Page 23 of Allured By Her

She studied her nails, picking at one of them.

“Oh, you know. You weren’t into the same stuff as the rest of us,” she said.

I had no idea what she was even saying.

“Yes I was,” I said.

“You didn’t act like it,” she said, glancing over at me. My break was almost over, but I was completely distracted by Tenley.

“What did I act like?” I asked.

“Kinda snobby, actually. Like you had better things to do than go to dances and hang out and try to sneak off-campus for lunch,” she said.

“I’m not a snob!” I said, sitting up straight.

“I didn’t say you were! I said you acted like you were. Shit, Mia, that was a long time ago. Let it go. You probably thought I was a bitch in high school,” she said.

“I did.”

She smiled. “Well, at least that was true. I am a bitch.”

The timer on my phone signaling the end of my break went off and I looked down at my half-eaten bagel.

My break was almost over, so I shoved as much bagel into my mouth as I could fit without choking.

“You might want to chew that,” Tenley said.

“Thanks,” I said, but it came out muffled.

“See you back in there,” Tenley said, walking around the building to go back in the front door since she couldn’t just waltz in the employee entrance. At least she respected that rule.

Somehow, I managed to get my bagel down without dying and wiped my face quickly before heading back behind the counter to relieve Lark so she could go on her break.

“When I get back, details,” she said pointing as she headed past me.

* * *

When Lark returned from her break, we were fully in the mid-morning lull, so there was no way to really avoid talking about the Tenley situation.

All of my energy was currently on not noticing Tenley, while simultaneously noticing every fucking thing about her. Her table was right in a ray of sunlight that lit her up like some sort of angel.

“I don’t know what her deal is. Every time I try to talk to her, I feel like I get all turned around and we end up talking about something else,” I said. “She’s so…infuriating.” I kept my voice low, even though Tenley had headphones on and wasn’t listening to me.

“Hot and infuriating, which is a sexy combination,” Lark said, singing the last two words. Recently she’d started going to local open mic nights and sharing her talent. When we’d first become friends, I’d had no idea she had a beautiful voice and then I wouldn’t stop telling her that she should be singing in public, or at the very least recording her stuff. Sydney agreed with me, so we’d basically bullied her into giving it a shot. I always told her to remember me when she got famous.

“She’s not sexy,” I said, clenching my teeth.

“We both know that’s a lie,” Lark said, laughing under her breath. “Too bad she’s straight.”

“Such a tragedy,” I said, letting the sarcasm drip.

* * *

Tenley stayed until the end of my shift and when I headed out to my car, she was standing nearby.

“I think this officially qualifies as stalking,” I said.

“It’s not stalking if we ended up leaving at the same time,” she said, unlocking her car and tossing her bag onto the passenger seat.

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