Page 3 of The Last Dance

‘Don’tfinish that sentence!’ I stop her with a laugh.

She rolls her eyes. ‘I’ll have you know that any guy I’ve ever considered my BFF…’ she uses air quotes around BFF ‘… was only telling me what I wanted to hear until he could sweet-talk me right out of my panties. He’s into you. I guarantee it. You might have put him in the friend zone a long time ago, but I bet that’s not the zone he wanted to land in.’ She puts a lid on Florence’s coffee.

‘I’m pretty sure if that was the case he’d have said something before now, eleven years later. Plus, you’re forgetting one very important detail… he was married to my sister.’

‘For like a week…’

I take Florence’s coffee from Jenna with a frown. Being married a week counts. Especially considering it was the week before she died. It was her dying wish, to marry the love of her life, my best friend.

I can’t have feelings for him; it’s against the rules. I’m not sure exactly which rulebook I’m following but me and Henry, romantically involved, feels like crossing some kind of invisible line in the sand. I’m sure he feels exactly the same way. Actually, I’m pretty sure he’s never considered it at all because I doubt he’s ever even looked at me that way.

I glance over at him as Jenna makes his coffee. He’s standing near a table staring at the phone in his hands.

‘He’s gorgeous, smart, successful, and he buys old ladies coffee for no reason other than that he’s genuinely nice. He’s the perfect catch,’ Jenna says as she works.

He is all those things and right now I really wish she were wrong about that. I know I said I’ve never had a romantic feeling for Henry and that ismostlytrue. But there are times when my mind wanders and I wonder what he and I might be like. I mean, come on, I’m not blind, I see how gorgeous he is. Sometimes I daydream and from time to time he even pops into those daydreams when I least expect it. Never have I asked him to leave. Judge me if you must.

He isn’t the kind of guy I normally date, apparently because he has a solid job and isn’t addicted to his PlayStation and if I’m going by my history in men those two things don’t seem to be deal-breakers, but there is something about him that sometimes does it for me. Most of my daydreaming moments usually start with something dumb like seeing him do something incredibly nice for someone, like a random act of kindness that he insists he doesn’t want people to know he does because that defeats the purpose.

He’s got a good heart. AlwaysDoTheRightThingHenry. That was the nickname I came up with for him at school that day we met. He did the right thing, standing up for a girl he didn’t know, even though I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Even back then he was the voice of reason between him and his not so female best friend, Ben. Always making sure they were doing the right thing. He’s lived up to it ever since.

‘I’ll bring this out to Florence.’ I walk around the counter, carrying her strong coffee in a to-go cup.

Then there’s me, AlwaysDatesTheWrongGuyAmbri. It’s not my official title but it fits. I can’t say the men I date have ever done what Henry just did that I know of. In fact, sometimes it’s a challenge to even get them to buymycoffee. The guys I date lately seem to think a meal at one of the food trucks I’m obsessed with is enough to woo me right out of my panties. If I’m honest, my romance bar seems to be set pretty low so the whole food-truck thing works more often than I’d like to admit.

I walk back to the counter as Florence waves goodbye to Henry.

‘Here ya go… one tall, dark haired, tanned, sweet, sexy, and mesmerizingly handsome coffee for the guy who’sjustyour friend.’ Jenna scribbles a couple hearts under his name before handing me the cup. ‘Look at him…’ She stares across the room at him. His back is still to us and he’s still standing near the table we normally sit at when he comes in. Yes, we’re completely juvenile and have a preferred table, as we did in the cafeteria while we were in high school. ‘He’s just so cute! That ass too…Yum.I wanna bite it.’ She chomps her teeth together.

I stifle back a laugh. ‘You’re killing me.’ I turn away from her with a roll of my eyes. She can be a little over the top, but she does make a long day more fun.

I walk the coffee over to Henry, setting it on the table as I sit down. He waits to finally sit until I do. Another moment to add to the daydream list. Chivalry isn’t dead when he’s around, that’s for sure.

‘Thanks,’ he says, suddenly noticing the hearts under his name as he picks up the cup off the table. ‘That’s new…’ He raises a single eyebrow, staring across the table at me as if I did it.

‘Jenna.’ I nod her direction and roll my eyes. ‘Be glad it’s not some kind of pornographic sketch.’ I shrug with a laugh. ‘You know she’s as in love with you as Florence now is.’ I point to his cheek where the lip prints still sit. ‘You’re like some kind of woman whisperer.’

He laughs, glancing at Jenna, who bites the air in his direction. I gasp in horror as he scrunches his face into an awkward and clearly uncomfortable smile, quickly turning back to me. ‘She’s kinda weird.’

‘You’re telling me.’ I laugh. ‘She hasn’t had sex in like six months, so you should be glad she hasn’t thrown you down on the counter yet.’

He shakes his head, his face still scrunched. ‘Way too much info about your fellow barista.’ He slides the tickets across the table to me. ‘Here they are.’

‘I can’t believe you got these.’ I count them and frown. ‘Only two?’

He nods. ‘Sorry, Ben and Claire will have to sit this one out. I’m sure they’d meet us after for a drink?’

‘Sounds perfect!’ I grin, excitedly. ‘Wanna meet there? I should probably go home and change after work.’

He looks me up and down, his eyes narrowed as he points to my outfit with a pinched smile on his face. ‘So, then this outfit… is specifically for lounging around my apartment as you hold my remote hostage?’

‘Haha,no. This outfit is reserved for when I wait to get out of bed until fifteen minutes before my shift and need to get dressed with my eyes closed. You can’t go wrong with all black.’

I literally wear the same thing to work almost daily. Black jeans and black T-shirt. Because I hate morningsandlaundry and it’s so much easier to buy all black, so I can grab whatever I want while I’m half asleep and not end up looking like I did exactly that.

‘Girls and their outfits. Whatever you have to do, I’m good with. I’ll meet you there at eight? Just outside the main entrance.’

‘Sounds good,’ I say as he stands from the table.

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