Page 60 of Forked (Frenched 2)
Approaching the house, I vowed to stick to the original plan. No relationship, no promises, no more love-of-my-life conversations. No second bites. We were friends, nothing more.
Just at that moment, a monarch butterfly floated in front of me, and I nearly smiled. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? A good sign that I’d made the right decision and the universe supported me.
It should have been, but right after that I looked up at Nick’s bedr
oom window just in time to see him toweling off after a shower.
Then I tripped over a tree root and went down on my hands and knees, cursing softly.
Fuck. Why did the bad apple have to look so good?
#
I managed to sneak up the stairs without being seen by anyone, although I heard voices coming from the kitchen, and more cars were parked in the driveway. Nick had originally put my suitcase in a bedroom with his bag, but I’d moved it to the room I used to stay in, still too embarrassed to share a bed with Nick at his grandmother’s house. And maybe it was better that way. Plans were good and all, but I didn’t entirely trust myself to behave, which was why I had to talk to Mia. I needed to hear someone tell me I was right in refusing to give Nick another chance. Mia couldn’t stand Nick, so she was a safe bet.
Inside my room, I shut the door and pulled down the shade. After peeling off my wet running clothes, I draped them over a white wicker chair in the corner. Hopefully they’d dry before I had to pack them up again.
Someone, probably Nick, had thoughtfully placed two large sage green towels on the bed, and I wrapped one around me, dug my phone out of my purse, and lowered myself onto the bed.
Creak.
Noisy as ever. Good.
I had a few more text messages from Angelina, which I ignored, and one from Mia asking me to call her. Wrinkling my nose, I faced the fact that I had to tell her what I was doing if I wanted her advice.
“Hello?”
“Hi, it’s me.”
“Thank God. I’ve had the weirdest feeling all day that something is not right with you. Is everything OK?”
I sighed. Mia and I had such a great connection. I should have been honest with her from the start.
“Everything’s fine. But I have to confess something.”
“You took that party.”
“I took that party.”
She sighed. “I knew it. Look, I’m going to be very Zen about this. Lucas says I have to let this go because I’m leaving and you’re here and I trust you. So I’m going to breathe and relax and say, you’ve got this, Coco. Because you better fucking have this.”
“I do, I swear. It’s going to be great. But I need to talk to you about something.”
“Oh, God. What?”
“Relax, it’s nothing bad.” I shut my eyes and sighed. “Actually, it is bad. Or it could be. I don’t know.”
“Out with it already, you’re killing me!”
“OK. It involves Nick Lupo.”
Silence.
“Mia?”
“I knew this was coming. The moment he walked into The Green Hour, I knew it.”
“He told me he saw you. He likes Lucas.”
