Page 47 of Bending The Rules

I sighed. “He was clear about not wanting to try anything romantic. Crystal.”

And… it kind of hurt my feelings, not that I’m going to tell anyone else that.

“And,” I continued, “I already did the first option, staying away from home so I wouldn’t have to see him. I’m not doing that again.”

Aviva shrugged. “So, that leads you to door number two. I’m going to see if I can get you into a lunch date with Pastor Childs. What are the requirements for a pastoral care visit?”

“Aviva!” I scolded, smacking her arm. “I donotneed pastoral care, and I amnotseducing your pastor.”

“You promised!”

My eyes went wide as I laughed. “I promised youno such thing! I told you I would come to bible study. I’m here.”

“And bible study is happeningin there,” she pointed. “If you aren’t throwing pastor the pussy, we have to get in there and at leastlookholy, or something.”

I shook my head. “That man is going to see right through you.”

“Not if you crank those titties up high enough, cousin.”

I gasped, then moved away from her, glancing up at the ceiling. “Now who’s about to get struck?”

“God knows my heart,” Aviva shot back, laughing. “And he knows I’m just playing. Trying to distract my cousin from freaking out about something she doesn’t have to.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Because it’s true,” she said, grabbing my arm. “Listen to me… you and Jus are going to be fine, no matter what path you end up deciding to take. Look at how you’ve bounced back from seven years of not speaking. I think that if you relax…talk to him… and keep that communication open, it will keep you guys on the right track. But keeping these feelings in is just going to turn it into something else. Don’t do that to yourself, or your friendship.”

I considered Aviva’s words for a few seconds, then blew out a sigh. “You think you’re wise, don’t you?”

“Oh IknowI am.” She looped her arm through mine, leading me back to the sanctuary doors. “Now come on. And stand up taller, so Pastor can see you.”

- & -

Erykah Badu’sNext Lifetimepumped through the wireless speaker I’d brought into the bathroom with me to get ready. Saturday had arrived, meaning it was time for me to come face to face with Justin again.

I hadn’t physically seen him in five days – not since that night in my parent’s attic. I couldn’t say if he was avoiding me or not, but I was certainly avoidinghim, not wanting to end up introducing a conversation I wasn’t ready to have.

That wasRule #2 – Don’t let your mouth write a check your ass can’t cash.

And when it came tothatparticular conversation, my funds were insufficient.

In the closet, my fingers played over the garment bags that contained the stuff I wore when I was trying to dress to impress. I let out a deep sigh, reminding myself that I was going out withfriends.Plural. Not just one in particular. I pulled out a pair of jeans and a sweater, then started getting dressed.

Bowling had been Nikita’s idea. It had been one of the things we had done as a group on the regular before I left, and according to her, they’d never been without me. So for our first time going back in so long, it was kind of a big deal, and everybody seemed excited about it.

Iwantedto be excited about it, if I could swallow my anxiety that long.

“What are you worried about?” I asked myself in the mirror. “It’s just Justin. You’ve seen him wipe his nose with his arm.”

I scanned myself in the mirror, making sure I was happy with my outfit choice before I moved on to hair and makeup. Twenty minutes later, I was ready to go.

Accepting Justin’s offer of a ride hadn’t been my wisest move, if I was trying to avoid talking, but I couldn’t deny the giddiness I felt when I heard his firm knock on my suite door. I checked myself in the mirror one last time, then practically skipped to open it.

“How did I know you’d be ten minutes early?” I asked as I pulled it open… to find a surprised-looking Russell on the other side. My eyes went wide, lips parted – we hadn’t really spoken since his failed attempt to get into my panties two weeks ago.

“You look… amazing,” he said, his eyes roving over my body before they came back up to my face. “You were heading out?”

I crossed my arms around myself. “Uh, yeah. You’re making these pop ups a habit, huh?”

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