Page 103 of Buy Back My Love

Melissa tried her best to keep all seven of us together, but Nina was already dancing while she walked, and Princess kept trying to pull everybody toward a bar with a live band.

We bounced around for a while, drinking, dancing, taking pictures, and talking to people we would probably never see again.

Somewhere in the middle of all of it, I realized I was actually having fun. My phone wasn’t in my hand every five minutes. I wasn’t checking to see if JB had called again or wondering whether his truck was gonna be sitting outside my house when I got back to Mobile. For a little while, I was just outside with my girls.

By the time we made it to the next bar, Anika was halfway gone and Nina was arguing with Princess about what song the DJ needed to play.

I left them near the dance floor and headed toward the bar for another drink. I had been standing there waiting for the bartender to make his way down when something at the other end of the room caught my attention.

I looked once.

Then looked again.

Ain’t no way.

Van was standing over there with a group of men.

He must’ve felt me staring because a second later, his eyes found mine. He looked surprised for all of two seconds before he started laughing.

I laughed too.

At this point, what else was I supposed to do?

“Nah,” he said as he made his way through the crowd toward me.

I crossed my arms. “What?”

“You following me?”

“Boy, please. I was about to ask you the same thing.”

He laughed and nodded toward the men behind him. “Saints game tomorrow.”

Then his eyes moved over my outfit before landing on the sash across my chest.

“Bachelorette party?”

“Yeah. My sister.”

Before he could say anything else, Anika came wobbling over with a drink in her hand and threw an arm around my shoulder.

“Oh, my God. Not pumpkin-patch man again,” Anika announced.

“Anika,” I warned.

She looked from me to Van, then back at me. “I’m just saying. This the second time.”

Van laughed. “I swear I ain’t following her.”

“See?” Anika pointed at him. “He already defending himself.”

“Girl, go somewhere,” I told her.

“I’m going. But every time I look up, here he come.”

I shoved her toward Princess, who caught her by the shoulders before she could keep embarrassing me.

Van watched Anika disappear back into the crowd, still smiling. “Your sister funny.”