Velvet Kisses(12)
I frown at the group of girls bleeding into the establishment. I have a few minutes before my first class. It’s been a week since the humiliating episode at hand, and my obsessive brain can’t stop ruminating over that perfect man I had the fortune, or misfortune, (I’ve thoroughly examined this from both angles), to meet.
But, it’s a new semester. Spring will soon melt away the grief of winter and—I hope—erase Will from my memory and vice versa. He’s been haunting me all over this ever-shrinking campus, promising me sunshine and roses, threatening me with boxes of expensive Belgian chocolate. I’ll admit he almost had me at rocky road fudge.
The door whooshes open again, and it’s two girls I recognize from the Black Bear, Laney and Baya. I wait for them to get their drinks before flagging them over.
“Hi!” I bounce up and extend my hand. “I’m Marley, Annie’s roommate. We’ve met, but it’s usually dark, and I tend to wear the war paint pretty thick on a Friday night. You’re welcome to take a seat here if you want.” I turn to Laney. “My sister, Jemma, and your sister, Izzy, are close friends.”
“Of course!” She wraps her arms around me without warning. “God, would you look at that skirt?” Her eyes dip to my patchwork boho, and I can’t help but smile. I pulled this thing off in four hours. “I have to have that!”
“Ha! Thanks. It’s just something I whipped up myself. Not a big deal really.”
“Are you kidding? It’s amazing.” Baya’s hair is set in dark gold ringlets. Her skin is perennially tan. “Hey, where’s Annie?” She does a quick sweep of the vicinity.
Laney moves her sea of dark hair from one shoulder to the other. “Let me guess, she’s with baby Ben. I’m telling you that kid has her wrapped around his little finger.”
“She can’t be with Ben—or Blake for that matter.” Baya pauses to take a swig of her drink. “It’s the first day of classes. Bryson had a long talk with her last week. No missing school.”
“So he’s finally okay with Blake, huh?” Baya gives a quick nod as I continue, “I’ll admit it’s a beautiful thing the way her brothers watch out for her. I’ve always thought it would be great to have a couple of protective big bros. You know, a couple of strong men who can beat up little twerps who choose to cheat and yank out my beating heart.” I pull apart my bagel as if it were Will’s limbs.
“Someone had an eventful winter break.” Laney taps her ice tea over the table, pulling me out of my homicidal tirade. “So who’s the little twerp and what did he do?”
“You don’t know him. Correction, you don’t want to know him. Will Richie. He’s some guy I dated about two years too long. We went to different universities until about five minutes ago. He transferred to WB.” I make a face. “Lucky me, right?”
“Let me guess.” Laney’s lips contort. “He wants you back?”
“Apparently—and in the worst way. I’ve had flowers show up at my door every day this week. Anyway, it’s not happening. There’s not enough flora or fauna in the world for me to welcome back that misery.”
“I don’t know.” Baya butts her shoulder into Laney’s. “Sometimes old flames are the right flames.”
“Relax, I’ll tell her.” Laney butts back. “My then boyfriend and I had a misunderstanding a while back. We were together for years and then, well, things—people—got in the way. We reconnected last year, and now”—she wiggles a sparkling rock at me—“I get to be Mrs. Ryder Capwell for life. We married this past summer.” Her shoulders cinch to her ears in excitement.
Baya leans into her. “In a double wedding with me!”
“Wow!” I marvel. “Double congrats. That’s really cool. But I assure you that won’t happen with Will and me.” The door opens as another anxious group of coeds rush in, and suddenly I find myself crestfallen. Then it dawns on me, I’ve subconsciously been waiting for Wyatt to come back into my life. Me, a damsel in distress waiting to be saved from my underused vagina by a knight in shining penial armor? Go figure. “Say, do either of you know Wyatt James?”
Did that just bubble out of my mouth?
They exchange quick puzzling glances.
Baya holds up a finger. “Isn’t that the guy Izzy dumped?”
“Yes!” Laney interjects. “Izzy mentioned something about him. He’s Blake’s brother, right?”
“He is, but I don’t know too much about him.” Baya leans in. “Is there something in particular we should be made aware of? Is he a perv? Is he bothering you, too?”