Arielle Stevenson, a determined hairstylist with dreams of owning her own salon, finds her past colliding with her present when NBA player Jordan Poole walks into her salon for a hair appointment. Despite Arielle's attempts to keep her distance, Jor...
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☆ arielle stevenson ☆
So many thoughts were racing through my mind as I drove home, but the one that stood out was Jordan telling me that Stephanie had advised him not to propose to me when we were in college.
Part of me didn't want to believe him, but I know Jordan. The look on his face and the seriousness in his tone told me he was telling the truth. I could feel it in my gut—he wasn't lying, and that hurt the most.
Stephanie had been my best friend in college. She helped me through so much: she was my roommate for all four years and supported me through my breakup with Jordan. Now I was finding out that she had gone behind my back to tell Jordan not to propose?
I hoped and prayed she had a good reason, but I had a sinking feeling that whatever her reasons were, they weren't good enough.
I sat in the car for what felt like forever, thinking about how I was going to approach this, but it had only been twenty minutes.
It took me another five minutes to walk into the house, hoping and praying that Stephanie wouldn't be the first person I saw. But, as luck would have it, she was.
As I stepped into the house, there she was, sitting on the couch with a plate of spaghetti in her lap, watching Bridgerton.
Fuck my life.
Stephanie looked up, rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to the TV. For some reason, that pissed me off, and any sense of calm I had vanished, replaced by pure anger.
"We need to talk," I blurted out.
Stephanie scoffed, ignoring me, and continued watching her show. My annoyance and anger surged through me like an adrenaline rush, almost overwhelming.
Every part of me wanted to walk over, grab the remote, turn off the TV, push the plate off her lap, and force her to listen.
But instead, I blurted out, "Did you tell Jordan that he shouldn't propose to me when we were in college?"
In that instant, I witnessed Stephanie's reaction. Her eyes widened slightly, and her once nonchalant expression faltered into guilt before she quickly masked it again.
"So what if I did?" she replied, attempting to sound nonchalant, but her voice wavered.
I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'so what if you did'? Did you or did you not tell him not to propose to me?"
"He was going to end up cheating on you anyway, Arielle," she said, slowly glancing over at me. "I think I did you a favor. Would you have wanted to have a ring on your finger and then get cheated on? No. Plus, you weren't giving him what he wanted, which is why he was so excited when Messiah spread her legs for him."
I scowled. "Oh yeah, Messiah. The girl you pretended to hate when you actually introduced Jordan to her, correct?"
Stephanie's expression faltered again, and finally, after a few moments, she paused her show and turned to face me.
