Page 59 of Allured By Her

This friendship thing wasn’t really working out if I was getting turned on by a very tame hug.

I had a serious problem.

Chapter Eleven

Tenley asked me if I wanted to come over for dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I told her I already had plans. What I needed right now was some distance; I felt like I’d been spending all my time with her and I needed space to get my head together. It was hard to think when she was right there, looking all gorgeous and calling me “doll.”

Instead, I went over to Ingrid’s on Tuesday after picking Athena up at daycare, and went over to Lark and Sydney’s on Wednesday. They were full of questions about what was happening with Tenley.

“She’s coming to book club,” I said. “And don’t ask her about the whole fake relationship thing. She doesn’t know that you two know and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Tenley would probably be pissed about that, but she couldn’t expect me to keep that whole thing a secret from my best friend and her girlfriend.

“We promise not to grill her too much,” Lark said.

“Speak for yourself, I’m absolutely going to grill her,” Sydney said. “I want to know all the details about her breakup.”

I gave Sydney a look. “She’s still really devastated. I know Shane is the actual worst, but she really did love him.”

Sydney made a disgusted face. “I guess you really can’t choose who you love.”

“You should know. You tried so hard not to love me. Do you not remember the denial?” Lark said, snorting with laughter.

“Mmm, that was some sweet denial,” Sydney said, puckering her lips for a kiss. “I got there in the end, didn’t I?”

“Eventually,” Lark said, tapping Sydney on the nose. They stayed lost in each other for a moment before remembering that I was there. Sometimes I had even waved to remind them they weren’t alone. They were so cute I didn’t mind. Mostly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be nice to Tenley. I feel like I know a completely different person from what you’ve told us about her,” Sydney said.

“She’s not an easy person to get to know,” I said. It wasn’t until she opened up about how much she loved books that I really saw the person behind the girl I’d known in high school. That perfect, popular girl who was always laughing, always having a good time, always had the sun shining on her. I guess I’d never truly seen her as a whole person, with problems and dreams and passions just like everyone else.

That realization rocked me a little. So many of the assumptions I’d made about Tenley were so off base. I’d wanted to think those things about her because it made her a lot easier to dislike. Sure, she’d given me a few reasons to dislike her, but she hadn’t earned all the ire I’d been holding onto and building up over the years.

It was time to grow the fuck up and leave that high school shit behind. Didn’t mean I was going to give Shane a free pass, because that man was still a giant fucking cold sore. Didn’t mean I was going to the next barn party. But I could at least let go of all that shit with Tenley. Just let it go.

“Mia?” Lark said, and I realized I’d been totally checked out while I had my little epiphany.

“Yeah, sorry. Just checked out for a second,” I said, feeling my face go red.

“You looked like you were thinking about something real hard there,” Sydney said.

“I’m good,” I said, getting up from my chair. “Anyone want anything while I’m up?”

“Can you grab my other bottle of hot sauce? It’s on the counter,” Sydney said, shaking the near empty bottle she had.

“You got it,” I said, grabbing another one of the cookies that Lark had made, as well as the hot sauce for Sydney, mentally pushing my revelations about Tenley aside. For now.

* * *

“I guess I’ll see you in a little bit,” Tenley said after she’d packed up her work for the day at Common Grounds. She was leaving earlier than she usually did, probably to shower and change before book club. Not that there was any kind of dress code. Sometimes Joy would have us do a color theme, or we’d wear something that was mentioned in a book, but not for this meeting.

“See you later,” I said, wiping down the pick-up counter. Tenley wiggled her fingers at me and walked out the door and I turned around to find Lark smirking at me.

“What?” I asked, scrubbing the same spot on the counter so I didn’t have to keep looking at her face.

“You might not be fake dating her anymore, but you haven’t stopped looking at her like that,” she said. I glanced up from the counter.

“Like what?” I asked, knowing exactly how I’d been looking at Tenley. I’d just been hoping no one else had noticed.

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