We grabbed the last table available and waited for the busy wait staff to notice us.
Melodies of conversations mixed together, giving the restaurant a sort of low buzz. The atmosphere was comfortable and inviting, a lot different than the places I’d frequented during my high school years in the big city.
There were no families or older patrons. In fact, everyone in the place looked like they attended the university. The thought made me smile. I couldn’t believe I was a college student now, well not for another two weeks when classes started, but still.
I released a contented sigh and took in the sights. Booths lined one wall, upholstered with bright red leather. Rectangular lanterns of the same shade hung from above. The other side held a long bar, various bottles of alcohol stood on the shelves behind it.
Toward the back, three carpeted steps led to a separate part of the restaurant. Unlike the area we sat in, that side had a fancier quality. There were a couple dozen tables, all empty at the moment, covered with a white table cloth and set for two. Further back, and up even more steps, was a large stage. That must have been where they had the music and poetry.
A wide, wooden column in the center of the room caught my eye. Engravings covered the mahogany wood, but it was hard to tell what they were of from this distance. I’d have to check it out later.
After fifteen minutes of me studying the interior and Cam scrolling Instagram, a waiter finally came over. He gave us a big smile before taking his note pad from his apron pocket and retrieving the pencil from behind his ear.
He had a Channing Tatum look to him. Scruffy, dirty blonde hair, a light tan, and twinkling green eyes that roamed over the length of me. What was it with these college guys? I’d barely gotten a second glance in high school. According to Sasha, one of my team mates on the track team, I wasn’t approachable. Supposedly guys were intimidated by me. For what reason, I hadn’t a clue. Though it was possible it had something to do with me punching Samuel Lewis in the nose our sophomore year. I’m sure he never grabbed another butt after that.
The one boyfriend I did have lasted less than a month. He was nice enough, but there was only one thing on his mind, and I was not giving that up to a guy I’d known for three weeks.
Mr. Tatum tapped his pencil against his pad and stared at me with his brow raised.
Camryn nudged my foot under the table and gestured to the menu that had somehow materialized in front of me. “Your drink, Gabi?”
“Oh, sorry.” Heat crept over my cheeks and I just knew they’d turned a deep shade of red. I flipped to the drink section and placed an order for an iced tea while avoiding eye contact with the server.
Camryn and I both ordered a personal pizza, mine meat lover’s, and hers sausage and mushroom. I almost gagged at the thought of that slimy fungus sliding down my throat.
After Marc, not Channing, left our table, Camryn laughed and wiggled her brows at me. “I would’ve never guessed you liked white boys.”
“What makes you think I like him?” Marc was pretty good looking, but far from being my type. I could appreciate a handsome white guy, but preferred deep, dark skin, that was kissed by the gods themselves.
“Well you were staring at him for a long time.”
“I was not. Was I?”
She nodded.
I buried my face in my hands. How embarrassing. “I didn’t mean to. My mind sort of drifted.”
“Well, he wouldn’t be a bad way to kick off the semester.”
I shook my head at my boy crazy roommate. “I’m not looking to date right away. I have a lot on my plate as it is. I don’t need any distractions.”
Marc came back to the table with our drinks, taking his time and watching me from the corner of his eye.
“No matter how cute they are,” I finished after he left then took a sip of my tea and almost spit it back out. “Eww, I forgot to tell him to add lemon. I’ll be right back.” I stood, drink in hand, and headed over to the bar.
A group of guys blocked my path, holding what seemed to be an animated conversation. One of them was facing away from me and laughing. He backed up, paying no attention to his surroundings.
I tried to dodge him but wasn’t quick enough. He slammed into me, sending freezing tea down the front of my brand new halter top. The glass slipped from my hand and shattered against the hardwood. Thank goodness I’d changed out of my sandals. “Dammit! Watch where you’re –”
“Gabi?”
My heart leapt into my throat when I looked up at the jerk who’d crashed into me, and came face to face with Jayson Adams. My Jayson.
Two
Jay
I drank in the face that I never thought I’d lay eyes on again. It’d been so long since I’d spoken her name it sounded foreign on my lips. It was hard to believe so much time had passed since I’d erased it from my vocabulary. Since I’d tried to convince myself that she never existed. I won’t lie and say I hadn’t thought about her. Hell, for the first year after she left hardly a moment passed when Gabi wasn’t on my mind.
I’d spent months begging the universe to bring her back to me. As messed up as it sounds, I even prayed for her dad to lose his job in Chicago so that maybe they’d move back home. Whatever it took to have her in my life again. Three hundred sixty-five days of wishing for her, and now she stood in front of me and all I could do was stare.
My blank look must have made it seem as though I was unhappy to see her because a second later she brushed past me and made a beeline for the restroom. A few seconds after, a small blur rushed by, headed in the same direction.
Turning, I stared after Gabi, a familiar feeling fluttering in my gut. She was back.
Benji elbowed me, drawing my attention. “Wasn’t that –”
I took off in the direction she’d gone, not wanting to risk her thinking I was anything less than excited she was here. As I stood in the hall waiting for her to exit, it hit me. She hadn’t run because she was upset, the tea had soaked her top.
