She looked me over and sucked her teeth. “Really? So, you’re that eager to get back in there with your little girlfriend? Let me guess…she’s moving with you too?”
I frowned, confused by what was becoming a consistently weird exchange. “Nova, what the hell is happening here? One minute you can only be friends with me. The next, you’re acting like some jealous maniac that doesn’t want to see me with anyone else.”
“Because I don’t.”
I chuckled. “Well, that’s not how this works. You made your choice, and I’m respecting that.”
“But what if I didn’t make the right one?”
“You literally made it less than two minutes ago.”
“That’s before I knew you were moving back home.”
Closing my eyes, I blew out a heavy breath and squeezed the bridge of my nose. “Nova, I’m not doing this with you.”
“Don, just hear me out. You know I was struggling with the idea of dealing with you on that level, especially with you living in another state. But now—”
“Nothing else has changed. The drama when it comes to your divorce still exists, the fact that you don’t trust your feelings still exists…”
“That was just me throwing out excuses,” she said before placing her hand on my chest. “I’ve been going crazy without you, and seeing you with another woman made me even crazier. You’re right, everything between us is real, and I can’t keep trying to run from it. I don’t want to.”
I sighed.
It felt good to finally hear her say the shit that I’d been knowing all along. But I couldn’t help but ask, “So, what now?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“That’s not a good enough answer, Nova. You can’t come over here acting crazy, and then leave me hanging. You have to tell me something.”
Shaking her head, she tossed her hands in the air. “I just…I—”
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I snatched her forward and kissed her as hard as I could. Her lips locked in with mine and every second felt more real than before.
“Excuse me?” I heard a voice behind me speak.
Oh, shit.
Turning around, I said, “Damn, I apologize, Shannon. Um—”
She tossed up her hand. “I should’ve known you were full of shit after you ghosted me all of those months ago.”
“Wait a minute,” I said as I followed her back into my place. “I promise you that it isn’t what it seems.”
“Are you sure? Because it looks like you were just tonguing another chick in the hallway.”
Stopping dead in my tracks, I cleared my throat. “Okay, maybe it is what it seems. But in all honesty, I didn’t know she was coming here.”
“That’s not the point, Don. If you had a girlfriend, you should’ve just said that, and I would’ve kept it moving. I’m not interested in being anybody’s side chick.”
“She wasn’t my girlfriend.”
“But I am now,” Nova hurried to chime in.
I glanced over my shoulder and gave her a heated glare. I didn’t know if I was bothered by her adding fuel to the fire or proud that she’d admitted to being my girlfriend.
Smiling, she shrugged.
“I don’t have time for this,” Shannon said as she yanked my t-shirt over her head and tossed it towards me.
