AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I notice Petal’s blue Prius parked as well, which goes to show that I was right in guessing she would be here. But then again, she only comes here when she’s in a really bad mood and doesn’t know what to do. She usually comes here with me though.
I spot her at our usual booth. In front of her on the table are cupcakes, sugary doughnuts, brownies. Anytime Petal is confused, she drowns herself in sweet sugary things. It’s a habit that both worries and amuses me.
“Hey, sunflower,” I say in greeting, sliding into the booth in front of her.
Her nickname is a result of her name. Petal connotes flowers so the nickname sort of stuck.
She has startling grey eyes, like storm clouds, pretty but intimidating. There’s proof of her intelligence in her eyes.
She scowls when she looks up from her food and at me. Her pretty mouth is downturned in a frown.
“What do you want?” she asks.
“Well, first of all, stop you from getting diabetes. Seriously Petal, this seems a little overboard,” I say, gesturing at the table.
It’s a little unfair that she can eat this much without gaining weight or getting pudgy. I know there are some girls who would kill to be like that.
“I’m eating away my sorrows and embarrassment,” she says taking a bite out of a cupcake.
“Why are you embarrassed?” I question.
“Because of how I acted back there and in front of our friends no less. I should have taken you somewhere private and yelled at you,” she states, making me smile.
She’s already starting to think about things logically which means she’s probably over her rage at seeing Aurora in my apartment. Or at the very least, she’s ready to put it behind her.
I did not intend for that to happen. In fact, I would have preferred if Petal never knew about Aurora’s existence. Now that she does, she’s acted almost exactly how I knew she would. I feel bad but then again when it comes to Petal, my feelings are complicated.
I’m not sure what to say. Should I apologize for having Aurora in my apartment? But that doesn’t seem right, apologizing would mean that I had done something wrong and the truth is, I hadn’t. Petal and I aren’t together. I want us to be, more than anything in the world, but we aren’t.
So I do what I do best, I pretend it never happened.
“You do embarrassing things all the time, Petal. Just forget about it.”
She studies me, her grey eyes boring into mine. What I’m really saying is, let’s not put ourselves in the position where we have to confront our feelings. She freaked out, which is understandable but if we go down this road, there’s no turning back. Either we both get hurt or one of us does and I’m scared it will be me.
Petal gasps in mock outrage.
“I never do anything embarrassing,” she tells me with a small smile and just like that, we’re back to normal.
“Yeah, you do. Remember when Roman and Lizzy were in the room and you heard Lizzy scream. You freaked and thought she was in danger. Then you ran in there and saw both of them naked.”
Petal closes her eyes like she’s trying to obliterate the memory.
“They should have locked their door,” she says with a grimace.
“You shouldn’t have just barged in,” I point out.
“Please just stop talking about it. All the parties involved have agreed to put it behind them. And you’d better make sure Alan never finds out. I’ll never live it down,” she tells me with a pout.
I snicker.
“I won’t,” I promise.
“But you do have a tendency to act like a momma bear. Which is ridiculous, considering you’re the youngest,” I say and she snorts.
“I’m also the smartest,” she says cockily.
Yeah, my girl is freaking proud of her high IQ. The fact that she is shouldn’t turn me on, but it does. A lot. As it turns out, I’m into girls that are smarter than me.
“What am I going to do with you?” I ask with a grin while shaking my head.
“I don’t know, but if I were you, I would find out quickly. You’re kind of stuck with me forever,” she tells me.
I chuckle. We talk for a little while longer before Petal has to go to work. Just like that, the incident from this morning is forgotten and we’re back to normal. Petal and Taj. Best friends. As we should be.
