AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We’re seated in a booth dangerously close to the crane machine, and I groan knowing she’s going to leave me to go play that game at some point. I purposely sit so I’m facing the machine and not her.
The waitress comes over and takes our drink and meal order. Alara waits until after the drinks are delivered before bringing up what I know she wanted to. I’m surprised she had the patience.
“So, you’re free of the bar. Let’s toast to that.” She raises her glass.
“What am I going to do now? That was my future.”
She raises her eyebrows. “Um…no, it wasn’t. And you know it.”
I shrug. “Okay, I ended up not really caring for it, but I’m not qualified for anything else now.”
She hems. “You’re qualified to design clothes.”
I down my lemon-lime soda, ignoring her. “That’s not me anymore.”
She rolls her eyes. “Okay, we’ll save that topic for later.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.” She shakes her head. “Let’s talk about you getting caught. How are you? I’m thinking you just hang up the towel if he hasn’t reached out yet. Maybe he wasn’t who you thought he was.”
I sigh and frown. “No. He was. I know it. He never made me feel like just a piece of ass. He was sweet and?—”
“Which could just be his thing until he’s done with you.”
“You weren’t there,” I say. “You didn’t see his face when he found out I was Conor’s sister. Hell, when he found out my name is Kyleigh.” I cringe at the memory.
“Conor is an ass, and you can tell him I said that. Leighispart of your name.”
My head sways right and left because I fought Conor on it too, but he’s right. I’ve always corrected people when they shortened my name to Leigh.
“Well, he’s not really talking to me either, so…there’s that too.” I shrug.
“If I cared, I’d say he’s busy with preseason training, but I don’t. Fuck Conor.”
I laugh, which feels really good, although once I’m done, that same gruesome terrible feeling resurfaces.
“Ruby is right. It’ll be his loss if he chooses to not talk to you at the very least.”
I love Alara, and I couldn’t ask for a better friend, but the night Rowan admitted to me what his dad was like and the fact he doesn’t drink because of it, I saw how vulnerable he was. How uncomfortable it made him to share that with me. How deep that hurt was burrowed inside him and that we were only scratching the surface with his admission. And I repaid that trust by continuing to lie.
Sure, it was because I was afraid to lose him, lose what we had. Every time I thought about confessing, I thought just one more day, one more time, one more moment with him before it all fell apart. But it was selfish, and I don’t blame him for not wanting to hear me out.
Our cheesesteaks come out, and I drown my anxiety and sorrow in the deliciousness of meat, cheese, and bread.
“God, I love these things,” Alara says with a moan. “One final treat.”
I put down my sandwich and wipe my mouth. “Final treat?”
A strange look crosses her face, but she waves me off. “You know me. I’m always starting a diet.”
“You don’t need to. You’re taken. I’m the single one.” I push my cheesesteak away from me.
“Shut up.” She pushes it back.
We continue eating. The last thing I want is to feel this way again, so I won’t be looking for a man any time soon. When we finish, she grabs a dollar bill from her purse and slides out of the booth with a mischievous smile.
“Alara!”
