Brooke

The pungent smell of roses hit Brooke in the face when she dared to stick her head out of her bedroom “Dang, it smells like a funeral parlor in here,” she said as she moved toward the living room. It’d been quiet in their dorm for about ten minutes and she hoped that meant that Alex and his fame-filmers had left.

“Has Elvis left the building?” she asked, when she saw Lucy sitting on the couch with her cast propped up.

She looked up, seeming lost in thought. “Huh?”

“You know, because Alex obviously thinks he’s the king of everything the way he waltzes in here and orders you around. I mean look at this place. It’s like a bad telenovela. I just can’t decide if this is supposed to be a comedy or a drama.”

Lucy rubbed her hand tiredly across her face. “Me either.”

Brooke didn’t like the defeat she heard in Lucy’s voice. She was about to ask her what was wrong when there was a knock at the door. “I got it,” she said padding to the front door.

Brooke was delightfully surprised when she was greeted with the logo of her favorite pizza place. “Did you order from Pints & Pies?” she called to Lucy.

“Oh, yeah . . . let me grab my wallet.”

“I got it,” Brooke called back. It was her turn to buy anyway.

After paying the delivery boy, she carried her bounty back to the living room and plopped everything down on the coffee table to start popping boxes. There was the usual: a veggie pizza for Brooke, and a chicken, feta pizza for Lucy, but there was a third pizza, too.

“Who’s the pepperoni for?” Brooke asked.

Lucy exhaled deeply and let her head fall back against the couch. “I think I screwed up.”

“It’s okay. We can just pick the pepperoni off,” Brooke replied, mildly disturbed that Lucy looked like she wanted to cry because she’d messed up the pizza order.

“No I don’t mean the order, I mean with Jaxon.”

Brooke stilled, mid bite and a mushroom slid off the piece of pizza halfway to her mouth. “Did something happen between you two?”

“No. I don’t know. Maybe?”

Brooke put her slice of pizza back in the box. “Spill, now.”

“There’s not really anything to spill. Alex made sure of that.”

“What did he do?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t know he was still going to be here when we got home.”

“We? As in Jaxon was coming back here with you?”

“Yeah. I invited him over for pizza and ice cream to celebrate our success with the sketch artists today.”

“So it went well?”

“Eventually. It was actually a lot harder than I anticipated. I had to basically relive the accident over and over to get all the details the artist needed and there’s no way I could’ve done it without Jaxon. He was so incredibly sweet, Brooke. I’ve never met someone who was just kind and patient without a motive.”

Brooke frowned. “You mean like Alex?”

Lucy bit her lip, but nodded.

“What did that crap taco do?”

Lucy’s face crumbled. “Nothing. But that’s just it. The more time I spend with Jaxon, the more I realize how little Alex cares about me.”

“Then why the hell are you with Alex?”

“Sometimes I really don’t know.” Lucy’s voice broke and a tiny sob snuck out. “It’s like I finally just figured out I’ve been going down the wrong road my whole life, but now I’m so far gone in the wrong direction that I don’t have enough gas left in the tank to turn around.”

Brooke moved closer to Lucy on the couch and took her hands. “Then you get out and walk, Lucy. It’s never too late to change direction.”

Lucy looked up at Brooke with watery eyes. “Do you really believe that?”

“With all my heart.”

“I wish I was as strong as you.”

“Girl, you’re stronger. You put up with Alex for this long. God knows I would’ve buried him in a shallow grave long ago if I were you.” Brooke was only halfway joking, but Lucy gave her a weak smile anyway. “You deserve a great guy like Jaxon, Lucy.”

“But I have a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, you do. But you can change that.”

Lucy looked down at her hands like she didn’t believe she truly could.

“Lucy, what have you got to lose? If you don’t make a change you’re going to stay miserable. But if you take a chance you might find happiness and love and all those amazing things people write songs about.”

“Or I might crash and burn.”

