“Gosh, I don’t…I told her something like… ‘I wish I had such long eyelashes like yours.‘” She smirks, almost like she’s looking for a reaction.

I’m trying not to blink, worried that my fluttering lashes might actually make me blush. “That’s it? Lashes?”

Riley rolls her eyes as she ducks her head out of my bedroom door frame. “No, I just told Alex all sorts of stuff he already knew…like, ‘His hips look good in those tight jeans.’ — Or how he has a pretty smile and that ‘Lex’ is actually a cute nickname for a guy.”

“Jeez, Riley. When did you get so clever?”

“You made it so easy,” she laughs, “I kept chipping at you, over and over until you were ready to hear that umm…that it was okay!”