“Nash, don’t do this.”
“Do what?” he whispered before leaning his head toward mine, his mouth inching closer as his arms tightened around me. I knew what he was going to do and I couldn’t let it happen. Not this time, no matter how badly I felt for him and his messed up situation. His lips just barely grazed mine before I twisted my body away from his, holding up a hand when he quickly tried to approach me.
“Stop. This is not happening.” I waved my hand between us but he continued to move closer. “I mean it, Nash. Don’t ruin things between us.”
“And why the hell not, Della? Things are different now. What we had together before all of this shit went down was pretty good. Don’t you want to try things again? We could be happy together.” He was just inches from me, and my stomach twisted into knots at what he was saying. I hoped that it wouldn’t come to this point between us again. Just because things ended with Mariah, I didn’t think he would automatically jump to the conclusion that we would get back together. Justin had been right all along. Nash wanted to be way more than friends, and I just couldn’t do that.
“Because.” I licked my lips nervously, but put my brave face on, straightening my shoulders. “I’m with Justin again, and we’re happy. I’m happy. So can you be happy for me?”
His mouth dropped open several times and then his jaw tightened as he raked both hands through his hair. “You’re really dumb enough to be with that asshole again? After everything he did to you?” He shook his head, smirking. “He’s not good enough for you. I am.”
“This isn’t a competition, Nash.” I stomped my foot on the concrete sidewalk, jabbing a finger into his chest as the hurt from his words slowly turned into anger. “I’m not some prize that you can win because you think you’re more deserving. It doesn’t work that way.” I spun on my heel, fuming as I quickly started walking away from him, wanting to just get the hell home so I could forget all about this shit night.
“Wait, Della.”
“Ugh!” I screamed into the dark night, not bothering to turn around this time as I continued my frenzied pace. “Leave me alone!” I yelled over my shoulder. I could feel him next to me, though, without even looking over.
“Della, I’m sorry. I just don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled as I marched on, practically halfway home, so Nash would probably follow me all the way there. Great.
“Will you just wait? Please?”
“Fine, Nash.” I immediately stopped and he had to backpedal. I crossed my arms over my chest. “What more is there really to say?”
“I don’t know.” He pushed his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his feet. “I guess if you’re really happy with him, we can just be friends. Maybe someday farther down the road, things for us will work out.” He shrugged his shoulders as my stomach dropped to my feet, knowing exactly what I needed to do, but not liking the fact whatsoever. Nash had been my friend for years, and even though we lost contact until recently, he was like family.
But sometimes even that didn’t matter.
“Nash, I’ve heard the ‘let’s just be friends’ thing out of your mouth so many times I’ve lost count. And things aren’t going to work between us ever. I’m sorry, but I just don’t have those kinds of feelings for you. I thought I did but I think just being back here around you confused the hell out of me.”
His lips formed a tight line as he shook his head and I sighed loudly knowing that he was going to be stubborn about this. “I don’t believe that, Della. We were happy before everything with Mariah happened. I know we weren’t together that long but—”
“Listen,” I interrupted him, my voice ringing out shrilly because he wasn’t getting my point. “Before you told me about Mariah, I was going to break up with you. The feelings just weren’t there, and I wanted Justin. So, I’m sorry. There will never be an us.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Fine, then we can just be friends.”
“No.” I shook my head slowly and this time he was the one who looked like he had been slapped in the face. “We can’t. I can’t be dragged back and forth by you, one minute you’re fine with being just friends, and the next you’re wanting more. It’s not happening and I’m not dealing with it. Maybe someday, when you’re with someone that makes you happy and you make her happy, maybe then we can be friends again. But not now.”