I’d never been so ecstatic for having worn two shirts in the blistering heat. I pulled off my checkered button up the knocked on the restroom door.
The same girl who’d rushed by me earlier stuck her head out. “Yes?”
“Do you know Gabi?”
She nodded.
“Could you give this to her?”
She accepted the shirt with a smile and closed the door.
A few excruciating minutes passed before anyone emerged. Gabi didn’t make it a foot out of the restroom before I pulled her into bear hug.
She squealed in my ear as I spun her around.
“Gabrielle Tanner. Damn, it’s good to see you, girl.”
I sat her down and reluctantly freed her from my embrace so I could get a look at her. My shirt never looked that good on me. She’d tied it in the front revealing her toned honey brown stomach – and belly ring?
So much had changed, yet…not. Her reddish brown hair still hung past her shoulders, but instead of its natural frizzy state, it framed her face in loose curls. She’d always been tall for her age, which had once made her thin frame appear lanky. Now…boy oh boy. While still on the slender side, areas where bones once jutted awkwardly had been replaced with soft curves.
When my gaze finally made it to her face, her brows furrowed and her mouth crooked into a small frown. Likely due to me staring at her like an idiot. But damn, could you blame me? It’s not every day you get to see that awkward friend flourish into…that.
Leaning back against the wall, I took a moment to swallow down the saliva that’d collected in my mouth before I drooled on myself. “What are you doing here?”
Her lips curved upward into a smile I never could forget. “Well I was trying to get some food until some goofball knocked tea all over me.”
I chuckled. “Funny. I mean in River Crest.”
“I’m attending the university.”
“Word?” I almost jumped up and clicked my heels together. Her being on campus meant I
’d likely see her every day. I hoped. “Freshman.”
She rolled her eyes and nudged my shoulder. “Hush.”
Before she’d left I’d always teased her that I was a grade ahead. She’d been excited that the following school year I wouldn’t be able to call her a freshman anymore. That was until…
A throat cleared beside us and we both turned to Gabi’s friend. “Well, let me just get out of the way of your little love connection, since I seem to be invisible.”
Gabi’s cheeks flushed, a bit of red tinging them as her wide eyes flickered to me. “Um…Jayson, this is my roommate, Cam. Cam, this is my Jay – uh, Jayson. This is Jayson.”
Cam lifted a brow at Gabi then shook my hand. “Nice to meet you, Jayson. Gabi, I’m going to head back to the table and wait for our food.” With that she turned and left us standing there.
“Why don’t you sit with us?” I offered. “It’s just me and Benji.”
She nodded, flashing me that beautiful smile. “Sure.”
Benji stood when he saw us, grinning from ear to ear. “What’s good, Gabriel? You done got grown on me?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her.
A strange pang clenched in my chest and I found myself frowning.
She giggled and smacked the back of his head before pushing him away. “I see you still live to annoy me.”
“You know it.”
I chuckled, recalling these two constantly going at it back in the day. Benji, my cousin who might as well have been my brother, and I grew up together, at least our adolescent years. He’d lived with us so he always ended up hanging out with me and Gabi, making fun of her affinity for sports. Hence calling her Gabriel instead of Gabrielle.
Gabi left for a moment to ask her friend to come over. When they joined us, Benji and Cam sat on one side while Gabi and I shared the other.
No sooner than Cam was beside him, Benji was putting the moves on her. And being his usual self, did so without an ounce of charm or stealth. “Damn, you’re small as hell, girl.” His gaze roamed over her body as he licked his lips. “The positions I could put you in.”
I thought for sure she’d go off on him, instead she smirked and gave him a sideways glance. “Boy, please. You couldn’t handle this if I gave you the handbook.”
“Baby, I wrote that book.”
Cam had no idea what she’d just gotten herself into. If there was one thing Benji loved, it was a challenge.
I shook my head at them and turned my attention to Gabi. “So, how’ve you been, Little Red?”
She giggled at her childhood nickname, then turned to face me in the booth, pulling her leg up as she did so that her knee rested on my thigh.
“I’ve been okay. What about you, track star? You asked what I’m doing here, what about you? I thought colleges would be fighting over you.”
“They were, and it was tough choosing from so many, but I’ve run for River Crest my whole life. It only seemed right to finish here, you know?”
She nodded and stirred her fresh tea with her straw.
A silence fell over us and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Our conversations had once flowed so effortless. Now it was almost like we had no clue how to be around one another. I didn’t like it in the slightest. “You know I missed you, right?”
When she looked up at me the smile had vanished from her eyes, replaced with something I’d only seen from her on rare occasions, tears. “Did you? Because you stopped calling, and whenever I phoned you were never available to talk. You forgot about me, Jay.”
Her words hung in the air. That coupled with those big brown tear-filled eyes ripped my soul in half. I could kick myself for causing her to believe I’d forgotten her. As if such a thing were even possible. Not only was she my best friend and so completely different that any girl I’d ever come across, but it wasn’t like you could ever forget your first –
Benji’s rambunctious laughter sliced through my thoughts. “Trust me, Gabe, he missed you. Cried like a baby for the longest. It got so bad I hated to spend the night in his room. Kept getting woken in the middle of the night by this guy sobbing your name into his pillow.”
