Page 84 of Someone Exactly Like Me (Wounded Hearts 1)
About halfway to the car, she stops.
“You know what? I’m gonna run back and get the pink top.”
“Okay.”
“You wanna pull the car around?”
“Yup.”
She turns to go back to the store and I get the car, meeting her at the mall entrance. Back at my house, I do a quick load of laundry to wash my new tops and we order dinner.
While we wait for it to arrive, she helps me pack for my trip. I lay out pajamas, a few outfits of shorts and tops, a couple pair of jeans, tops to go with the jeans, a sweatshirt, my black dress for dinner, my cute floral dress with cap sleeves, and my gray and white tie die bikini. I’ll pack my toiletries in the morning in the morning as I’m getting ready.
We go back downstairs and she pulls out her laptop.
“Come here,” she says sitting on the sofa. “I want to show you something.”
I sit next to her and she pulls up pictures of Nicco and Giovanna from the photo shoot.
Though I know she doesn’t do it to be hurtful, my stomach twists. “Oh, Can, these are incredible. Your talent never ceases to amaze me.”
“Well, thanks, but what I really want to show you are these,” she says, scrolling down to the shots she took of me and Nicco.
I suck in a breath.
“Exactly.” She looks at me. Then she scrolls up and back down, and up again. “Do you see this?” she asks, pointing at a picture of Nicco and Giovanna. “Do you see the vacancy in his eyes?” She scrolls back down to shots of me and Nicco. “And this?” She points at the screen. “This right here is connection, chemistry, desire.” She looks me in the eyes. “This isn’t something you can fake, Des. A picture is worth a thousand words.”
I’m speechless. I can’t deny seeing what she’s pointing out.
“And you’d only just met. Now you know each other. I’d love to see what shots of you two say now.”
The doorbell rings. She closes her laptop.
“Be right back,” she says. “I gotta pee.”
She goes to the bathroom while I get the door and prepare our plates. Knowing I have a long day of traveling tomorrow, we go to bed pretty early.
“Get a good night’s sleep. You have your emergency medicine for the flight, right?” she asks.
“Yup, it’s in my purse already.”
“Okay, good night.”
“Good night.”
She turns to head to the spare bedroom which is basically hers since she’s the only one who ever sleeps in it.
“Can?”
She turns around. “Yeah?”
“Thanks. I had fun today.” I smile.
“Me too.” She smiles back at me. “Take a chance.” She winks. “Night.”
The flight went well and I didn’t need my emergency medicine, thank goodness. I text Nicco to let him know I landed. He texts me back to let me know where he’s going to pick me up. Butterflies flutter inside my stomach, the same way they did when he kissed me.
As I wait for him, I pop onto Instagram to check my messages and notifications. Something makes me go to Giovanna’s Instagram. Three images back, there’s a picture of her and Nicco. He’s sitting in a chair, gazing up at her, with his arm wrapped around her waist and she’s standing beside him, affectionately looking down at him. The butterflies are burned by stomach acid. Forget the fucking kiss.
