THE LIST OF PEOPLE I WANT TO AVOID IS GETTING LONGER
20
Father : I am disappointed in you. Amy announced she was pregnant in yesterday’s check-up. She was sad you missed it again.
Father : Stop being so selfish, and act like a grown up.
Prudence : Sorry, new phone, who is this?
Father : Don’t play games, Prudence!
Prudence : Do I have to pretend to like women to finally live in peace?
Prudence : Because I can give it a try.
Prudence : Then Jack and I will both be fucking free from you.
Father : You will join next month’s check-up, or there will be consequences!
Prudence : Bite me.
5 Missed calls from Father.
PRUDENCE
“Why are you fidgeting?” Nate asks with a frown, his arms crossed over his large chest. “Her plane literally just landed. Give her time to get out of it and get her bags.”
“I know,” I answer, trying to focus on anything other than him.
I’m not proud about the way I fled. I jumped in a cab after our short yoga session, and made sure to book Ubers before he could ring our doorbell to take me to work for the rest of the week. If it wasn’t for Jack’s trap, I would have kept avoiding being alone with him.
I know, the list of people I want to avoid is getting longer. Two names. Well, no, three. I don’t particularly want to end up in the same room as Meredith again. A whole three people. An ex lover, his wife, and my brother’s best friend who had a hard-on that lasted way too long for comfort. I wonder if he had any blood left in his brain at the end of the night. Because, of course, no one found me a non-human chair in the three hours we stayed there. Which resulted in me sitting on Nate’s lap for what felt like a week, feeling him twitch and tense under me every time I moved. Surrounded by his warmth and smell. And of course, my heart got all excited when he murmured soft praises in my ear during that weird episode at the precinct gym. We can’t have that.
Am I acting like a child for avoiding the problem? Definitely. Am I ready to talk about any of that and the vivid dreams that followed? Hm… No. Definitely not. I’ll look like a tomato. We don’t want that.
“Where the hell is your brother? He was supposed to meet us here with—”
“Not coming,” I sigh, rolling my eyes. “I think he’s taking the opportunity of us being away to spend time with Ikram.” I clear my throat awkwardly when I feel his eyes on me. I still won’t look directly at him.
“Spend time with Ikram… As in—”
“They are both interested in each other,” I shrug, frowning at the arrival board. “I think I’ve managed to convince Jack to give it a shot. We’ll probably know if someone else replaces Ikram on Monday, since it would be—”
“Unethical,” he interrupts. “Yeah.”
He seems annoyed. Does he have a problem with Jack and Ikram potentially dating?
“Is… Is this a problem?” I ask, eyes locked on the lines moving up with each new flight landing.
“It’s not.”
“Why the snappy tone, then?”
“Are we really not going to talk about it?” He groans, and I can’t help but look at him then. Worry? Hurt? Anger? Why can’t I read him?
I see his jaw twitch once. Twice, before he exhales roughly through his nose, shaking his head slowly. “Look, I’m not sure why you’re mad at me. You’ve been weird since Friday night and then you just proceeded to avoid me after a few days, so I’ll assume it’s about what happened at Tipsy’s. I tried to control it, but it’s difficult, alright? I’m probably more embarrassed than you are, so please, can we just let it go and move on?”
Alright. So he knows why I’ve been avoiding him. Or part of it at least… He doesn’t know about my mind getting all kind of fucked up because of it. Because of that whole night, his hands on me during yoga, his words…
Between him telling me how beautiful and perfect he thinks I am, getting all close at the bar and on the mat, making me sit on his lap and those noises and groans every time I moved? My sexual storytelling brain was blinking like a Christmas tree. And speaking of trees.
Fuck, no thinking about trees …
I mean, I shouldn’t have been fantasizing about it. That definitely felt like it could hurt.
Or not, if used skillfully…
I’m more embarrassed about all those fantasies—either I was asleep or awake—than the actual incidents. I mean, the amount of time I spent in my own head, even at work, is embarrassing.
