Page 5 of Allured By Her

I shut my laptop and told myself that it wasn’t the end of the world, and that I’d figure it out. Not having enough space to make more sex toys wasn’t the biggest problem in the world.

Right now, I needed to watch a trashy show in the tub with some popcorn covered in lots of salt and butter. And ice cream. There was a certain sort of decadence to eating ice cream in a warm bath.

I grabbed my tablet and propped it on the toilet as I filled the tub and selected a bath bomb from the basket beside my bed. Every single holiday when Ingrid had to give me a gift, she always got me bath bombs and I’d built up quite a stockpile. I might not have a million dollars, but I had a basket of bath bombs for whenever I needed them.

Chapter Two

“I’m so glad we have the same shift now,” I told Lark the next day during the mid-morning lull.

“I know. What did you do before we worked together all the time?” she asked.

“I had to work with Mindy and it was…a lot.” I told her as I snuck a few sips of water.

“You mean Perky?” Lark said with a laugh. Mindy was an absolutely lovely woman who was at least fifteen years older than anyone else who worked here. She’d been a stay-at-home-mom for most of her adult life, and she was extremely excited to have a job outside the house and to get to talk to other adults all day. Extremely excited. I’d never met anyone who was that enthusiastic to make macchiatos and warm up croissants all day, but Mindy was sunshine on steroids. You couldn’t even be mad at her because she was so completely nice that you felt like an asshole for ever getting annoyed with her. Bless Mindy, but I was glad I didn’t have to work with her that much anymore.

“I could be Mindy if you want,” Lark said, doing a scarily good impression of Mindy’s upbeat voice.

“Please no,” I said, covering my ears. “I can’t handle it.”

Lark just laughed and then pulled out her buzzing phone.

“Ohhh, Everly and Ryan are having a barbecue in a few weeks. You in?” Lark said, looking up at me.

“Yeah, I’m definitely in,” I said. Becoming Lark’s friend had meant I’d gotten to be part of a whole new friend group. Most of the people I’d been friends with in high school had bailed on Arrowbridge, so it had been strange to come back here and need to make new friends. The people from my class who had stayed weren’t the kinds of people I wanted to hang with. Tenley and her boyfriend were Exhibit A.

Everly worked in Arrowbridge at a pottery studio that Sydney ran, and Ryan was the cousin of Lark’s sister’s fiancée. Sometimes I wanted to make a really confusing tree of all the connections. It was weird to be the only one who didn’t have multiple connections to these people, other than being Lark’s friend. Maybe it should bother me, but it didn’t.

“Nice. It’s at Layne’s boss’s house and Ryan’s grilling, so you’re in for a lot of good food. Layne is making some so-called life-changing salad and Joy is grabbing dessert from Sweet’s. And Everly will surely have a smorgasbord of dips, per usual,” Lark said. Everly had become the dip girl at book club every month, so any chance I got to have some made for a good time.

“Should I bring drinks or something?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m going to do. Just grab some beer or soda or something,” she said. “Everything else is covered. One of these days I’ll have another big brunch for everyone.”

Layne had given Lark unofficial cooking lessons, and Lark loved to show of her skills for an audience.

The door opened and Tenley arrived, a frown on her face already. I dove in front of Lark to go take her order. Tenley being annoyed gave me a little rush. Was it petty? Sure. But it was only fair. Tenley was one of those people that nothing bad had ever happened to. Her path in life had been smooth, and it wasn’t fair. Not that my life had been shitty, but still. People like Tenley were just blessed in extra ways.Wealthy parents, well-liked brothers, a car on her sixteenth birthday, trips overseas in the summer, a designer wardrobe, tons of friends, and good grades. When you looked up the word privileged, there should be a picture of her face.

Tenley blinked at me as I stood there and waited for her to place her order.

“What can I get for you?” I said a little loudly. She’d been staring off into space, and I noticed that her eyes were red, and she had circles under them.

“Whatever,” she finally said. “I just need…something.”

I shot a glance at Lark who shrugged.

“You’re going to let me just make a random drink for you? I’m not falling for that, Tenley. You’ll just drink it and then demand a free one,” I said.

She looked down and I’d never seen her so defeated. She wore a set of wrinkled sweats and a baggy t-shirt, and her hair was a tangled mess that she’d crammed into a bun. I’d never seen her so disheveled.

“I just need caffeine, okay? Can you just not hassle me right now? Please?” Her voice cracked on the last word and I truly thought she was going to burst into tears.

What the fuck?

“Yeah, okay, I’ll make you something. Uh, are you okay?” I punched in an order for one of our new drinks I thought she might like and a croissant. Instead of handing over her card, Tenley just went to her usual table and dumped her bag on the other chair and sat down.

“She forgot to pay,” I told Lark.

“Then go tell her,” Lark said, gesturing.

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