LAILAH #3
“Oh stop, you’re going to make me blush,” Anne said, waving a hand at us. “Now, those are on me tonight, love, seeing as you had a bad day and all.”
“Bless you, Anne,” I said, blowing her a kiss as we walked out the door.
Once out on the sidewalk, I couldn’t help doing a little skip of happiness now that I was holding the magical white bakery box.
“So, is it off-limits to ask if you’re willing to share?” Parker asked as we walked over to the bookstore.
I gave Parker a sideways glance, deciding how I was feeling about sharing my cookies with him.
I liked Parker, but I felt like sharing my cookie wasn’t a right he’d earned yet.
A girl had to be careful who she gave her cookies to.
You never knew if they would appreciate them the way they should be appreciated.
I knew the value of that round golden sugary goodness, but would he treat it with the proper respect? That was yet to be determined.
“I’m not sure we’ve reached that level of friendship yet,” I said and watched the shocked look on Parker’s face.
“Seriously?” he complained.
“Look, cocknugget, I didn’t even get my cookie until this week! Wait your turn,” Cami said, wagging her eyebrows at him.
“Cami! Don’t tell him that, you make it sound dirty,” I shrieked.
“What? The way you treat your cookies, it might as well be sex,” Cami said, nudging me with her elbow.
“Okay, I feel like this conversation has taken a turn that I am not comfortable with. My slight obsession with sugar cookies might be a little unorthodox, but it could be worse,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat.
“Note to self: if I ever get you mad at me, I’ll make sure to visit Anne right away,” Parker said, laughing.
“What do you mean if, more like when,” Cami mumbled as she opened the door to the bookstore.
We walked in, and since I didn’t really need anything, I decided to check out the fiction section.
It was in the back of the bookstore next to the small music section where they sold old vinyl records and CDs.
Parker trailed after me, seeming content to follow my lead.
I headed to the fiction section and started pulling random books that caught my eye off the shelf.
I picked up one book, and on the cover, the woman in the middle was surrounded by five half-naked men.
I remember Cami telling me that dating more than one person wasn’t as taboo as it used to be.
Before I could turn it over to read the back of the cover, Parker reached over and plucked the book out of my hands.
I looked over my shoulder at him as he looked over the book.
He blinked a few times and then looked at me and back at the book.
“Is this the type of stuff you read?” he asked, his cheeks pinking up a little.
Was Parker embarrassed? Had the thought of sharing a woman with other guys made mister adventurous uncomfortable?
“No, but Cami keeps telling me I need to be more open-minded, so I figured why not,” I teased, unable to let him shake off his embarrassment.
“You’re saying that you’d be into being with more than one guy?” Parker asked.
I started to laugh at his reaction. How he thought I would ever have more than one guy interested in me was priceless. Also, as I said to Cami, I could barely manage one relationship, how could I deal with multiples?
“Parker, it’s in the fiction section. That means it’s for us women to dream about but doesn’t actually happen in the real world, let alone for me,” I answered, taking the book off his hands and putting it back on the shelf.
I headed out of the fiction section, thinking I might just need to come back for that book sometime.
I looked over to my right and saw Micah flipping through the vinyl in the rock section.
I ducked behind one of the lower bookshelves that made up the wall around the section.
Parker looked down at me and then over at Micah.
Seconds later, he was squatting next to me with a scowl on his face.
“Why are you hiding from Micah?” I whispered.
“Because he’s a rat bastard, and I can’t stand him,” Parker answered in a loud attempt at a whisper.
“I can’t say the few interactions we’ve had have been great, so I would rather avoid him,” I said, trying to waddle by in my squatted position.
Just as we were about the clear the section, Micah walked by without sparing us a glance. “Parker, next time learn to whisper. We rats have good hearing.”
Unable to hold it together, I landed on my ass, laughing hysterically. After all that had happened today, to end it being caught in such an awkward position was just too much to handle. Parker started cracking up next to me till we both had tears streaming down our cheeks.
“What the hell is wrong with you two idiots?” Cami asked us, her hands on her hips.
I shook my head, unable to answer her question. I tried to calm myself down by taking deep breaths, but I would just hear Micah’s comment and lose it all over again. Truly this was what I really needed, friends, laughter, and cookies could fix anything.