I’ve been trying to get Bridgette to warm up to Maggie since Maggie moved into their complex several months ago. As it stands, Bridgette is still pretty cold.
She’s sitting on Maggie’s bed while I help Maggie pick out an outfit for tonight, so we’re making progress. She hasn’t been over here since Maggie moved in, other than one time when Maggie had to stay a few nights in the hospital for an illness. Bridgette came to get some clothes for her, but only because Warren made her.
“I think the black shirt would look better with these,” Maggie says. “I’m gonna try it on.” She grabs the shirt I brought over and takes it to her bathroom, closing the door behind her. I look at Bridgette. She’s on her back, staring up at the ceiling, yawning. I pull out my phone and text her because I don’t want Maggie hearing our conversation.
Sydney: You’re making this uncomfortable.
Bridgette reads her text and then looks at me, holding up a frustrated hand.
Bridgette: What?! I’m just being me.
Sydney: Yeah, no offense, but that’s the issue. Sometimes people have to make an effort NOT to be themselves in order to make situations around them a little more tolerable. You haven’t said a word to her. Make an effort. Ask her questions.
Bridgette: I AM making an effort. I’m here. Besides, I don’t have any questions for her. What would I even say? I don’t know how to do fake.
Sydney: Ask her about her graduation. Ask her about when we went bungee jumping. Ask her how she and Jake are doing. Lots of potential conversation starters if you just try.
Maggie walks out of the bathroom just as Bridgette drops her phone onto the bed and rolls her eyes.
“I like that shirt on you,” I say to Maggie. She’s turning back and forth in
the mirror.
I look at Bridgette and make a face. Bridgette sits up dramatically, slapping her palms against the bed. She clears her throat.
“So…Maggie. How are…you and Jake doing? Well? I hope?” She forces a smile, but sounds like a stiff robot.
Maybe this was a bad idea. I glance over at Maggie, and she’s just standing there, staring at Bridgette with her head tilted.
I glance back at Bridgette and shake my head. “Wow. You really don’t know how to talk to people.”
Bridgette throws her hands up and says, “I told you!” Maggie looks at me. “Did you make her ask me that?”
I shrug. “I’m just trying to teach her how to interact with humans in a normal way.”
Looking back at Bridgette, Maggie says, “It doesn’t suit you.”
“See?” Bridgette falls back on the bed. “I should just be me. I’m good at being me.”
“Fine. I’m sorry I tried.” I give my attention back to Maggie. “But how
are you and Jake doing?”
Bridgette sits up on the bed again and throws a hand out toward me. “Why does it sound so normal when you say it?”
Maggie and I both laugh. She looks in the mirror and fingers her hair. “We’re good,” she says, smiling into the mirror. “It’s all been so easy with him. He’s just…simple. He likes to have fun, doesn’t take anything too seriously. Until he needs to.”
“But is he good in bed?” Bridgette asks.
I see a pattern here. The only conversations that come naturally to Bridgette always have to do with sex. Does Ridge moan during sex? Is Jake good in bed?
“He’s very good,” Maggie says without hesitation.
“Who is better?” Bridgette asks her. “Ridge or Jake? Or Warren? Wow, you’ve slept with all three of our boyfriends.”
I slap a hand to my forehead. She’s a lost cause.
Luckily, Maggie just laughs it off. “Yeah, Bridgette, let’s just not do the whole conversation thing, okay?”
Bridgette pouts. “But I actually want to know the answer to this question.
I bet it was Warren.”
Maggie looks at me and scrunches up her nose while shaking her head. “It wasn’t,” she mouths.
Bridgette mutters something about wanting a snack, so she heads to the kitchen. I hand Maggie a purple button-up shirt. “Try this one on. I think you’ll like it better than the black one.”
“What’s it even matter? Jake is on call all weekend, so he won’t even be
there.” Maggie goes back to the bathroom just as Bridgette walks back into the bedroom, crunching on chips. She looks at herself in the mirror, turning so she can see her ass. She holds up a Pringle and positions it so that it covers her but in the mirror.
“What are you doing?” I ask her, just as Maggie comes out in the purple shirt. “Definitely that shirt. It’s perfect.”
