Grace nodded quietly, her eyes gently peering across the oversized loveseat at Lexi. “Same,” she said, just above a murmur. “It’s ... nice ... to have someone to care about.”

“Right?” Lexi gushed, struggling not to word vomit up five whole years’ worth of passion and emotions. “I miss that. Caring about someone I see every day.”

Grace’s lips curved into a semi-smile. “Are you ... talking about us?”

Lexi cocked her head and rolled her eyes, glad her old friend had finally taken the bait. “Obviously, Grace.”

“I ... I missed you, too, Lex. More than you’ll ever know.”

“Not if you tell me.”

“Damn, okay.” Grace snorted, waving her coffee mug back at Lexi’s. “Is this shit spiked or ... are you just feeling super extra ballsy tonight, babe?”

Lexi’s eyes were as unblinking and steady as her cool, calm voice. “Neither, Grace, I just ... I promised myself, if I ever got the chance, I’d finally bring up that which shall not be brought up.”

“Stop.”

“I’m serious. We don’t have to do it now, but ... don’t you ever want to talk about it?”

“What? You mean, the Christmas party?”

Lexi smiled, a five-year burden drizzling from her shoulders like water down her back. “Obviously, yes. I just ...”

Grace glanced down at her knees, pulled nearly up to her chin. “I just wasn’t sure you remembered, that’s all.”

“I was just buzzed enough to kiss you, Grace. Not too drunk to forget.”

“I felt drunk,” Grace blurted, lifting her head -- and her voice -- suddenly. “I felt drunk the moment your lips touched mine.”

Lexi’s heart continued to hammer with relief. “You did? You never said ...”

“I couldn’t speak,” Grace said. “But ... did I have to?”

Lexi shook her head. “No, girl, you said plenty with your hands on my waist. I still feel them sometimes, those hands. My waist. Like a ghostly touch, a whisper on my body.” Lexi shook her head gently, as if scrubbing the fantasy away to focus on the actual, factual present. “I just ... the next day, you ...”

“I’m sorry, Lex,” Grace blurted. “I acted like it didn’t happen. I know. I’m not ... brave, like you. I’d never kissed a girl before.”

Lexi made a clucking sound. “What, like I had?”

“It sure felt like you had.”

“Yeah, it’s called desire. Lust. Passion. I’d stored a lot up in the year we worked together. I’m ... I’m sorry we only had one night to share it.”

“Me too,” Grace said. “Duh.”

Lexi’s foot pressed against Grace’s. Grace’s pushed back. Their eyes met in the dimly lit living room. “And ... no girls since then?”

Grace started to speak, those thin, sensitive lips parting moistly in the moonlight. Then she must have thought better of it, shaking her head instead. “No, never since.”

Lexi did another little head cock. “But why? Why me, I mean? If you’re ... straight?”

“Am I?” Grace murmured aloud, peering into her coffee mug quietly as if to avoid the question, or perhaps just Lexi’s prying gaze. “I mean, I like guys, but maybe just because I was raised to like guys? My friends liked guys? My mom married a guy? My dad approved of the guys I brought home? But ...”

“But ...” Lexi nudged after a slight pause interrupted Grace’s confessional tone.

“But ... they never really excited me the way girls do. Or, more specifically, the way you did, all those years ago.”