Shaking my head at my supposed ‘friend’, I plucked a sausage from my pizza and tossed it at him. “Not cool, man.” After giving him a threatening glare, I turned my attention back to Gabi.
She rested her elbow on the table with her head on her fist and gazed at me with those pretty browns. “If you missed me so much, why’d you disappear?”
With a heavy breath, and heart, I met her gaze. “Gabi, I’m so sorry I –”
“What the hell, Jayson?”
I winced at squeaky voice behind me, knowing it could only belong to one person. Shit. I turned and found Brooke killing Gabi with her eyes.
I rocketed from my seat and led her away before all hell broke loose. “Babe, what are you doing here? I thought you were sick.”
She cocked her head to the side and placed her hand on her hip. Aw, hell. “That’s all you have to say to me after I find you cuddled up in a booth, entertaining some bitch?”
My eye twitched at her reference to Gabi, but I let it slide, for now, seeing how things may have looked from her perspective. “No one’s cuddling. Gabi’s just a friend.”
“Yeah, I bet. Just what kind of friend is she?”
“It’s not like that. We grew up together, that’s all.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits while she crossed her arms under her breasts. “That’s funny, I don’t recall you ever mentioning her.”
“We lost touch for a long time. I thought I’d never see her again.”
She continued her visual assault, probably having killed me in her mind several times by now.
I could see that this situation, as well as many others involving me and a female that wasn’t her, would not end well. Unless I calmed her down in the next few seconds, Angelo was gonna have my ass for causing yet another scene in his establishment.
“Babe, relax.” I rested my hands on her shoulders, and then moved them up and down her arms. “There’s nothing going on, okay?”
She started to relax into my touch until her gaze shifted over to Gabi. The smile forming on her face twisted into a scowl and she pushed my hands away. “Why the hell is she wearing your shirt?”
Shit. I’d forgotten about that. “There was an accident. Tea spilled on her top. It was my fault so I loaned her mine.”
She stared at me for a long time, no doubt deciding if she was buying my story. Over the past few weeks her distrust in me had increased. I couldn’t even look at girl without her accusing me of something.
Her eyes cut over to Gabi again, a grin creeping over her face. She cupped the back of neck and pulled me into a kiss, shoving her tongue into my mouth.
The only reason I didn’t push her away was to save her from embarrassment. Brooke knew how I felt about public displays of affection. A hug or peck on the cheek was fine, anything more belonged behind closed doors.
Once she released me, she sauntered past the booth, smirking at Gabi the entire way.
My fist clenched, desperate for a wall to punch for not realizing what she’d been up to sooner. The kiss, in full view of the table, had been her marking her territory, daring Gabi to touch what was hers.
She and I were going to have a long talk later. I was beyond fed up with this little act of hers.
When I made it back to my seat, Gabi stood wringing her hands. I couldn’t quite read the expression on her face, but it was far from the smile she’d worn less than fifteen minutes ago.
“Cam and I have to go.”
I looked to Benji for an explanation. His only response was a shrug.
Cam stood and eased out of the booth. “Right, we have a lot of unpacking to do.” She linked her arm through Gabi’s and they hurried toward the exit. Just as they reached the door, Gabi looked back at me. Our eyes locked and she held my gaze for a second before lowering her eyes and continuing forward.
All I could do was c
ollapse into my seat and close my eyes. I leaned my head back, mulling over the last three minutes of my life. I couldn’t comprehend why I was more upset over Gabi leaving the restaurant than the possibility of Brooke leaving me.
Benji snickered and I opened my eyes, awaiting his smart ass comment.
“Well, that was interesting. Better than a soap opera.”
“Shut up.”
He continued to laugh at my expense before stopping to frown at the table. “Hold up, did they just leave us with their bill?”
~ ♥ ~
I sat on the edge of my bed, holding my aching skull, emotionally drained from the reappearance of Gabi and the drama with Brooke. Luckily Brooke had gone back to her dorm. I wasn’t in the mood to argue. Not when all I could think about was the frizzy red head and her sad smile.
A thought came to me and I went over to my dresser and cleared out the bottom drawer. I threw everything into an unorganized pile, then yanked the drawer from its place and set it to the side.
It was still there, where I’d hidden it away months ago when my mom had sent it. I hadn’t wanted to see it or accidentally stumble across it so I’d left it at home, which she knew.
I held the scrapbook on my lap and ran my hand over the embroidered names on the front, tracing the curve of the G with my fingertips. For the first time the old album brought with it a smile instead of pain. Flipping through the pages brought back a rush of memories. Ones I’d never quite succeeded at burying.
I paused at a photo of me and Gabi play wrestling in my bedroom. My mom had always been snapping pictures back then, saying our kids would want to see what we were like. She’d always had this idea that Gabi and I would end up together. I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that she and my dad had gone from friends to lovers, a story she loved to tell to anyone who’d listen. She’d been almost as upset as I when Gabi left...almost.
Benji came in and made his way over to my desk, glancing at the dresser as he passed. “Do I even want to know?”
Excuse Me, First Love (College Daze #1) Page 2