Justin again.

“Mel—”

“Lily—” They
said in unison, but Mel didn’t stop. “I have something to tell you.” Her face
changed from pale to crimson. “This has been eating at me for weeks, and I’m so
sorry. I didn’t plan for it to happen. Please don’t hate me, Lily but I can’t
hide it from you any longer, it’s making me sick with worry that you will find
out and never speak to me again.”

Something
cold crept up Lily’s back, and she shivered. She was sure she didn’t want to
hear Mel’s confession so why was she opening her mouth to ask. “What are you
saying, Mel?”

“I’m begging
you, don’t hate me. Wayne cheated on you with me.”

Even after
several seconds, Lily couldn’t seem to garner the ability to close her mouth.
Shock had rendered her speechless and all she seemed capable of doing was to
stare gobsmacked at her friend.

“Say
something, Lil.”

She couldn’t
think of any opportunities when her best friend and her boyfriend would’ve been
alone together. “When?”

Mel glanced
around self-conscious. But for a family just getting into their vehicle, the
car park was empty of people.

“It was that
weekend you went to the sales conference.”

“Four weeks
ago?”

Mel nodded.
She looked as torn as Lily felt over her night with Justin. “Wayne dropped by
to pick up something he’d left at ours. One thing led to another, and before I
knew it, we’d—” Mel stopped suddenly and clasped Lily’s shoulders, her shopping
bags bumping against Lily. “We didn’t set out to cheat, Lil, it just happened.”

“How could it
‘just happen’? You make it sound as though you had no say in the matter.”

“It wasn’t as
if Justin and I were... you know? He was always too busy or tired or away, and
Wayne said the two of you never did it anymore.”

Unbelievable.
“So that made it okay?”

“Please
forgive me, Lil, I can hardly stand to look at myself in the mirror. Carrying
this around has been killing me with guilt.” Tears sprang to Mel’s eyes. “You
don’t know what it’s like to have to face your best friend after you betrayed
her. It’s been eating me up inside. All I kept thinking was that we’re going to
end up like Abby and Kate. Please don’t let this come between us. I promise it
will never happen again.”

“Does Justin
know?”

“I told you,
the guilt was eating me alive. I had to tell someone.”

Now she
understood Justin’s question. When he’d asked her if Mel held the same allegiance
towards her, he already knew the secret Mel carried. He could have thrown it in
her face, but he hadn’t, even though she saw how much she hurt him. He must
have known how painful the news would have been, and he’d spared her feelings.

Mel was right;
Justin was a prince of a guy.

Lily gave Mel
an awkward hug around the shopping bags. Surely now Mel would understand Lily’s
feelings for Justin. Mel would forgive her and, she hoped, give her her
blessing to pursue a relationship with Justin. Yes, Mel would understand.

“I forgive
you, Mel. Wayne was just a guy I dated for a few months. You’ve been my best friend
since high school.” There was no contest as to whom she cared about most.

Mel squeezed
her tight. “Thank you, Lil.” She sniffed, swiping at tears of relief when they released
each other.

“I have to tell
you something.” Lily felt lighter already. She was worried for no reason. Everything
was going to turn out just fine. She could hardly wait. “I didn’t sleep on
Justin’s couch last night... I slept with him.”

“What?” Mel
staggered back as if Lily had slapped her. “You did what?”

“I felt
awful.” Lily reached out to touch Mel’s arm.

She shook her
off. “You had sex with my ex?”

“It’s more
than that, Mel. I’m in love with him.”

“You’re
kidding me! Are you telling me the two of you were carrying on behind my back?”

“No!” Lily
cast a glance around them. Mel’s voice was beginning to carry. “I would never
do that to you.”

“Really?
Cause I just heard what you said and I think you did.”

“Mel, please.
I forgave you, why can’t you do the same for me? It just happened. I never
meant to hurt you.”

“You could’ve
fool me. You forgave me so easily because you had an agenda, Elizabeth. So
don’t pretend you did it because I mean more to you than some guy you dated for
a little while. You’re the worse kind of fraud.” Mel pushed past her. “You can
catch a cab home. I can’t be in a car with you right now.”

“Mel?” She
couldn’t believe her friend’s reaction.

She paused
and swung back to Lily. “What you did was unforgivable.”

Lily couldn’t
believe her ears. What a hypocrite. “And what you did wasn’t?
I
forgave
you
!
You said you aren’t in love with him.”

“I lied!” How
she hadn’t shattered every glass window and windscreen in the car park with her
screech, Lily didn’t know.

In stunned
silence she watched as Mel flung open the car door, tossed in her shopping and then
herself behind the wheel of her little sports car. A second later, the engine
fired to life, and the tires spun under the sudden power to them. Lily jumped
out of the way to avoid Mel backing over her as she sped away.

As Mel’s car
faded from view, Lily’s phone jingled its tune that was fast becoming annoying.
She snatched it from the pocket in her bag where she’d placed it earlier. It
was the same unknown number, but instead of cancelling the call, she jabbed the
answer button, ready to tell the caller where to go.

“Look,
whoever you are; stop phoning this number, you’re starting to tick me off.”

“Lily, it’s
Justin.”

“Justin?”
Hearing his deep voice took the starch out of her knees. “It’s you who’s been
ringing me all day?”

“I wanted to
make sure you were all right.”

And just like
that, the tears she’d been holding back broke free and she sobbed. “I’ve made
such a mess of everything, and now Mel hates me.”

“Ah, Lil,
don’t cry like that. It’s going to be okay. You know how Mel can be. She’ll
calm down in a little while. Are you at home?”

“No, Mel and
I had a fight and she left me standing in a car park.” She was still having
trouble believing Mel had done that to her.

“Where are
you?”

She told him.

“Stay put,
I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

He made it in
half the time. When Lily saw his silver SUV turn into the car park, she waved,
feeling like a fool for waiting for him to rescue her. Why hadn’t she told him
she would grab a cab home?

She didn’t
have to think hard to find the answer. Despite telling herself she couldn’t see
him again, she desperately wanted to.

He pulled
over and jumped lithely from the vehicle, rounded the front and pulled her into
his arms—parcels and all. “It’s going to be okay,” he murmured in her hair.

Lily closed
her eyes and breathed his knee-melting scent deep into her lungs. He always
smelled so good. 

“Thank you
for coming to get me, Justin. You’re a good friend.”

He tensed,
pulled back, and took her shopping bags from her. “No problem.”

Lily didn’t
miss the grim expression on his face as he opened the front passenger door and
waited for her to climb into the air-conditioned interior.

“Belt up.” He
closed the door, then deposited her bags in the back.

In no time,
he was sitting beside her, his strong hands on the steering wheel as he manoeuvred
the big vehicle into Saturday traffic.

Was it only a
few hours ago that she’d walked out on him? Now here he was rushing to her
rescue like some kind of knight in a shining SUV.

Silence
stretched between them then Lily realised they were heading in the opposite
direction from the apartment she shared with Mel.