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“Yeah, sure am.” I flash her a smile.
“My friends told me you used to live in this town, but I didn’t believe them. That’s so crazy. I mean, I follow you on everything!” She's definitely slightly intoxicated and I am definitely not interested. “I thought you lived in Europe now.”
I nod. “Yep, that was me. A whole year in Europe was great, but I’m glad to be back on US soil.” Even if the tour company had paid me a bucket load of money to do brand endorsement deals with them. “I’m now doing a segment called Grilling on the Farm, so I’ll be around small town America for awhile.” I gesture to Derrick. “The first video should be up sometime this week.”
She nods, furiously. “That sounds likesomuch fun. You know, I’d love to hear more if you’re interested.” She jerks her head to the side.
“No thanks.” I swallow hard. There’s only one woman on my mind, and that’s Selena. It’s been a year since I’ve seen her last, and our communication has been… strained to say the least.
She shrugs. “Your loss.” The girl turns on a dime, sauntering off her hips swinging back and forth.
In another life, I might have gone for it. Despite my terrible track record with girls, I try to put myself out there, just in case the next one could bethe one. It’s just turned out so far that most women I speak to ultimately all want the same thing.
Everyone, perhaps, except Selena. The two of us have been best friends since childhood, having grown up only a few blocks from each other. As we grew older, I soon developed feelings, andhard. Though it wasn’t until last year where we finally actually did anything about it.
One hookup later, and suddenly she’s being weird over call and text. At first she’d only reply a few times a week, then not at all. There’s not much I could do about it from Europe. I’m not sure if it’s because of something I did, or if there’s something else to it. I’ve been hoping to figure that out today because she’s it for me.
“Are we going to put anything else on?” Derrick asks me, and I realize that I’ve been standing motionless behind an empty grill.
We probably should, just to be safe but I’m not in the mood. “No,” I decide, shutting off the grill. “It’s just for the intro, right? We should have plenty to work with. And if not, we can piece together footage from the other videos we have lined up.”
“You’re right,” Derrick says, staring down at the pile of relatively untouched skewers. “It seems like people aren’t really hungry at the moment.”
I shut off the burners, letting it cool off before I attempt to scrub it clean.
As I look up one last time toward the entrance, I catch something. A head of brown hair moves through the crowd, her back toward me. My heart jumps in my chest, and the whole world seems to slow to a halt. I can’t see her face, but I know without a doubt it’s her.
When did Selena arrive? How did she slip inside without me noticing?
Finally, she turns in my direction, but doesn’t seem to see me.She has to see me though, right? She must know that I’d come to my sister’s wedding.I’m secluded from everything else, and it’s not like I’ve been tucked in a corner. I debate waving to her, but I pause when I notice something off about her.
She’s stunning. She has always taken my breath away and she’s still the same Selena, though now her face is slightly more rounded, and her eyes seem droopy and tired. Even from here, I can see the new stress lines appearing in her forehead. Normally this girl is walking sunshine.
I shrug it off. It’s likely a combination of not having seen her in ages and the fact that Selena has always made my head spin. As she stands there, clad in a beautiful gold dress with a black sash around her waist, I can’t think of anything except for her.
Selena has always been a mystery I can’t seem to crack. Even though I’ve known her almost all my life, sometimes it feels like we’re still complete strangers.
I don’t hear what Derrick says to me. My legs start moving, and suddenly I’m heading in the direction of Selena Ryan.
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