“Guac and chips okay?” he asked as he began whipping up homemade guacamole. He grabbed a bag of blue corn tortilla chips and poured them into a bowl. “Is it too early for margaritas?”
“Not today,” she said.
“I make them pretty mild,” he said with a wink. “Don’t worry. I’m not trying to get you drunk or anything.”
“I can make them if you want?”
He nodded towards the cupboard where she found a blender, an uber-expensive bottle of tequila, Cointreau, and rock salt, and she pulled a lime from the refrigerator.
“Wow, you really know what you’re doing, don’t you?” he said. He was clearly impressed.
“This was the first drink I ever learned to make,” she said as she filled the blender with ice. “I used to bartend back in the day. Well, a couple years ago. Briefly. Jett didn’t like me working so late, so I quit. Learned a lot though.”
They each worked diligently on their little projects until they were finished. They sat side by side at the island, sipping their icy margaritas and munching on chips and guacamole.
The clock on the microwave read half past three. The day was still young.
“I was thinking maybe we could take a walk after this?” Ryder proposed. “It’s really nice out. I’m feeling a little energized from that nap we just took.”
“Sounds great,” Stormy replied.
As soon as the guacamole bowl was empty, they slipped on their shoes and headed downstairs to the street below. Ryder grabbed onto her hand and pulled her close into him as they walked. She loved that he wanted the world to know she was his, especially since she wasn’t a stereotypical California big-breasted blonde.
Most of the women they passed seemed too into themselves to care about some lovey-dovey couple walking down the street. They didn’t give Stormy a second look, and in a lot of cases, they didn’t give her a first look. Sometimes they’d quickly check out Ryder, but it was rare. She was pretty sure the women here were used to being chased, not the other way around.
“I still need to call Brooklyn today,” Stormy said out of the blue.
“That’s right. You should.”
“So did you mean what you said earlier about inviting her out this weekend?” Stormy asked.
“I always mean what I say,” he said as he looked her in the eye. “By all means, invite her out. My treat.”
She slipped her arm around his waist and gave him a side hug. They strolled together, arm in arm down the busy, East LA sidewalk. The whirl of people and honking cars and rumbling motorcycles were like a harmonic symphony of beautiful chaos. It was the soundtrack to her new life, and she decided to love it. She had a feeling things were going in the right direction for once, and she was going to choose to be happy about it. Brooklyn always told her that happiness was a choice, but it never really clicked until that day walking down the sidewalk with Ryder.
They returned to his condo an hour later, and Stormy immediately grabbed her phone and called Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn,” she began. “Don’t be mad…”
“Oh, geez,” Brooklyn said, clearly annoyed. “Are you back with Hayden? Don’t lie to me.”
“No,” Stormy said, her voice trailing.
“Then what is it?”
“I sort of moved to L.A. with Ryder,” Stormy blurted. She was cringing hard on the inside.
“You did what?” Brooklyn growled. Her voice said it all.
“But I have good news,” Stormy perked. “Ryder wants to fly you out this weekend.”
Brooklyn was silent on the other end.
“Did you hear me?” Stormy asked. “Ryder is going to fly you out for the weekend. That is, if you want to come.”
She knew Brooklyn couldn’t stay mad at her forever. In their almost twenty years as best friends, they’d only been in a handful of major fights and they’d never gone more than a few days without speaking.
“I guess,” Brooklyn sighed. She tried to act mad, but Stormy could tell she was quickly getting over it. “This weekend, you said?”
“Yep. Does that work?”
“Lucky for you I happen to be off work this weekend,” she said. “Just send me the itinerary, and I’ll be there.”
“Yay!” Stormy squealed. “I can’t wait for you to see L.A. You’re going to love it.”
She hung up with Brooklyn and couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the night.
“So she’s coming?” Ryder asked.
“Yep, she is,” Stormy said as she beamed from ear to ear. “I can’t wait until she sees it out here. Maybe she’ll want to move out here, and she can get a place with me?”