Page 85 of Searching for Nova

“Mateo’s not fat, but yeah, I’m not seeing him anymore.”

Ted swigs his beer. “Who’s this new guy? He don’t look like one of them kids from your school.”

“He doesn’t go there. He lives on the other side of town.”

“What part of town?”

“I’m not sure,” I say, not wanting Ted knowing that Easton’s rich. If Ted knew, he’d try to find a way to get money from him. He’s always trying to get money from people, even me.

“How’d you meet this kid?”

“He came into the diner when I was working.”

Ted turns the TV up.

I go up to him. “So you don’t care if he stays here tomorrow?”

“As long as you keep it down, I don’t care.” He points his finger at me. “But you tell him to keep his hands off my food!”

“I already told him that.”

“And don’t be getting pregnant. You ain’t staying if you get knocked up.”

“Yeah, got it.” I go to my room, noticing my messed-up bed and thinking about what almost happened there. If I’d agreed to be Easton’s girlfriend, we would’ve had sex tonight. I really wanted to. I can’t believe he stopped us before it happened. Guys will say and do anything for sex, and here I am, willingly offering it to Easton, and he turns me down.

He wants us to date. He wants me to be his girlfriend. And if I’m not, all the kissing and touching ends. That’s really not fair. I can’t be around him and not touch him. Even when I try not to, it happens. I’m normally not a touchy-feely type of person, but I become that way around Easton.

Why is he making such a big deal of this? Why can’t we just be friends who do stuff? I can’t be his girlfriend. That’s a huge commitment that will just lead to me getting hurt.

I need to talk to someone about this, but the only person I can think of is Rielle, and she’s probably asleep. I heard when you’re pregnant you sleep a lot. I check the time. It’s only ten. She might still be awake.

Getting my phone out, I call her.

“Nova?” she says when she answers.

“Yeah, were you asleep?”

“No. I’m just surprised you’re calling. Did something happen? Did Ted die?”

“No. I called because… I just wanted to say hi.“ I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell her what’s bothering me. I’m not good at opening up to people, being vulnerable, especially when it’s about something like this—a guy I love and want to be with, but can’t because he’ll break my heart.

“Nova, spit it out. What is it? Why did you call? Is this about Mateo? Did you go back to that jerk? Cherise saw him with that girl tonight. The one he’s trying to get with? They went to the restaurant Cherise works at. She waited on them, said they were making out at the table. So if you’re thinking of getting back with him—”

“I’m not. Mateo and I are done.” I pause. “I have someone else.”

“The one who keeps picking you up at work? I thought you said he was just a friend.”

“He is, but we’ve also been doing stuff.”

She sighs. “Not this again.”

“What?”

“Nova, you’ve gotta stop this friends with benefits thing. You get treated like shit, and when the guy moves on, you get hurt.”

“I’d get hurt if we were dating too.”

“But if you’re dating, there’s a better chance he’ll treat you well when you’re together. Think about you and Mateo. Did he ever take you to dinner?”

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