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IMANI
Landon was online.
Yet he didn’t respond to me. I wanted to type more, to give him a piece of my mind, to curse him out, but more importantly, I wanted him to respond. We’d talked every freaking day for the past year almost, and today, he hadn’t said a word to me.
From across the table, Mom glared heavily at me. I slipped my phone into my purse and gave her a tight smile, hoping she’d drop the intense stare. Only I could imagine the scolding she’d give me later about how phones weren’t meant to be at the dinner table, especially when we were out with her coworkers.
My phone buzzed in my purse, and I ached to pull it back out to see if it was Landon. But Mom was still watching me like a hawk, never once pulling her gaze away as she chatted with Akio’s dad. It was like I had to be perfect for her, and it was exhausting.
For the next fifteen minutes, my phone continued to buzz, seemingly only getting louder and louder. I goddamn hated not being able to look at his messages and see how he’d responded after what I did to him today.
To say I was proud that I’d gathered enough confidence to slap him was an understatement.
I had been radiating with pride all day until Mr. Barnes’s test.
“That sounds wonderful!” Mom said to Akio’s father, finally turning away.
Given a moment of freedom, I snuck my phone out of my purse and glanced down at the missed messages from a group chat that Landon had created. I sucked in a breath, looked up to see Mom in deep conversation, and tapped one open.
Landon: Outside.
My eyes widened slowly, and I looked out the window to see Landon, João, and Kai on the sidewalk outside the damn restaurant, as if they were waiting for me. They leaned against João’s black Mercedes. They had to be insane. If Mom saw me leaving the restaurant and slipping into a car with the three most feared men in town … she’d kill me herself. I couldn’t get up and leave without being scolded.
I gulped and shook my head, trying to tell them to leave without drawing attention to myself.
Me: What the fuck are you doing here???
João: Do your parents know that Landon visited you last night?
I glanced at Mom to see her still talking, then at Dad, who had caught me typing on my phone but sent me a wink and let it slide, anyway. After forcing myself to stay calm even though my heart was racing, I sat up taller.
Me: What do you want?
João and Landon both started typing, and then Landon’s name disappeared.
João: An answer.
Me: No! They don’t know, and I’d like to keep it that way.
From inside the restaurant, I watched João smirk. He glanced over at the other two, then back at me, tapping his phone to show that he had sent me a message. But I was too damn scared to look down and see what it was. That man always had something up his sleeve.
João: Then, touch yourself for all of us.
Me: I’m having dinner with my family!
João: I don’t care.
Me: How do you want me to do that?
João: Figure it out.
Clearing my throat, I smiled at Mom. “I need to use the restroom.” I sprang up from my seat, grabbed my purse, and hurried through the groups of snooty, rich families to the women’s restroom, slamming and locking the door behind me.
I had to make this quick because someone was bound to try to get in soon.
João: We’re waiting.
After repeating, “Fuck it,” about a million times to myself, I hit the video call button in the group chat and waited until Landon answered. He didn’t say anything to me, unlike what he usually did, and I didn’t expect him to. He couldn’t even answer me when I texted him before.
