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There’s another pause before I hear him again. “So, are you with Lamont now?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“So, you are?”
There’s a long sigh from Sophie. “No. We’re not together. We’re just coworkers, like you and I were. And we maintain a professional relationship, which you clearly aren’t capable of.”
“But we were friends…” Nick pleads quietly.
“No,” Sophie replies firmly. “Don’t you dare claim that. You were never a friend, Nick. You manipulated me the entire time you knew me. And you don’t know how to draw the line. Kai, on the other hand, is actually a real friend, and he knows how to draw a line and stay behind it.”
I gulp, still pressed against the wall, staring at the ground.
“I don’t care how cleverly he’s convinced you,” Nick says. “He just wants a shag, and you’re an easy target.”
“Oh my God, Nick. I don’t have time for this.”
The sound of shuffling tells me she has started to walk in my direction. I tense and shrink further into the wall.
“I never meant to make you uncomfortable,” Nick says.
Sophie laughs humorlessly. It sounds like she’s stopped again. “Yeah, well, I never meant to give you the chance to.” She pauses. “I need to get back to my table. Please don’t ever try to contact me. Your lame excuse for an apology is noted, but I don’t have anything else to say to you.”
She begins to move again, and as she comes around the corner, I turn my body away from her and pretend to dig into my pocket for my phone. Luckily, she blows past me so fast that she doesn’t even see me. I glance up to see her hair bobbing behind her as she heads back through the archway.
“He’s just like the rest of us,” Nick calls after her, a sly tone to his voice.
Sophie doesn’t respond. She disappears through the arch without so much as a backward glance. And then Nick’s footsteps sound from the hallway, and I turn away as he emerges into the lobby.
When I can sense that he’s out of sight, I duck into the men’s room, quickly relieve myself, and then find my way back to our table.
Sophie is sitting quietly in her spot. She looks up at me with a furrowed brow as I take my seat. “Where were you?”
“The bathroom,” I reply, catching her wide-eyed gaze.
She waits for me to say something more, but I simply give her a small smile and pull out my wallet to pay my bill.
Once we’ve all settled our checks, Maureen and Brent begin talking about calling a cab, but I speak up. “It’s only a few blocks, so I think I’ll walk.”
Maureen scrunches her nose and rubs her stomach. “I’m so full, I don’t think I can walk half a block.”
Brent rolls his eyes. “I’ll ride with you, Maureen.”
“I’ll walk with Kai,” Sophie says quietly.
I hope she genuinely wants to walk with me, but I realize maybe she just can’t bear to listen to another one of Maureen’s stories on the ride home.
We leave the restaurant, part ways with them, and begin our stroll down the street in the cool evening breeze. Soft streetlights illuminate the sidewalk as we pass by late-night shoppers and other dinner-goers. Sophie is silent next to me, watching the ground in front of us.
“Weather’s a far cry from December, huh?” I laugh, tossing my coat over my arm and taking a deep breath of premature spring air.
“I saw Nick,” she says simply, ignoring my attempt at small talk and looking up at me with mildly distressed eyes.
I nod and let out a shallow breath. “I know.”
She shakes her head. “I wondered if maybe you heard us.”
“For what it’s worth, you did a kick-ass job of telling him off. You held your own and didn’t take any of his crap.” I peer down at her.
