Page 50 of Allured By Her

Tenley laughed. “Yeah, I bet you have. But you never said it to my face.”

“No. Because I enjoy paying my bills,” I said.

Tenley was quiet for a moment.

“I wasn’t that much of an asshole, was I?”

I smiled. “No. I knew if I really asked you to knock it off, you would. I mean, you were there every day and if I threatened to ban you, your behavior would have changed pretty quick.”

Tenley laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. Then I’d have to find a new place to go and they wouldn’t make macchiatos like you.”

“I promise you, I don’t do anything special with your macchiatos. They’re the same as everyone else’s,” I said. My stomach simply couldn’t fit in any more chicken and pasta salad, so I set my fork down on my plate and sat back on the couch.

“Your macchiatos always taste better than the ones I make,” she said, curling her feet up on the couch and pushing her tray away.

“Food and drinks always taste better when you’re not the one making them,” I said. “I’m sure there’s some study somewhere about it.”

Tenley leaned her head against a pillow. “Fuck, I’m tired again. Breakups are exhausting.”

I stood up and grabbed both our plates to take to the kitchen.

“I’ve got this part,” I said when Tenley tried to stop me. The least I could do was throw a few things in the dishwasher for her.

Once the trays were put away, Tenley had gotten cozy on the couch with a crocheted blanket draped on her lower half.

“My grandmother made this,” she said, fingering the yarn. “Every year I make a resolution that I’m going to learn to crochet like this and make another one and every year I get distracted by other things.”

“I do that too,” I said. “I bought watercolor paints years ago and keep forgetting to get them out and use them.”

“I can’t seem to let myself have a hobby that doesn’t make me money,” she said through a light laugh. “If I could monetize my reading, I absolutely would.”

“That sounds like the ideal job,” I said, and we lapsed into silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

“You know, you’re different than you were in high school,” she said, looking at me sideways.

I mirrored her position. “Am I? I don’t feel that different. You’re definitely the same.”

Tenley let out an offended noise. “I am not! I’m completely different than I was in high school.”

“Tenley. You were dating the same guy and hanging out with the exact same people until five minutes ago,” I said.

She opened her mouth to argue with me and then snapped it closed.

“Well, I’m not with Shane anymore, and I’m probably not going to be friends with them anymore. I’m on my own,” she said, but she didn’t sound happy. “They’re all going to pick Shane.”

“Not necessarily,” I said. “Some of them might surprise you.”

“Shut up, you hate them,” Tenley said.

“I don’t hate them,” I said.

“Liar,” she said, pointing at me. “You’re such a liar.”

“Karissa seems cool,” I said.

“She is. We’ve had our issues in the past, but when she found out we were ‘dating,’ she was really nice about it,” she said.

“Yeah, what are you going to do about that?” I asked.

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