This November

Chapter 19

It didn't feel real calling Malik her boyfriend, so she didn't. They were simply dating, and that was it.

"Girlllll! That man is fine!" JaMocha gushed at her while they were in the teacher's lounge, before the beginning of their day. Every morning coffee and any treat that someone brought in. This morning it was donuts, and she had an awful sweet tooth. She was on her second.

JaMocha and Cambrea were always on some diet, but not her. She could eat and eat and not gain any weight. People said as she got older that would change. Well, for now, she was twenty-seven, almost twenty-eight and she liked to eat.

"He's okay," was her reply to JaMocha, but she knew Malik was smoking hot. Beyond gorgeous, there literally were no words to describe how handsome he was. Maybe it was the blonde hair on the tanned brown skin, or the twinkling blue eyes that radiated through her, or the body that was perfection. She was sure he had other things going on for him, but for her, his looks won and that was enough.

"Now that you are boo'ed up girl, I guess you won't be hanging with us much more," Cambrea chimed in.

"It doesn't change anything."

"School is almost done for the year, and then we have all summer to kick back and relax," JaMocha stated. "I want to be boo'ed up as well."

"I'm sure you can find a guy if you were not so picky."

"Humph! I already have my eye on someone," she snickered. "Did you all hear that Sex on Wheels Principal Larson separated from his wife? The man may be on the market soon."

She almost choked on her coffee. She had not heard that. She had not spoken to Carter since he dumped her because he thought something was going on with Malik and her. He should have told her he was finally going to leave his wife. That was a big deal.

"How would you know anything about his personal life?"

"His secretary is a gossip."

She wondered if said secretary ever knew about the two of them. If she had, she would have spilled the tea like she had now.

"First of all sis, he's your boss," Cambrea said.

"I don't care!"

"Secondly, he's old enough to be your father."

"I. Don't. Care!" JaMocha was insistent at this point.

She needed to talk to Carter and see what was going on and if it was true. He could have at least given her the courtesy of telling her. Things were different now. Maybe they could date out in the open.

"Speak of the devil..." Cambrea whispered to them.

Of course, Carter would walk in right at that moment. She held her breath and bit her bottom lip because the man did look like sex on wheels. Fresh haircut, so his blond curls were not as noticeable, they simply looked like waves, A navy blue suit with a coordinated tie on a crisp, white shirt. He nodded at them all but never made eye contact with her and she was hurt she did not see that twinkle in his blue eyes.

He made his way to the coffee pot as the ladies watched him.

Suddenly, JaMocha stood and walked to him, holding out her coffee mug.

"I need a refill, Dr. Larson."

"Sure," he said, tipping the pot to her before filling his. "How's it going?"

"Great, sir. And how are you? Everything okay?" It was a simple question, but the way JaMocha asked it was obvious she was flirting. With the hilt in her voice and the come hither way, she looked at him.

She could not bear watching JaMocha flirt, but she listened anyway.

"Can't complain." He filled his coffee mug as JaMocha continued to stand in front of him.

"You need any cream in your coffee, or you like it black?"

He grinned at her. "I like it hot and dark, you know." All JaMocha could do was giggle at that.

Did he just flirt back with her? Her blood boiled at that. The nerve!

"Ladies, let's have a great day." He turned to leave, but not before finally giving her eye contact.

And there was that twinkle in his eye. She was butter.

Why was she still a mess over this man? He did not want her. She moved on and found someone she could be in a relationship with. Malik was fine until he proved otherwise.

No, she needed better closure. So with that, before she went to her classroom, she made her way to his office, unannounced, closed the door, and sat in front of his desk. He sat there deep in his laptop, but saw her and turned his attention to her.

"Is there something I can help you with Ms. Washington?"

"How dare you flirt with my friend right in front of my face!"

He grinned and sat back in his chair. So he had done that to make her jealous. She didn't know he could be so petty.

"I'm free and clear to flirt with who I want."

"My friend?"

"Maybe."

"Why didn't you tell me you left your wife?"

"Because it just happened, hell gossip spreads very quickly." He stood up. "Nova, I have wanted a divorce before you and I, so I finally asked for it. You were the one that didn't want me to leave my wife. So I stayed, unhappy because all I wanted was you."

It was true. From the start, she told him to stay with his wife, because it gave her an out in the relationship. An excuse for either to bail out if needed. She assumed he would one day decide to go on with his marriage and try and make it work. She never thought he really wanted to leave.

She was the side piece, and she was okay with that.

Now...she had a chance to be his main woman. If he still wanted her.

Wait! What was she talking about, she was with Malik now.

"Nova, I miss you."

That's what she wanted to hear the last few weeks of being miserable without him.

"I love you Tink and I don't think that will ever go away." He looked around the glass office to see who might see them before he walked even closer to her. "I'm sorry about how I acted about you and Malik. And even though I know how he feels about you, I feel the same way. Can we...start over?"

She could easily tell Malik it was over before it even started, but just as Carter hurt her, she would be hurting Malik and he meant too much to her to do that. Her confusion of her feelings for two different guys made her stomach ache. She was a grown woman, caught in the middle of a stupid love triangle.

Except, both guys loved her and she did not know which one was her true love.