When we got to Starbucks, Knox and I found Nya sitting outside. She was wrapped up in a black trench coat and scarf with an expensive pair of sunglasses I was pretty sure Rikland gave her. Knox joined her in the sunglasses wearing party.
"So, how was your night?" I asked, plopping down at the iron table. Pulling up my chair, Nya cringed back slightly.
"Audrey, I love you, but please keep it down. I have a massive headache," she said before pinching the bridge of her nose. Knox slowly sat down so as to not make the chair screech across the stone. He leaned back.
"God, how much did you two have to drink last night?" I asked. I hadn't had enough to give me a terrible headache, but I still hadn't been completely sure how I got home.
Nya shook her head. "Too much."
"Way too much."
"Obviously," I muttered. I looked at the table and saw there was no coffee in front of Nya. "Have you not ordered yet?"
"I tried, but it was so loud in there. So, I waited for you two."
"In other words, you want me to get you your coffee." She smiled vaguely.
"You know I hate talking to baristas." Rolling my eyes, I stood.
"Do you want your normal?" She nodded. I turned to Knox. "And do you want your pink drink-"
"Hey! No!" He glanced at Nya. "I don't drink pink drinks. I'll have a coffee. Black." I furrowed my bros at him.
"But you always have-"
"A coffee. Black." I shrugged.
"Alright, suit yourself." Nya covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as I turned to go inside.
"You drink pink drinks?" I heard her ask.
"No!"
"Mmhm."
"Shut up, Nya!" He paused. "This stays between us." Then I was inside, smiling.
〜〜〜〜〜
I set my carrier of drinks and three brown bags on the table. "One venti caramel macchiato," I said, setting the drink in front of Nya. "One venti black coffee for Knox." He cringed slightly as I set the cup in front of him. "And another caramel macchiato for me."
"What're those?" Nya asked, pointing to the bags.
"Gee, thanks Audrey. I love you so much," I said sarcastically as I sat down.
"I was getting there," Nya said. "Thank you. Now, what is in the Starbucks bags?"
"Pumpkin bread."
"For?" I cocked a brow, stirring my drink.
"Who do you think?" She gave me a glare.
"Asshole," Nya mumbled, taking a bag and opening it. She grabbed the bread and began eating it. I did the same.
Knox took a sip of his drink and his eyes widened. They found mine. I smiled knowingly and looked away.
"So," Knox said after a minute, "what were you talking about this morning. Something about 41B-"
"Oh my God!" Nya exclaimed. I guess her headache was gone. "You're going out with 41B guy?!" Knox's mouth was gaped.
"I- I didn't even finish my sentence." We ignored him.
"Yes! Well, no? Well, it's complicated." Nya sat up straighter. She loved all things gossip.
"Tell me everything." So I did. I told her how I went to the bathroom and got distracted by a call—it ended up being a stupid sales call—and ran into Jaxon. Again. I told her how he admitted his feelings to me and how we exchanged numbers.
"Then," Knox finished, "I had to carry her ass to the Uber because she was passed out."
"You were passed out drunk?" Nya scoffed. "How you don't have a headache is beyond me."
"No, like she fell asleep."
"I did?!"
"She did?!"
Knox nodded and sipped his drink casually. "Yeah. We were talking on the couch around three, and I looked over and you're asleep."
"You must've been talking about cooking again," Nya said with a small smile that she tried to hide by sipping her drink.
"I find my cooking conversations very interesting, thank you."
"Wait! That's right! I remember talking about 41B guy and-" my face scrunched. "Wait, I already told you about 41B guy before this morning."
"Oh, yeah."
"Why didn't you say you remembered?"
Knox shrugged. "Whoops."
"So," Nya began abruptly, "when's your first date?"
"Girl, we had our first conversation yesterday!"
"Well, do you want to date him?"
I smiled sheepishly as if it was embarrassing. "Um, yes? Maybe? Oh, I don't know! I mean, maybe he's a serial killer or an abuser! Maybe he starves cats-"
"Audrey! You're being irrational again, babe. He's a model, so if anything, he's posing with cats."
