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I loved Lauren and her loyalty was above question, but she didn’t have a subtle bone in her body She’d punched a girl in the nose in fifth grade for teasing ht and we’d been friends ever since With Lauren, you always knew exactly where you stood So I appreciated the bulk of the time, just not when discretion was called for

Happily,Soon as those wheels hit the tarh of relief I was back in ain would I stray With mountains in the distance and trees in the city, she was a singular delight To li overboard But it was great to be ho next week that et forfor

Everything would be fine I’d learned o past three drinks Three drinks were good Three gotain would I cross the line I was back to being the good old organized, boring me Adventures were not cool and I was done with thes out of the overhead lockers Everyone pushed forward in a rush to diseave us practiced s tunnel Next cae claim Fortunately, we only had carry-on, so no delays there I couldn’t wait to get ho Someone famous must have been on the plane People ahead of us turned and stared I looked back too but saw no fa the crowd

“I don’t know,” I said, standing on tippy-toe, getting excited by all the co called out over and over Lauren’s mouth pursed in surprise Mine fell open

“When’s the baby due?”

“Evelyn, is David with you?”

“Will there be another wedding?”

“When will you beto e Dive?”

“Is it true that you got tattoos of each other’s na each other?”

“What do you say to accusations that you’ve broken up the band?”

My nae of endless questions All of which ed into chaos A wall of noise I could barely cohts blinded reat with crowds and there was no escape that I could see

Lauren snapped out of it first

She shoved her sunglasses onto rabbed h the mob The world became a blur, care of her prescription lenses I was lucky not to fall ontaxi, junored the paparazzi It would have been surreal if it wasn’t so frantic and in my face

Lauren pushed me into the back seat of the cab I scra I could disappear entirely

“Go! Hurry!” she shouted at the driver

The driver took her at her word Our ride shot out of the place, sending us sliding across the cracked vinyl seating My forehead bounced off the back of the (luckily padded) passenger seat Lauren pulled my seatbelt over me and ja Everything jumped and jittered

“Talk to lasses up on top of my head and stared into space My ribs hurt and my heart still pounded so hard

“Ev?” With a set married while ere away?”