Page 39 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

Double fuck.

Dropping my head back, I closed my eyes and cleared my throat.

“I—um...” Clearly I had thrown Jucee off as well, yet I was sickeningly pleased by that. What the fuck was wrong with me?

Jucee salvaged the conversation by getting right to the point of her call.

“It’s after one, and I know you haven’t eaten lunch yet. Tell me I’m wrong.”

All I could do was laugh, and that was enough for her, because she knew me.

“Mmhm” was all she added before she hung up.

Pulling the phone away from my face, I stared at the device for a minute before placing it back on the table and turning back to the dials.

“Mmm,” came from my right.

Chuckling, I turned to him. “What now, Daddy?”

This time, instead of asking me a question, he shook his head.

“Nothing. I don’t have to ask who that was, so I’ll mind my business this time.”

Eyes narrowed, I stared at him, trying to figure out if he was being funny or attempting to apply reverse psychology on me. The little smile he wore pointed toward the latter, but I couldn’t be sure, so I followed his lead and went back to the music.

It was twenty minutes later before another notification came across my phone. It was the chime from the security app to let me know the code had been used at the studio door. I was fairly certain I knew who it was, so I didn’t even blink an eye.

Imagine my surprise when the door opened and Jackie strolled in as if she’d been here a million times and had every right to arrive unannounced. Behind her was a visibly annoyed Jucee, holding a plastic bag of something that smelled delicious.

Triple fuck!

The music faded out, and I turned to see Daddy with his hands on the knob. He gave me an expectant look and I returned it with one of pure cluelessness. I was lost. This felt like one of those situations you watch happen to other people; I had no idea what I was supposed to do. A chick who was into me and my best friend, who I’d—

“Hey, baby!”

Jackie broke into my thoughts with her loud voice. In the blink of an eye, I had a flashback to the time when I used to welcome random groupies into the studio with open arms. That was just a couple of years ago, and so much had changed since then. Not only because Jackie’s audacity annoyed me instead of amused me, but because this particular woman got under Jucee’s skin and I’d spent a week praying that things would improve between us sooner than later. This random popup felt like being knocked back six steps after only taking two steps forward.

Blinking, I stood to my feet and was nearly tackled by Jackie charging me for a hug. I didn’t know she even knew where the studio was, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The location was public information, so anyone who wanted to know could find it. The real shock was seeing her inside, since that was a privilege only afforded to a small number of people.

“Whassup, Jackie?” I carefully avoided the term of endearment she’d decided to start using out of nowhere. A couple kisses didn’t make you baby, and it was weird that she was trying to create a false sense of intimacy in that way. “What are you doing here?”

She giggled. I hoped my cringe wasn’t too visible.

“You said you hadn’t eaten, so I figured I’d come by so you could take me to lunch.”

My eyebrows shot up, my daddy hummed, and Jucee snorted.

Take her to lunch? That was presumptuous as hell. I pulled back from the hug and cocked my head to the side.

“I told you I was working, though.”

“Yeah, but you need to eat. I figured you could stop working for an hour or two to share a meal with me.” She shrugged, a clueless smile plastered onto her face. She didn’t get it, and that wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know me well enough, or maybe she just didn’t have anything that she was that passionate about, so she couldn’t relate.

In my peripheral, I saw Jucee place the bag of food on the table against the wall and go over to my daddy. He stood to his feet and they embraced. The desire to know what they were saying was burning at me, but Jackie was in my face and I had to handle her first. Grabbing her hands in mine, I squeezed them.

“Listen. I appreciate you thinking of me, but when I’m locked in for work, I’m locked in. I can’t just up and leave while tracks are unfinished. I can’t do that to these artists.”

Jackie pouted but nodded. Behind her, I saw Jucee walk toward the door. She glanced my way before leaving and gave a weak wave as she disappeared out the studio.