I sighed. "But-"
"Nope. I don't want to hear it." She held up her hand. "It's a yes or no question. Do you or do you not want to date the hot, available, totally-head-over-heels-for-you model?" Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
"Yes, but-"
"Nope! Have you texted him back?"
"No," I groaned, "I don't know what to say."
"How about 'Hey! I feel great! How about you?' or like, literally anything." Sighing heavily, I took out my phone and went to our messages. My fingers hovered above the keyboard. I paused and typed the word 'hey'.
"Should I put an exclamation point after 'hey'?" I asked.
"Yes," Knox and Nya responded simultaneously. I pressed the keypad and stared at the exclamation mark for a solid five seconds. Should I add another? It might make me look too excited.
"One or two?"
"One."
"Okay." I typed it up, hit send and tossed my phone onto the table. "Ah, okay, it's sent."
"Finally!" Nya blurted.
Knox added, "yeah, now it's going to take him hours-" My phone dinged. Everyone looked at it. "The fuck? What is this man, the fucking Flash?"
"Ah, Grant Gustin," Nya sighed dreamily. "He can get it any day."
"You have a boyfriend," Knox said. I checked my phone.
Nya shrugged. "But if Grant Gustin walks in, you best believe imma become single faster than those beautiful eyes of his can blink."
"Oh. My. God," I mumbled.
"I know, I know. He's no Jack Harlow." She shuddered. "That man is fine. Like, the things I'd let him do to me-"
"He asked me out!"
"Jack Harlow?"
"No, bitch, Jaxon!"
"Oh, we back on this boy now?"
"He said, 'I'm good. What'cha doin' next Saturday?'." Nya exclaimed.
"Ah! Okay, I see my bestie getting a man!"
Knox muttered, "Finally."
"Oh shut up! You haven't had a date in at least a month."
"22 days," Knox corrected, "but good try."
"Anyways, what should I text back?" I asked. Nya sat up straighter.
"Give me the phone," she said, hand outstretched. I complied and watched with anxious eyes as she had a conversation with the guy I liked.
"Okay, it's done." She handed me my phone. "You two are going to dinner on Saturday. Les Nomades. Seven." I was astonished, not only that Nya landed me a date, but that she also got him to take me to the most high-end restaurant in the city.
"But that restaurant costs like $200 for a piece of bread!"
Nya shrugged. "Well, good thing he's buying. So, for an outfit, I'm thinking-" her phone dinged. She cussed and checked it. "My boss wants me to come in today. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." She gathered her near-to-empty drink and purse. "I love you, bye. Thanks for the coffee. See you tomorrow at church." She walked from the Starbucks' patio before stopping briefly. "Oh, hey, call me tonight, okay?" I nodded.
"Yes, ma'am." She began rushing away. I turned in my chair. "Thank you!" I smiled as Nya waved at me in acknowledgement and got into her car. Quickly, she sped away.
Sighing, I sat back into my chair. My stomach turned at the mere thought of going on that date. I popped up and began gathering my trash. "Ready?" Knox nodded and helped me. He smiled and nudged me.
"Hey, thanks for the pink drink," he said, shaking his coffee cup. Smirking, I turned and winked at him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." And I heard Knox's laugh as I turned.
〜〜〜〜〜
I had my computer pulled onto my lap, reading over my latest project. It was a fantasy novel with magic and dragons and romance. I've only been working on it for about a month and was only about a quarter done.
Before that, I wrote a book about a princess and her guard. Cliche as it sounds, I had enjoyed that one. I loved it so much, I sent it to seven publishers. All of which rejected it and stated my romance "wasn't real enough". I didn't disagree with them. I loved reading romance, but writing it was a whole nother story. I couldn't quite seem to get the variables to line up, and even if the beginning started off strong, the middle and end were rushed and muddy.
