“Okay,” Avery started once we had ordered our food and gotten settled. “You’ve been in a delightful mood all day. Out with it. What happened? You disappeared with Deon last night. Don’t think I didn’t see it.”
“I did,” I responded with a smile. “We talked for a while. We ended up catching up a little bit, and then we started talking about, you know, us.”
Avery smiled. “Like you and Deon?”
“Yeah.” Just thinking of Deon made me smile. “We talked about how I’m not really into Nathan and how he’s dreamed of picking up where we left off.”
“Did you talk about him going to prison?” Avery asked.
“We did,” I responded, nodding. “He didn’t want to talk about why he went there, which I understood, but he did confirm that he went.” I snickered and covered my face with my hands as I said, “I told him that Prison Deon was sexy.”
Avery gasped. “Oh my god. That’s amazing. I’m so proud of you. What did he do?”
My body got a little hotter. “He flexed. I honestly think if Nathan hadn’t interrupted, we probably would have kissed.” Our waiter brought our food, and I took a bite before dropping, “We sexted last night.”
Avery was halfway through a bite and nearly choked on it. “You what!”
I giggled. “I couldn’t help myself. I was all turned on from talking to him, so when he left and when I finally got Nathan off my back, I texted him, and things got heated.”
“And?” Avery prompted. “Did you get dick pics?”
The images that I eventually coaxed out of Deon made my phone feel like it was smoldering through my pants pocket. “Maybe?”
Avery squealed. “Is he just as blessed beneath his clothes as he is over them?”
I smiled even wider. “Maybe.”
Avery started to bounce in her seat and clap her hands. “Okay, so then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t just break up with Nathan and start dating Deon. It’s settled. You two have so much more chemistry, and Deon is obviously a better choice for you. What are you waiting for?”
“Honestly?” I said. “I think I’m gonna do it.”
Avery leaned in. “Shut up.”
“I’m serious. Deon, he’s… He’s just the one I should be with, you know? If it weren’t for whatever happened with him, we probably would have made things official and would still be together. I just wanted to get through last night, get beyond Nathan’s birthday and the party. I was expecting to have to take a couple of weeks to gauge where Deon was at, but we figured that out last night. I’m gonna go for it.”
Avery seemed truly surprised. “Really? Like, for real?”
“Yeah. I should be with Deon. There’s no doubt about it.”
Avery made fake, dramatic sniffling sounds. “My baby is all grown up.”
“Now I just have to figure out how to actually break up with—” I looked up over Avery’s shoulders, and my heart sank. “Nathan.”
“Well, yeah. That’s the thing.”
“No,” I said, nodding my head in the direction of the front door where Nathan was walking in. “Nathan’s here.”
“What?” Avery looked over her shoulder, and that shift drew Nathan’s attention to us. He was alone and walked over to our table, not even asking if he could join us. He just instead slid into the booth next to me. “Hey, Nathan,” Avery murmured.
“Hey,” Nathan said, before turning his head to kiss me on my cheek. “Hi, sweetheart.”
I was frozen and speechless. What were the chances that Nathan would show up in the midst of that conversation? Better yet, how did he even know we were there? I intentionally didn’t mention that I was spending time with Avery, nor did I mention my plans at all for the day because I was still frustrated that he had the audacity to act the way he did while he was still—not subtly either—carrying on an affair with a teacher.
“Nathan,” I finally managed to grumble out. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d join you guys, maybe let you spend some of my money instead of your own,” Nathan replied. “Starting with lunch.” He whipped out his black card and set it on the table. “It’s on me.”
He flagged down a waitress and placed an order for some food and something to drink. Then he wrapped his arm around me, pulled out his phone, and started to immediately ignore both Avery and me.
I looked across at Avery, and she shrugged. Annoyed that his presence had effectively ended our conversation, I unwrapped Nathan’s arm from my shoulders. When he looked over at me, I scowled and growled out, “Can you at least wait for us outside? Part of the joy of spending time with your best friend is girl talk.”
Nathan eyed me for a long time. There was something in his gaze, something harsher than I’d ever experienced from him before, but eventually, he stood up, walked over to a table a few down, and sat down by himself. He sat facing me, and I wasn’t unaware of the fact that he was clearly trying to keep an eye on me. Where his sudden obsessiveness was coming from, I couldn’t be sure.
“Did you tell him we were hanging out today?” Avery whispered to me.
“No. When I left his place last night, I told him I was spending the day at home, doing homework and applying to colleges.”
“Maybe he went to your house and your mom told him or something?”Avery asked.
“Not likely. My parents aren’t his number one fans, and besides, when I left to come pick you up, I told my mom that I was exhausted from dealing with Nathan and his birthday last night and was looking forward to a girl’s day out with just the
