The best thing about Peter was his hug. He embraced Karen with his muscular arms like a protective guardian angel. It felt so good to snuggle into him, lean close, and deeply inhale the magical blend of fabric softener, cologne, and his skin’s scent.
Ferdinand never smelled that good. Karen’s boyfriend couldn’t stand strong scents. According to him, they irritated his mucous membranes. Fabric softeners and colognes were out of the question. Even his shower gel had to be skin-friendly and fragrance-free. Karen had gotten used to it over the years, and since she loved Ferdinand, she overlooked this small detail. Especially since the three of them had been inseparable throughout college. So, whenever Karen craved it, she’d hug her friend tightly and take a couple of deep breaths of Peter’s aroma.
“I’ll find you a nice girl,” Karen would say to Peter from time to time since he had no luck in love.
His relationships never lasted longer than a few months or one or two nights. Karen often said that Peter deserved a truly special woman. Someone beautiful, charming, smart, and a great business partner.
During college, Peter and Ferdinand had started their business together. They initially rented out small computer devices to students. Later, their product line expanded, and they eventually rented a storefront in a prime area of the university town. Karen’s job was handling the paperwork and marketing, though she admitted she didn’t particularly enjoy the latter.
Karen loved their trio. It filled her with pride to always appear in the company of two handsome young men. The once skinny, boyish-looking Peter had grown into a confident, muscular man thanks to all the sports he played. Deep down, however, he remained the same shy soul who, after a while, didn’t know how to handle clingy, loud women. Ferdinand, on the other hand, had been regularly employed by modeling agencies for a few years thanks to his fine features. But after he gained some weight and his face became rounder, that source of income dried up.
***
Something was off with the girl in the denim shirt, wandering around the store. Karen couldn’t tell if she was dealing with a teenager or an adult. The strange, braces-wearing figure could have been anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five.
“Can I help you?” Karen asked the girl in the denim shirt.
“No, thanks. I’m waiting for someone.”
“Here?” Karen was taken aback.
The girl nodded with a smile instead of answering.
Karen felt an odd, unsettling sensation.
“Ferdinand?”
“No.”
The answer hit her like a punch to the gut. She was surprised at how much she would have preferred if the stranger had said her boyfriend’s name.
“P-Peter?” she stammered.
Another nod, accompanied by a broad smile.
Karen felt dizzy.
Peter only stepped into the store for a second—just long enough to take the short-nailed hand of the girl with the ponytail.
“Hey there,” he waved at Karen, who couldn’t speak, only raised her eyebrows.
“Hey…,” she muttered.
This time, the girl wore a plaid flannel shirt with its sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Confidently, she smoothed a sticker onto the door.
“What’s this?” Karen asked, indignantly, looking at Peter standing behind the girl, wearing a satisfied expression.
“Zoe has some amazing ideas,” Peter cheered, his eyes sparkling.
“And when were you planning on discussing this with me?”
Peter stared at Karen, confused.
“We came up with it last night, and Ferdinand agrees that the new logo is perfect. Zoe quickly envisioned it, drew it up, and here’s the sticker already. It’s awesome!”
“I don’t even know who this girl is; you haven’t even introduced her, and now she’s designing our logo?”
“Karen, Zoe. Zoe, Karen,” Peter replied, abruptly ending the conversation. Karen couldn’t believe her ears.
Zoe listened to the tense exchange with wide eyes.
By the time Karen reached the bar, “all three” of them had already finished their first drink. The two friends were laughing loudly at something, and Zoe shyly twirled her glass on the table. She wore barely noticeable makeup, and this time she was dressed in a stylish, sleeveless jumpsuit. Her shapely shoulders irritated Karen. More specifically, the hand resting on them, gently stroking them, upset Karen, who felt left out. She couldn’t take her eyes off the thumb that occasionally playfully slipped under the strap of Zoe’s jumpsuit. Nor could she ignore the flush that spread over the delicate, long neck every time it happened.
“Bye, Karen,” Peter said, patting her shoulder as he left.
“Bye…”
There was no hug. No more fragrant, warm, strong hugs. For a few weeks, Karen held onto hope that this relationship, like the others, would soon end. But after a month and a half, she knew in her bones that Zoe was here to stay. She wasn’t particularly special or stunning. She just loved Peter and was an annoyingly good marketer.