Stop it. What the hell are you doing?
I chugged down the last of the champagne in my glass. I wasn’t jealous; it just seemed weird seeing her with someone else – with someone other than me. She smiled at him and he ate it up. I didn’t realize anyone noticed me staring until Terrell placed a hand on my shoulder.
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t really like him either. I just pretend to for Sam,” he said, taking the seat beside me while Maisha mingled with their guests.
I cleared my throat and looked in the opposite direction of Sam, pretending like she hadn’t had my undivided attention for the last two minutes or more. Terrell’s statement lingered in my head. Initially, I planned to ignore it, but I had to ask. It wasn’t like he didn’t know I was watching her anyway.
“You don’t like him?” I inquired, making sure my voice remained even.
He shrugged casually. “I mean…he seems okay enough. I just don’t think he’s right for her.”
“Based on?”
“Absolutely nothing,” he admitted with a smile. “Honestly, he’s never done or said anything that put me off. I just think there’s someone else out there for her.”
I smiled a little at the less than subtle plug. “So…having the two of us walk down the aisle together was your doing, I’m assuming?”
Terrell gave a satisfied nod. “Indeed. And I take cash, credit, and money orders only. No checks please, ‘cause I don’t know you like that.”
I laughed and shook my head.
He nudged my arm. “So…y’all been talking?”
I ran my finger around the rim of my empty glass while I thought. “Some. Nothing too heavy. Doesn’t seem like the time for that.”
“Does that mean there’ll be other times?” Terrell added, grinning like a kid on Christmas.
I couldn’t help but to chuckle. “Nah…that’s not what I’m saying. I only meant that this type of setting, with everything going on this weekend, hashing out the details of our past is not what’s important.”
“But you should keep in touch with her, though. I mean, you know…in my opinion. There’s no reason y’all can’t be –“
“Don’t even say it,” I interjected, smiling at how na?ve Terrell apparently thought I was. “You know as well as I do that Sam and I don’t have the capacity to be ‘just friends’.” Without having to come out and say it, Terrell filled in the blanks. What happened out there on the dance floor was a prime example of what a ‘friendship’ between Sam and me would look like – a whole lot of awkward moments where one or both of us would have to walk away hot, bothered, and horny as hell with no possibility of getting our rocks off. It was easy to deny that there was still a sexual attraction to her before because I hadn’t been forced to face it. But now? I knew without a doubt that those urges were alive and kicking regardless of what negative energy still has a place in my heart after having her walk away from me before. Clearly, at least one part of my anatomy hadn’t gotten the memo about her no longer being a prospect.
“Well, I still say there’s something there worth exploring,” Terrell concluded, pushing his chair in when he stood. “And if you ever need an alibi to get away for a weekend, you know I got you. Just sayin’….”
I shook my head at him and ignored the offer. I wouldn’t need any alibis, because after this, I wouldn’t be speaking to Sam anymore. In fact, I’d already decided that, if and when our paths did cross again, it would be at some other random event hosted by one of our mutual friends…not by any doing of our own.
When I saw Kira emerge from the restroom, I cleared my throat and made sure my eyes stayed solely on her as she walked in the direction of where I sat at the bar. I forced a smile and returned her embrace when she tucked her small frame beneath my arm and stood there, watching couples on the dance floor.