Page 4 of One Day

CHAPTER TWO

WALKER

Sonya’s smile is the first thing I see when I feel a set of eyes on me, and it’s instantly the best part of my day. She’s always the best part of my day. I’m not sure I understand this magnetic pull I feel whenever she’s near, but it’s hard not to appreciate it.

It’s why, after slowly descending into madness while working through the first three case studies for my psychology class, I needed a little bit of her magic. That, and peach pie, which is how I landed at Adam’s Diner. It was the first place that felt like home when I moved to Michigan from Georgia for school. Best known for their pie, it was like a little slice of home was cut out and dropped at my feet. The sweet smell of fruit filling and coffee is always a comfort whenever I’m feeling a little homesick.

“Hi, Cowboy,” Sonya says the moment she sinks into the booth across from me, reaching for the fork off my plate to steal a bite of pie like she always does.

“How many times do I have to tell you?” I ask, lifting the highlighter already in my hand to point at myself. “Not a cowboy.”

She grins. “Yeah, but you’re my cowboy.”

My chest immediately tightens at her words, like two strings pulling me towards her. Sonya and I are just friends. It’s what we’ve always been since we met a year and a half ago, but it doesn’t stop my heart from squeezing anytime she says things like that. I know deep down she doesn’t mean it in any other way than me being her friend. She all but fell into my lap, tripping up the lecture hall stairs after mistakenly stumbling into my business writing class in my second year. Her smile threw me so off that when she asked what my name was, I blurted out where I was from instead. Something about Georgia and the slight southern accent in my voice clicked in her brain, and I’ve been Cowboy ever since.

“You know, I could always get you your own slice,” I say when she goes in for a second bite. She hums around the fork in her mouth, completely unaware of the attention the noise draws from the group of guys sitting directly behind her. A scowl forms on my face when one takes an especially long time looking her over, but she doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. She’s oblivious to the fact she’s a beacon of light.

“Sunny.” I nudge her foot with mine, drawing her practically glazed-over eyes to me. I reach for the fork in her mouth and gently take it back, watching the way her lips fall apart. “You’re earning yourself an audience.”

Without missing a beat, she leans forward on her arms. “Have you ever thought about having sex with me?” she asks, completely ignoring the words out of my mouth.

Not that I can even think about that right now because my brain is currently trying to work out exactly what she just said. The fork clatters against the plate when it falls from my hand. “I’m sorry,” I sputter, reaching up to adjust the glasses sitting on the bridge of my nose. “What?”

“You heard me, Cowboy,” she says, reaching for another fork from the cutlery holder on the edge of the table near the window. “Have you?”

My eyes dart around the room, settling on the countertop at the center of the diner and the torn vinyl on the bar stools to avoid looking at Sonya as I let her question tumble around my brain. I don’t want to have to answer it. I’d give anything to backtrack this conversation and keep her from ever asking it because it means looking at the side of our friendship I’ve kept tucked away since she told me she wasn’t interested in a boyfriend. That she was having fun being single and wanted to keep it that way.

Of course, my answer is yes.

Despite my best efforts, it’s hard not to. Especially when she’s sitting there, messy curls and soft brown eyes, smiling at me like I put the stars in the sky.

“Where is this coming from?” I ask, hoping answering with a question will buy me enough time to come up with something that doesn’t involve putting my foot in my mouth.

“Just something Dylan said.” My eyes move back to her, taking in the way she doesn’t even bat an eyelash, but before I can ask what exactly he said, she’s telling me. “He said you’re basically my boyfriend without the benefit of sex.”

My lips part in surprise before pressing back together, trying to wrap my head around what she said. Is that how her friends view our friendship? Is that how she views it? When she said she wasn’t interested in a boyfriend, I respected it. It didn’t matter that I wanted to ask her out when we first met because she had put up a clear wall. A boundary. I was fine having her in my life in any capacity she was willing, but maybe this is her taking the wall down.

“You never answered my question.”

Without thinking, I ask, “Why do you need to know?”

Her smile widens, dimples dipping into her cheeks as color tints them. Her honey eyes sparkle at me. “So, that would be a yes.”

I shake my head. “I’m neither confirming nor denying that.”

She giggles. Fucking giggles at me.

“Definitely a yes then,” she says, bringing her fork to her mouth. “It’s okay, you know, that you have. I’ve thought about it with you.”

Shock punches me directly through the chest as she wraps her lips around the fork and hums softly at the sweet peach filling. I’m working through what I’m supposed to say when she takes another swing.

“I think we should,” she says, setting her fork down before reaching up to tuck a dark curl behind her ear. “Have sex.”

Holding her gaze, I let out a laugh and dig my fork into what’s left of my pie. “Sure, Sunny. Let’s have sex,” I joke back quietly and take a bite. She waits until I’m digging in for another bite to lean forward again, drawing my attention to the neckline of her white sweater. The color is even brighter against her sun-kissed skin.

“I think you think I’m joking,” she says, pulling my plate towards her so my focus stays on her. “And I’m not. I miss sex, Walker. Like…really fucking miss it, and I don’t want a boyfriend right now.”

“So, I’m the consolation prize?”

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