“Yeah, you might. But would you really be any worse off than you are right now?”

Lucy chewed her lip like she was considering it.

“Look, things could be worse, Lucy Lu. At least you’re not the campus virgin that everyone thinks is a big slut bag because Trista McAllister had a hard-on for Luis Martin freshman year.”

Lucy grimaced. “Maybe we can both work on changing our fate.”

Brooke lifted her chin up high. “Nope, I’ve accepted my fate. I’m never dating again. I’m destined to die a slutty virgin.”

“No one dies a virgin,” Lucy said bitterly. “Life screws us all.”

Holy Kurt Cobain, Batman. Brooke had never heard Lucy sound so depressed. A tiny prickle of worry gnawed at her, because she had a sneaking suspicion Lucy was talking about more than boy trouble. But Brooke had learned that pushing Lucy never got anywhere. Instead she rooted through the Pints & Pies shopping bag and pulled out three pints of Ben & Jerry’s and three plastic spoons. She took the lid off all three and lined them up on the coffee table, handing Lucy a spoon.

“Okay, no more wallowing. Tonight we eat ice cream and watch Shameless.”

“Why Shameless?” Lucy asked.

Brooke just shrugged. “It always makes me feel better about my own life.”

Lucy

Brooke was right, Shameless did have a way of putting her problems in prospective. Lucy spent the night eating pizza and ice cream on the couch while Brooke broke out her paint markers and doodled on her cast.

After they’d binged five episodes, Lucy announced she needed to go to bed or she’d fall asleep on the couch any minute.

Brooke switched off the television. “Okay, I’ll help you to bed on one condition.”

“What’s that?” Lucy asked through a yawn.

“That you decide to chase your unicorn.”

“Huh?”

Brooke turned on the lamp next to the couch and pointed to Lucy’s now colorfully decorated cast. Lucy’s hand flew to her mouth.

“Oh my God!”

Brooke had drawn a giant rearing white unicorn with a rainbow mane and tail on Lucy’s cast. Brooke was an incredible artist and the unicorn held lifelike detail on every level, including its well-endowed manhood.

“Tell me I’m hallucinating,” Lucy whispered.

“Can’t do, Lucy Lu.”

“Brooke! Why the hell did you brand me with a well-hung horse?”

“Well-hung unicorn,” Brooke corrected. “And it’s to remind you to go after your dreams.”

“How the hell does a horny unicorn represent my dreams?”

“Duh, Jaxon’s your unicorn. He’s gorgeous, sweet and he gives a shit. Do you know how impossible it is to find all those qualities in the same man? Those three things never line up—AKA he’s a unicorn. Plus, you just a know a boy that magically delicious is packing the goods.” Brooke giggled and waggled her eyebrows again.

Lucy just blinked at her best friend. Brooke had surely lost her mind if she thought Lucy was going to gimp around campus with an X-rated Rainbow Brite scene unfolding on her leg.

“Brooke, I’m going to kill you.”

“Or maybe you’ll thank me?”

“Nope, pretty sure I’m settled on killing you.”

“Fine. Pinky swear to at least explore the possibility of Jaxon and I’ll paint over the unicorn.”

“This is cruel and unusual punishment.”

A twinkle gleamed in Brooke’s pale blue eyes. “Is there any other kind?”

“Fine! But only if you swear to go out on at least one date before we graduate.”

Brooke crossed her arms. “This isn’t about me.”

“If I have to face my fears so do you.”

Brooke looked like she was still on the fence.

“Come on, Brooke. You haven’t dated anyone since freshman year. You can’t let one jerk make you give up on guys all together.”

“One jerk and Trista,” Brooke amended. “But I could say the same to you. All guys aren’t cocky crap tacos like Alex. You can’t let him make you settle for less than you deserve.”

Lucy held up her pinky. “Fine. To finding unicorns for both of us.”

Brooke grinned conspiratorially. “You’re on.”