Page 48 of Allured By Her

“Really,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Okay, okay,” I said, feeling weird about all the gratitude. “Get out of here, weirdo.”

I might have said the words, but a part of me wanted to yank her back inside and shut the door and tell her that we could hang out for the rest of the weekend if she wanted. I could make more cupcakes and we could make dinner later and maybe have a moderate amount of wine compared to last night.

But I didn’t. I watched her carefully walk down the stairs so she didn’t trip in my flip-flops and then push through the door to go to her car.

She was gone and my apartment was way too empty.

Chapter Nine

Only an hour later, my phone buzzed with an incoming message.

I’m bored and I can’t stop thinking about Shane. Come over Tenley sent. The message completely floored me. She wanted me to come over? Right now?

Give me thirty minutes I responded. I hopped in the shower, shaved, and washed and conditioned my hair before getting out and picking out something cute to wear. Not too cute. I didn’t want her to think I was trying to impress her or anything. My white and green striped linen shirt and matching shorts were kinda gay, but I didn’t think Tenley was going to clock that. I had much gayer outfits that I was going to avoid wearing around her. Like my GIRLS GAYS THEYS shirt. But I did put on my Protect Trans Kids shirt under the linen top. You didn’t have to be queer to support trans kids, that was just the right thing to do.

My hair went into two low buns and I had to admit, I looked good. Not that it mattered. Tenley wasn’t looking at me like that.

When I got to her house, I was a little nervous as I turned off my car and got out. I’d seen her not that long ago, but things were different now. We didn’t have to hang out. There was no purpose to me being here, other than she’d asked me to be and I’d agreed. I no longer owed her anything, yet here I was. She did have that impressive library, though. That was worth driving over for.

I knocked on the door and heard Tenley call out that I should come in. I did, slipping my shoes off and leaving them by the door.

“I’m in the kitchen,” she called, and I headed toward the back of the house to find Tenley barefoot and wearing a flowered sundress as various pots steamed on the stove.

“Hey,” she said, spinning around. “I’m making dinner. I should have asked you what you wanted or if you’d already eaten.”

“I haven’t,” I said. I hadn’t even considered that food would be involved. I’d been too worried about what I was going to wear.

“How do you feel about Greek pasta salad with orzo and honey balsamic chicken thighs?” she asked, turning off one of the burners.

“Sounds good to me,” I said. Better than what I probably would have had at home. “Can I help?”

Tenley looked at me and bit her bottom lip. “This is going to sound mean, but I don’t let people cook in my kitchen.”

I laughed. “That doesn’t sound mean. I can get the plates and set the table,” I said.

“Thanks,” Tenley said. “I’m just…I’m particular about cooking and it’s easier to do it than have to show someone else how to do it.”

How utterly adorable. I hadn’t pictured Tenley as being kitchen strict. It made sense, though, with how many rules she had about me borrowing one of her books. I wondered if Shane had tried to bully her in the kitchen.

Probably not. Shane seemed like the kind of guy who would think cooking was beneath him, but who couldn’t cook an egg if his life depended on it.

“We can eat in the living room if you want. The dining room is kind of a mess,” she said, draining the pasta. “There are fold-up trays in the corner.”

I took the plates to the living room and found several trays with legs that I set up in front of the couch. They were pretty handy, I had to admit. Better than putting everything on the coffee table or having to balance it in your lap.

“I need to get me a few of those trays,” I said when I came back to get silverware and glasses and bowls for the pasta salad.

“Those were my grandmother’s,” she said. “We used to use them when I was little and I’d stay with her and watch old movies. She’s the one I got a ton of my books from.”

“That sounds lovely,” I said. My grandparents were all elderly when I was young and died one by one, my last grandfather gone before I turned 13.

“She was,” she said, sighing. “I miss her.”

Once I was done with setting up the living room to eat, I didn’t have anything else to do but watch Tenley zoom around her kitchen, doing fifty things at once.

The chicken came out of the oven and it smelled so good, I was tempted to snatch a piece even if it burned my fingers and made Tenley mad.

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