Us ladies spend another half hour chatting, laughing, and filling out the order form before Morgan and I take three boxes to go.
When we pour out onto the street, I’m blissfully full.
“Are you ready to aim and fire that registry scanner gun?” I let out an invigorating squeal. My sugar rush has kicked in. “Anything you want, and boom! Ooh, you won’t believe how powerful you’ll feel with that thing.”
“Mm-hmm,” Morgan hums.
Except, she doesn’t sound nearly as thrilled about this as I feel.
The second I glance over at her, I know she’s holding back.But why?
“What’s up?”
Her eyebrows dip. “No, that cake was… I think we made the right choice.”
Uh-huh.
“So, nothing’s bothering you?” I ask, knowing good and well we never take the first objection with each other. “There’s nothing you want to talk about?”
Stubbornly, she insists she’s “fine,” which, by her avoidant gaze and unusual silence, it’s a bold-faced lie if ever I’ve heard one.
But I play along during our short drive to Target.
I sing along with John Legend’s “Stay with You” and Tony Terry’s “With You,” hoping if it’s wedding-related nerves, love music will get her to talk to me.
By the time Avant and Keke Wyatt start crooning about first love, she shoots me a strong side-eye.
I’m like this.
Whatever it takes—sappy music, nagging, an extra bite of cake—I’ll get her talking.Even if it does feel like it’s working more on me than her.
The entire drive, my stomach muscles are clenched, and moisture gathers in my mouth thinking about these past few weeks with Stefano—and the ones without him since.
Every sensation in my body is heightened around this man. The electric pulse shooting through me, the delicious curve of his lips as he sank his teeth into his lower lip and quirked his brows. The way he teased me with his tongue…
With each love song, Stefano is all I can think about.
Except, the second Morgan and I pass under the giant red and white bullseye and the clerk at the counter hands us our scanner guns, my best friend swivels around to face me.
A ghost of a smile plays on her lips.
“You’re seriously going to go on pretending nothing is happening with you and Stefano?” Her eyebrow shoots up.
By the sheer contours of her voice, I know she knows, which means my entire Sister Circle is still discussing, ad nauseam, the details about me and Stefano getting busy on the side of the building then slinking out early back to my place.How many times do I have to shut this conversation down?
“Listen, I really wish you’d stop with the whole crush thing. There’s nothing happening between me and Stefano.”
Morgan’s lips screw to the side.
I’m fooling no one.
“So, y’all were outside Il Sapore for almost thirty minutes, talking?”
With our bodies.“Yes.”
She aims her scanner gun and me. “Avery Ellis, how long have we known each other?”
“Too long.” I snort.
