Page 11 of One Day

Her eyebrow goes up at the question but she answers it all the same. “Aside from Dylan stealing my phone when he snuck out this morning, making me extremely late for class, I’m good. Why?”

At the mention of Dylan and her bed, envy claws at my chest. For a single second, it burns under my rib cage as if I have any right. She gave me a chance to be in his spot. She asked me first, and I turned her down. It shouldn’t matter, but the jealousy running rampant in my chest is currently writing a different story. One where I have any claim to the woman standing in front of me.

I am not a jealous person.

Not once in my life have I had this sudden pull in my chest. Not with anyone, but especially not with Sonya. She is my friend. That is what we have always been, but now, as my brain tries to sort through all the reasons Dylan would have been in her bed if not for sex, I realize that’s exactly what this is. It’s a tangled territory I have no grounding in, yet here I am. Wishing I could turn back time and eat my words.

“No reason,” Reid says, pushing up to his feet as his eyes dart to me again. “Just checking in. I’ve got to get to class.”

“See you at home,” Sonya says, squeezing his arm when he moves around her. He lifts his chin in my direction, and I return the gesture with a two-finger wave before he heads out.

I wait until his back is to us to eye Sonya, who has taken over his seat, taking in the mess of curls hanging around her shoulders and the bright notes of gold in her brown eyes. She lets me drink her in the way I always do, her smile widening, and the apples of her cheeks take on a pink hue. She’s a tunnel of light in a room of complete darkness, and I don’t even think she knows it.

How wildly significant she becomes in any room she walks into.

“Hi,” I say, shutting my laptop despite having a paper to finish.

Sonya leans forward on her arms, the same way she did last night. “Hi, Cowboy.”

“So…” I trail off, swallowing around the thick line of tension filling the space between us. I immediately want to cut through it, but instead of doing that, I say the last thing I mean to and put my foot in my mouth. “Dylan, huh?”

Her eyebrow raises at the topic. “What about him?”

I bite down on my tongue because I shouldn’t say anything else. For the first time in my life, I am jealous, and it’s when I have no right to be. “It’s not important.”

“It was important enough for you to bring up,” she says, smiling at me because she knows. Of course, she knows. It’s written all over my face.

“You two are…” I trail off, hoping that’s enough for her to drop it and give me the answer I don’t deserve. She doesn’t, though. Instead, she stares at me and waits for me to finish making a complete and total ass of myself. “You slept together.”

Her nose scrunches up. “Did we?”

“Sunny, it’s okay if—”

“If what? After I asked you to have sex with me, I went home and asked Dylan?” she asks, her brow arching in question. Hearing it like that sounds ridiculous. Sonya isn’t the type of person to turn around that fast, and even if she were, she would be well within her right. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she hums, reading my face before I can even say anything. “Seems to me you might be jealous, Cowboy.”

I shake my head. “I’m sorry for accusing you…well, you know what? It’s not any of my business. You came to me. I said no.”

“Correct,” she says, my words sliding off her shoulders. “And I totally and completely believe you when you say you’re not jealous. That’s a perfectly normal question for someone to ask their friend, right?”

I press my lips together, humming, and watch her smile grow from across the table. Since the moment I met Sonya, I’ve been amazed at how easily she takes things. When she feels something, it’s clear on her face, but she also handles other’s emotions in stride. Even when I’m being a complete and utter ass, she doesn’t overreact. She is balance in a world always on the verge of tipping.

Or, at the very least, I found mine in her.

“Well, now that we’ve established you are absolutely not jealous,” she says, her voice teasing. “I’ll let you know, my very good friend, that is not the type of friendship I have with Dylan. We almost went there once. It’s how we became friends, but we realized it wasn’t the route for us, so you know, if you were jealous, you really have no reason to be. Not that there is one, right? Because you turned me down.”

I swallow at her words. “Right.”

“Good, I’m glad we cleared that up,” she hums, standing again. “I’m going to get myself a drink. Can I get you anything else, Cowboy?”

“I’m okay.”

She nods and leaves me to wade in her words to join the order line. Her words should put me at ease. Nothing happened with Dylan, and for a second, it does give me a brief moment of relief where the greed in my chest dissolves, but it quickly returns as the realization settles in.

Nothing happened with Dylan, and nothing will, but eventually, there will be someone else. For reasons I can’t bring myself to look too closely at, the idea of Sonya with someone else—anyone else—is the last thing I want. It’s not my place to have any feelings towards it. It’s her choice and her choice alone, but it doesn’t change the fact I don’t want her with anyone else.

I want her with me.

CHAPTER SIX

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