Lainey had missed Claudia more than she could put into words. It was hard to be so far away from her best friend, very hard, and being away from home made it worse, because she didn't have family to turn to and friends to turn to, like she had when Ben went away and then when Matt left for school.
So while Claudia would whine about being bored (even though Lainey secretly knew she loved being home too), Lainey couldn't stop going on about how great it was to be home and see everyone.
"Because you were fooled by the Chicago sushi into thinking it made up for this tragic loss" Lainey teased, grinning. "Clearly the cold air had gone to your head" she added.
She was only mildly nervous about seeing Ed again. Mildly. She'd seen him for bits at a time during Thanksgiving, but still. She made a face at her own silliness and grabbed a piece of tempura shrimp.