Then Sara called me, asking if I’d come get her from the bars, but she turned out to be way more messed up than I thought, so I spent the rest of the night playing babysitter to make sure she was okay.
To make matters worse, our professor cancelled our class today, taking away my guaranteed time with Al. My voice memoI sent earlier went unanswered, which is fine, but I want to check on her.
I knock on Alondra’s apartment door, stuffing my hands in my pockets to keep them warm while I wait for her to answer, but Macy answers instead. “What the hell is on your face?” I ask, confused by the green shit she has smeared everywhere.
“What’s on yours?” she retorts without skipping a beat.
“Who is it?” I hear Alondra ask from inside, and Macy opens the door wider, motioning for me to come in. I spot Al instantly on the couch, wrapped up in my favorite purple blanket, and her face is identical to Macy’s. She sits up, tilting her head. “Oh, hey, Jack. Are you looking for Ellie? She’s not here,” Al says, and I smile, unable to take her seriously right now.
“Sorry, just wanted to see if you were busy. I should have texted first before coming over,” I say, noting the movie paused on the television and the array of snacks in front of them.
“We’re kind of having a spa night,” she says, reaching up to play with one of the twin braids her curls are trapped in, bouncing her gaze between me and Macy.
“You’re welcome to stay if you want, but you have to put some of this shit on your face too,” Macy says, offering me a smile.
“No, it’s okay. You guys are busy,” I say, but honestly, I do want to stay.
I like being her friend, even if it means getting whatever the fuck is on their faces smeared on mine. Fuck, Al has me wrapped around her finger, and she doesn’t even realize it. There’s something about her that draws me in, trapping me in her orbit, but I can never act on my physical attraction to her.
Alondra deserves better than a one-night stand from me, and that’s all I have to offer.
“Sorry, you’re stuck now, so take your shoes off. We have enough for a third because Ellie ditched us to study at the libraryfor a test tomorrow.” Macy hooks her arm with mine, giving me just enough time to kick off my sneakers, before pulling me toward the couch next to Alondra. I look in her direction, expecting her to tell me to leave, but instead, she’s smiling at me. I guess that means I’m staying.
“Just don’t put too much of whatever that is on my face, okay?”
“You might want to take your sweatshirt off,” Al suggests, and I’m just happy she isn’t telling me to leave. Unlike Alondra, I’m capable of following directions without arguing, and I pull it over my head. “Macy, can you grab a headband?”
“What do you need that for?” I ask, staying still as Al uses it to carefully push all of my hair out of my face, and I can only imagine what I look like right now.
“Do you want avocado and cucumber in your hair?”
“I’m not sure I really want it on my face,” I tease, hoping it makes her laugh.
“You’ll thank us after,” Macy says.
When she leans in to smooth the cold paste on my cheeks, I take full advantage of the opportunity to memorize the finer details of her face.
Alondra’s eyes are a deceiving shade of gold that appears brown in most lighting, but looking closely, I can see the green ring inside the iris, made more prominent by the green mixture on her face. Her dark eyebrows are knit in concentration, and her touch is gentle. Alondra’s pink lips quirk upward into a hint of a smile, and I can’t look away, remembering how it felt to have them pressed against mine.
I wonder if she ever thinks about our kiss?
It took everything in me not to steal a second one from her that night, and I think Alondra would have let me.
“I know I’m pretty, but you’re staring,” she says, her voice soft as she traces the slope of my nose.
“You’re beautiful. Of course I’m staring,” I say, distracted when she sinks her white teeth into her lower lip in an attempt to hide her smile.
“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m developing an immunity to your charm.”
My smile grows wider. “So you admit you find me charming?”
A pillow hits my arm, and I turn to find Macy frowning at me. “Stop flirting with Alondra,” she scolds, and even if I were flirting, Macy and Ellie could be awarded with trophies for being the world’s best cock block a guy could ask for.
I shouldn’t be thinking about kissing Alondra.
“I’m not flirting. If I was, you’d know.” I smirk at Macy, and she sticks her tongue out at me.
“You know you’re not as hot with avocado on your face.”