But I had no patience for mystery, no gift for thrillers, and no interest for Sci-fi. I could attempt a historical fiction, but the amount of research that required was too much work, and I was too cowardly to write a sad, mushy book. It wasn't a competition. Fantasy was my strongest suit, but with fantasy, romance was nearly always a needed variable.
I looked back at my computer. It had been three days since I'd touched the keys on this story. For the thousandth time, I read the last line:
And as I looked at him, my companion, my friend, I felt...
And I couldn't finish it, because I had no idea what she felt. I couldn't relate to her, and relating to your characters is what makes you a good writer. I tried finishing the sentence with happiness, but that seemed too plain, too cliche. She loved him for God's sake, but was it too early for her to admit that? Was it too late? Too fast? Too slow?
Writing used to come easy, but now it felt like a game that had too many rules, a puzzle with not enough pieces.
I later tried changing the last word to confusion, but realized that's what I felt and my heroine, who had just figured out her own amazing strength, had every reason not to feel like that. Maybe conflicted, I thought. It wasn't quite like being confused, wasn't happy nor sad, wasn't making her admit anything. But was she really fighting her attraction or was I just not finding the right word?
Slamming my computer shut, I tossed it onto the bed and made myself a dinner of frozen chicken tenders and fries since Knox was working tonight. Then I curled up onto the couch and read for the rest of the night.
Eventually, I dozed off and was awoken by the front door unlocking. It was Knox. He tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter and moved to the fridge. I felt for my phone and checked the time. It was two in the morning. Groggily I asked,
"How was work?" Knox jumped, frightened, and flipped around, pressing himself into the edge of the counter.
"Shit!" He cussed, clutching his chest and a water bottle. I froze, shocked by his reaction. He reached over and flipped on the kitchen light, making me squint, and once he realized it was me, he hissed, "What the fuck are you doing? Don't fucking scare me like that! Shit!" I smiled and buried myself back into the couch, closing my eyes again.
"Not my fault you scare easily."
"Well have some respect for the easily scared! Damn! I'm gonna have to take some Xanax because of you!" I wanted to roll my eyes.
"Next time I'll make sure to leave all the lights on for you." I pulled the blanket that was on top of me further up and repeated, "How was work?"
"Spectacular. Sweating over a pot of pasta for eight hours is just dandy."
I smiled. "Just wait. One day, you'll be working for the best chefs in the world and have your own restaurant." Knox blew out a breath.
"I've been waiting."
"Mmm," I hummed tiredly. "I know. It'll happen." There was a silence on Knox's end. I opened a single eye and saw him staring at me, a brow cocked. "What?"
"Don't you want to sleep in your bed?" I gave him a lopsided smile.
"Yes, but I'm too tired to move." Now I was beaming. "If only there was a strong, capable person who could help me." He laughed but started walking toward me.
"You are spoiled."
"I am the person who pays the bills," I corrected. "I deserve some pampering." I expected Knox to pick me up by my waist or let me piggy back him, but he threw the blanket off of me and grabbed my ankles, setting the crease of my knees on his shoulders and picking me up.
I yelped as I was draped over his back, my head near his lower back, and cackled as Knox began walking to my room. "I feed you," he pointed out. "You would die without me." True. The last time I tried cooking anything, the fire department was involved; however the on-call fireman was hot, so it was worth it.
"I will not confirm nor deny that statement," was my response. I crossed my arms.
"Oh, so you're a lawyer now?"
"I'm a woman of many talents, yes." Knox pushed my door open and threw me on my bed.
"Just not in the dating world." I laughed.
"I have a date on Saturday, asshole!" Knox chuckled.
"So do I!" I froze, jaw dropping.
"What?!" But Knox was already gone. I called his name, but the only thing I got in response was,
"Goodnight, Audrey!" I thought about going after him, but I knew we'd talk about this tomorrow. Plus, both of us were tired.
"Night, Knox!" I yelled back. "I expect to hear about this mystery person tomorrow!"
I crawled further into my bed, plugged my phone in, and swept my body under the covers, still smiling.
Underneath my door, I watched the light switch off and silence followed.