Unwilling to face the little voice in her head, Janae focused onher trifling friends who were picking outfits off the rack that were less high school reunion and more video vixen.
“No. Hell no.” Janae’s voice was loud enough that she could see the boutique shop owner bristling through the reflection in the mirror. “It’s too sexy.”
“That’s the point.” Cree’s upbeat voice tried hard to break through Janae’s tough exterior. “You never let an ex see you looking anything but perfect.”
Janae shook her head. “Adam isn’t my ex. We never dated.”
“But you wanted to.”
Janae’s jaw dropped as she turned around to meet the accusing smile perched on Cree’s face. This was and always had been Cree. As blunt as Janae was, Cree had a way of using sarcasm to call bullshit whenever she saw you trying hard to lie to yourself and others. She always held a mirror up to your face, and right now, Janae wished her friend wasn’t so damn observant or clever.
Janae took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling.Blessed Father, why can’t my friends be idiots? Brilliance isn’t always a good thing.
Deciding denial was the best way to handle this situation, Janae returned her attention to Cree.
“I don’t know who told you that lie. I never wanted to date Adam. Except for when he was being a know-it-all jerk in class, I barely knew when he was around. I was too busy maintaining a near perfect GPA to be studying him.”
“You’s a lie,” Cree responded. “You wanted to date him. You used to mean mug every girl that chased behind him, it was nothing but jealousy.”
Janae’s eyes narrowed into slits as she tried to find anger, or at the very least, aggravation at her longtime friend, but to no avail. Anger wasn’t what was brewing inside her. Nope, that was definitely… excitement.
Why the hell was she excited? Damn if she knew, or more likely,damn if she would admit it. Admitting the possibility of getting to finally know what it was like to touch Adam’s lips against hers, that was giving up too much control. The way her life was life-ing, she needed her focus on stacking her paper over the next two years to be ready for James going to college.
“You two are way too preoccupied with this idea of something happening between Adam and me. We’ve only run into each other a couple of times since he’s been back. That does not indicate this grand love affair y’all are trying to fabricate.”
“Wait?” Vanessa stepped closer to her. “Couple of times? I was under the impression you’d only run into him when he came to drop the reunion tickets off to my shop a few weeks ago. You’ve seen him again?”
When Janae didn’t answer immediately, Vanessa said, “That little smirk on your face says Cree’s assumption that something’s going on is true.”
Determined to avoid their accusing gazes, Janae turned around to pay more attention to the outfit.
It was a red romper, a striking color across her deep brown skin, that hugged every curve she had just right. It was off the shoulder, leaving one arm bare while a sheer, flowy sleeve cascaded down the other. She would definitely be noticed if she walked into the reunion in this thing. The question was, did she really want to be noticed?
“Y’all really think this fits okay, that it’s appropriate for the reunion?”
“Nope.” Cree shook her finger at Janae. “You are not going to avoid Vanessa’s question. When did you see Adam again?”
One look at each of her friends’ faces and she knew she’d lost this battle. She huffed, annoyed with herself that she’d allowed the conversation to get out of control, and annoyed with her friends that they wouldn’t let this subject die.
“A few days ago, his dad was having a bit of an issue at thehospital, and I stepped in to help him out. To return the favor, when Adam found out I was stuck unexpectedly on an overnight shift, he brought me food.”
“And?” her friends sang in unison. She would’ve found that funny if she weren’t the focus of their antics.
“And we chatted for a few minutes. Caught up, so to speak.”
“Wait, hold up.” Cree had her hand in the air. “You never told us about running into him at the hospital.”
Janae took a breath and shook her head. “Because there was nothing to tell. It’s not like we’ve never conversed before.”
Vanessa and Cree shared a glance before turning their attention back to Janae and saying in unison, “Continue.”
Apparently, they’re not letting this go.
It didn’t matter if they tied her to a table and tortured her. She was going to keep her recitation of events light and casual. So casual she wouldn’t even mention how she’d let Adam goad her into attending the reunion in the middle of the condiments aisle.
“Did he ask you out?” That came from Cree. For someone who made her living by stringing pretty words together to sell anything, that woman had no tact whatsoever when it came to her real life.
“Yes, but nothing came of it.”
