Page 21 of Endgame

“Come sit by us, ladies,” Nate crooned, his eyes taking in her friends with unabashed interest. So she found herself flanked on one side by her friends, and on the other by two soccer players. Their professor jumped right into the deep end of the pool, so Lila concentrated on furiously typing out notes.

As they were all packing up their stuff, James leaned in, just a little bit. “We miss having you around, Lila. King’s been such an asshole lately. You seemed to mellow him out.”

“You mean he’s being an even bigger asshole than his normal level of assholeishness?” she remarked sardonically as they all filed out of the row and headed out of class.

James laughed and slowed his stride so they were walking side by side. Wren, Julia, and Nate were following close behind. “Exactly. Plus, we all miss hanging out with you. Even if that means you’re kicking our asses in poker.”

Lila returned his laughter and waggled her brows. “I am pretty good, aren’t I?” She lifted a shoulder. “There’s no rule that we all can’t still hang. You’re always welcome to come into the restaurant. Jason isn’t the only one who can hook you guys up. Plus, I work more than he does because of all the sports ball he plays.”

“True, true.” He turned back to Nate then nodded in the direction of the athletic facilities. “This is us. Later, Lila.”

“Bye, guys,” Lila and her friends said as the two men made their way west.

“So Nate is pretty hot and tall enough,” Julia sighed. Julia was even taller than Wren, standing at 6’2”, and was a dead ringer for Naomi Campbell circa 1992. Nate was at least 6’5”. Needless to say, even when she wore heels, Lila was always the short one amongst her group of statuesque girlfriends by a large margin.

“He was totally scoping you out during class,” Wren said with a smirk. “Lila, you need to make this happen.”

“On it,” Lila replied as she quickly pulled up his Insta and typed out a DM. Nate’s response came so quickly, it was almost comical. She looked (way) up at Julia. “Can I give him your number?”

“Absolutely.” Julia nodded in the serious, almost solemn way she adopted when she was analyzing information. Then the corners of her mouth turned up and her excitement became more visible.

“Done.” Lila turned to Wren. “Need a date coordinator? Because apparently I’m really good at it.”

Wren rolled her eyes lovingly. “If you happen to find someone who wants to have intellectual conversations about legal theory and wears the hell out of a pair of glasses, sign me right on up.”

“I think we both know you’ve already found somebody like that,” Lila said knowingly. Wren had long been holding a torch for her childhood best friend turned first love, Aaron. He’d taken off right after their high school graduation, for…reasons. But theirs was a complicated history, one that Wren kept a tight lid on, and Lila was one of the few who knew the whole story about why he left.

The short version? He’d made plans to come to Bradley with Wren but then had taken off without a word to her, leaving a brief note for his family. That he’d been battling a secret addiction to pain medication was something that only Wren had known and why, she suspected, he’d disappeared in the first place.

Wren sighed but didn’t contradict her. Julia had another class, so she waved her goodbyes and headed across campus.

Lila slid an arm around her friend’s waist. “DDPs at the Brad?”

Wren put her arm around Lila’s shoulders. “Only if you’re buying.”

“Obvi.”

They stayed that way as they walked east toward the Brad. Wren’s arm tightened around Lila as she whispered, “He’s back, Li.”

That stopped Lila short. She dropped her arm and reached up to grab her friend’s shoulders. “Aaron’s back?”

Wren nodded. “I don’t know what to do.”

“We need to continue this conversation over drinks and perhaps a cinnamon roll or five,” Lila murmured.

“Agreed.”

So they made their way to the Brad, grabbed reinforcements, and sat down at their usual table. Wren desperately tried to keep it together as she filled Lila in on what had transpired in the past few weeks. How Aaron had showed up at her parents’ house late one night and wouldn’t leave until she showed up. Wren’s family lived across town, and so she’d made the short drive in record time.

“He wants to… I mean… He thinks we should…” Wren breathed.

“You mean that he finally realizes that leaving you for two years was the worst idea ever and that he misses the hell out of you and wants you back?”

Wren’s exhale was wobbly as she took a long pull from her drink. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“I don’t know how I feel about it.”

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