“Maggie,” Bridgette says, still looking at herself in the mirror. “When you said my ass looked like two Pringles hugging, was that a compliment?”
Maggie laughs. “Have you seen your ass? Of course it was.”
“I don’t see it.” Bridgette pulls another Pringle out of the can and holds both chips back to back so that they’re curved away from each other. “This is not attractive.”
Maggie walks over and grabs the two Pringles, turning them inward. “Like this.”
Bridgette stares at the chips and nods, like it finally clicks. “Oh. Yeah, it kind of does look like that.”
•••
Ridge and Warren have been at the venue helping the band set up for the show, so Maggie and I rode with Bridgette. Ridge isn’t playing tonight, though. He said sometimes he just likes being a spectator.
Maggie has a smile on her face as we get out of the car, but I can tell it’s strained. She pauses as she looks up at the building. “I wish Jake could have made it,” she says quietly.
I grab her hand. “He can come to the next one. Just try to have fun.”
I’m anxious to get inside, so I pull her after me and text Ridge to let him know we’re at the back door. A moment later, the door opens and Ridge walks out. He’s followed by Warren. I feel bad because Ridge is giving me a hug, and Warren is giving Bridgette a hug, and Maggie is just standing there, awkward and alone.
It won’t last long though.
Just when the door slams shut, it’s pushed open from the inside. Jake walks out.
It’s been hell keeping it from her, but he really wanted to surprise her. He was able to switch his on-call weekends, but he didn’t want her to know. He’s planning on staying with her until Monday morning.
As soon as she realizes he’s actually here and she’s not seeing things, she lights up all over and runs at him. She jumps on him and wraps herself around him like a spider monkey, her feet locked around his back, her wrists locked behind his neck. He’s holding her with little effort, and it makes me envious that I can’t jump on Ridge like that. I mean, I guess I could. But I’m not as
tiny as Maggie. We’d need to plan it. We’d need a spotter. And a mattress for when we fell.
They’re so in love. It’s so adorable.
Ridge leans into my ear and says, “You look beautiful.” His comment gets him a kiss. We’re so adorable.
Warren opens the back door and holds it for everyone as we all shuffle inside. I feel my phone vibrate, so I look back at Ridge and he indicates he just texted me something.
Ridge: I gave Jake the ring.
Me: You did? Did it freak him out? Or did he seem appreciative?
Ridge: He thanked me like five times and kept staring at it on the drive over. I doubt he waits long.
That makes me smile. I know marriage wasn’t an item on Maggie’s bucket list, but I think she’s at a point in her life where she wants to add more to the list. And Jake isn’t going anywhere. I can see that just by the way they look at each other.
The room is packed when we get out to the floor. Luckily, one of the crew members saved an area up front for us. Perks of writing music for the band.
Jake and Maggie stand next to us. He’s standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her. When Brennan and the band walk on stage, Maggie separates herself from him and starts clapping and jumping. I have no idea how long it’s been since she’s seen them play, but she’s genuinely stoked to hear them. It makes me think about everyone’s dynamic and how she’s been a part of these people’s lives since right after they started the band. I’m sure Brennan and everyone on stage mean more to her than I ever realized.
It makes me appreciate what we had to go through to get here even more. Had we all not figured out a way to coexist, she would have had to give up huge pieces of her life. I never would have felt right about that.
I look over at Warren and Bridgette, and even she’s smiling and clapping as Brennan introduces the band to the audience. Warren has his hands cupped around his mouth as he yells for the band. Then he drops his arm and wraps it around Bridgette’s waist. She looks up at him and he smiles down at her, then gives her a quick kiss. It’s so odd to see them in moments like this, but when I do get glimpses of it, it’s beautiful. They love each other, even if they do it differently from everyone else.
That’s the beauty of love, isn’t it? It comes in so many different forms, shapes, sizes, textures. And it’s ever changing. Like the love Ridge held for Maggie. It’s still there… It’s just a different form. And that’s what I love the most about him. He never stopped loving her. He never stopped caring for
her. And now that she’s one of my closest friends, I can’t help but love that for her, because she deserves it. She deserved his love then as his girlfriend, and she deserves his love now as one of his best friends.