“Prue, come on…” he says, taking a side step towards me, stopping when his bicep touches my shoulder and nudges me slightly. “It was an automatic response. Trust me, if I could have stopped it, I would have,” he mutters, and the roughness of his voice makes my lower stomach flutter and thighs clench.
“You’re right, I’m so—ouch! What was that for?” I swat at his hand, pinching my waist with a frown.
“No apologies,” he grins playfully, lowering his head to mine and my breath itches from his closeness. God, his eyes are so blue, it’s unsettling… “Let’s just agree to move on. We were starting to get along, I don’t want us to take a step back.”
I scoff. “Easy for you to say,” I mutter under my breath.
“What?”
“Nothing. Where’s Nuri? She should have been here by now,” I say, focusing back on the arrival board and ignoring the narrowing of his eyes.
“You don’t take the plane much, do you?” He chuckles, and I can’t help but notice that he didn’t step away, his bicep still pressed against my shoulder. “Between the moment they land and the moment they can finally step out of the arrival gates, there’s—”
“I know!” I roll my eyes. “But she’ll just have a hand luggage, and—”
“Still has to walk half the airport to get here.”
“Ugh,” I groan, my legs starting to walk around on their own, before I stop abruptly. “I’ll go get changed in the bathroom. I won’t get dragged to another night in a bar wearing my work clothes.”
“Good idea. She’ll probably be here when you’re done.”
“Oh, and I need a coffee.” I look around and quickly spot a Starbucks, but the line is way too long. “Nevermind. We can stop on our way home.”
I turn, picking my duffle bag from the floor and head to the restroom, following the signs. After a couple of turns—and what feels like a mile—I finally step inside a cubicle and into a loose comfortable playsuit I bought a few days ago, switching my heels to some cute platform wedge sandals.
Much better.
At least I won’t get as many blisters if Nuri wants us to go dancing. Because these heels? They’re feet murderers. And that pencil skirt? Although it makes my ass and legs look good, dancing or even sitting comfortably is impossible. And let’s not forget about the button down shirts, soft—because helloooo silk, thank you very much—but I’m always scared of a button popping off if I move too much.
I stash all my work clothes in the duffle bag, and step outside the small cubicle. In front of the mirror, I tie my hair up in a high ponytail, fix my makeup with a little powder, and nod at my reflection.
Alright, I’m feeling a little more like myself. Light makeup, hair away from my face, comfortable summer clothes to face off the new heatwave, I’m ready to go drinking and dancing with Nuri all night if she wants or needs to. Being a mother of three, she probably needs to let off some steam. Or maybe I’m completely wrong and we’ll have one drink before she’ll fall asleep right there in the bar.
I swear it takes me about fifteen minutes to find my way back to the arrival boards, and I sigh in relief when I spot Nate, talking with Nuri.
I start to run, dropping my bag a second before I jump on Nuri’s back, hugging her tightly against me, burying my head in her back hair. God, how I missed her. Even after she left college with Jack and Nate, she was still living near campus so we kept hanging out. She was Jack’s friend first, but I knew as soon as I met her that we were going to be friends. We don’t talk much, but every time we see each other, it’s like nothing has changed—except for all the catching up we have to do.
She stumbles a little but laughs loudly and I don’t even care about the bystanders staring at us because my friend is here. The only friend I managed to keep despite the years of moving around with Jack. The only one who never got upset about me canceling plans at the last minute to take care of my brother and never gave up on our friendship even though I kept moving farther and farther away to follow him.
She’s my person. Has been for a long time, and will be for even longer.
“I missed you too, Prue,” she laughs as I finally climb down her back to hug her like a normal human being. “I’m so happy to be here with you guys,” she adds softly, holding me tight.
She lets go of me and stares at my face for a few seconds with a bright smile before her eyes dart behind me, where I can hear Nate clearing his throat.
“Yeah, you too, you big baby. Although, you would have known that if you didn’t ignore and avoid me for the last decade!”
I turn around to find him looking embarrassed. There. I can read him now. So why can’t I understand him the rest of the time?
“Saying a decade is a little exaggerated. Let’s go with nine years…” he mumbles, staring at his fidgeting feet.
She rolls her eyes at him. They were talking with smiles before I got here, why are they arguing now?
“If you had dared to pick up your phone back then, you would have known that I didn’t plan on taking sides. So I’m telling you now because I’ll have none of either of your bullshit later, I’m mad at you! And at Jack, but he already knows it and went through ‘ the talk ’ not even a week after it happened. Your fight was stupid and I understand that he said mean and hurtful things but I was your friend too! So if you ever fight again, don’t be a dick and answer your damn phone when I’m calling!”
Nate’s eyes are wide, his face flushed. I bet he was not expecting to be scolded like this. But Nuri’s right. She was his friend too—one of the only women immune to his charms—and he blew her off. It took her nine years, but she finally gave him the same—well, not the same but you get the idea—scolding she gave Jack back then.
She was so mad when she heard what happened. At Jack. She was adamant that Nate did nothing wrong, and Jack was just a stubborn, paranoid, overreacting prick. And when she tried to reach out to Nate, he never answered. Maybe he thought she was calling him because she believed what Jack believed. But I remember that Nuri was really hurt about all this.
And now she can finally tell him all about it. And If I let her loose, we’ll never be done with it and the weekend will be ruined.
“Let’s not talk about all this anymore,” I whine, picking up my duffle bag from where I dropped it on the floor. “Let’s agree that you,” I point at Nuri, “will call him, and he will pick up his phone like a reasonable grown man, so you can talk this out and explain to each other. Because you’re only here until Sunday afternoon and I don’t want to spend the whole weekend fighting.”
Nuri sighs but nods, and Nate avoids our gaze, his cheeks slightly flushed.
Alright, I’ll take that as a yes.
I start walking but my bag is pulled from my shoulder and the next thing I know, Nate is walking next to me, my bag on his shoulder, and a large Starbucks cup is between my hands. A cup that smells like coffee. A latte. With Hazelnut flavored syrup, to be more specific.
Which was my drink of choice every time we went for coffee back then, with Jack and Nuri.
Even I forgot about it until that smell came, smashing memories in front of my eyes. Oh god, it’s been a while since that happened. Well, not a while. A month. Since I ended up smelling his jacket and being attacked by memories of that time he wiped graphite off my nose with his shirt.
He’s gotta stop attacking me with smells that overwhelm my damned brain.
If I end up daydreaming about us having sex in a pool of hazelnut latte covered in graphite, I’ll never be able to look him in the eyes.
“Thank you,” I stutter, shaking my head to chase away the weird scene happening in my head.
“Anytime,” he smiles, nudging me with his shoulder.
What’s with all the nudging and playfulness? He can’t have a two hour long erection against my ass and act like we’re suddenly friends and nothing happened. He’s supposed to be embarrassed! Am I overreacting again? Did the lack of blood in his head damage his brain?
“Jack sent me a text, said he was going on a date tonight and we’ll see each other for lunch tomorrow,” Nuri says, scrolling on her phone, walking by my other side. “I want to be mad, but I don’t think I can, to be honest. He has a date! ” she squeals in a high pitched voice.
“And it’s about time,” I roll my eyes, grinning. “Ikram is so sweet, and definitely crazy about him.”
“Did he tell you, or did you notice?” Nuri asks, lifting a brow.
“Evie told me,” I confess. “But now that I know, it’s really obvious.”
“Yeah,” she snickers. “I bet it is.”
I frown, confused by her tone. Did I do something wrong? But she’s smiling at me, nothing but kindness in her eyes.
“Alright, let’s go for food. And a drink. Then I’ll go to my hotel room and just sleep for twelve hours.”
“It’s not too late to accept our invitation, you know,” I tell her. “You don’t have to take a hotel.”
She scoffs. “You’re kidding? I love you guys. Really. But It’s my first night alone in more than two years, so I’ll enjoy the fancy hotel room, large breakfast buffet, and spa in the morning. Now let’s just go out and catch-up! And that includes you too, Nate.”