First Love: Jake & Sabrina (interracial romance) *completed story* {prequel}

Chapter Four

"Ugh, I knew we shouldn't have come," Deidra Dennis mumbled. "My freaking feet hurt."

Sabrina shot her best friend of eighteen years an irritated glance as they made their way toward the brownstone apartment building. Her freaking feet were hurting her too, but she sucked it up and continued walking.

"Don't start, Dee. You're the one who said we should make a left."

"Well, maybe if you'd remembered your phone, we wouldn't have to be playing these guessing games."

Sabrina sighed. The night air was fresh and crisp, but walking nearly two miles in her brand new heels was no fun. Sabrina, however, suppressed her pain and tried to remain enthusiastic. "I'm not arguing with you tonight. We're here now, so just smile and be nice."

Dee glared at her instead. "What happened to 'I'm never dating anyone from my job'? I'm just trying to save you from embarrassing yourself again."

Sabrina narrowed her eyes at her friend. Dee was really starting to work her nerves. Sabrina could understand that she was depressed and bitter—a bad breakup would do that to any woman—but it had been four months now, and she had hoped Dee would be over her no-good, cheating ex-boyfriend by now. Or at least over her bitterness.

"This isn't a date," Sabrina reminded her for the third time that night. "He's just a friend who invited us to this party. So kill the attitude and try to enjoy yourself tonight. Okay?"

Dee's lips tightened. She said nothing as they walked into the building and up to the third floor. There were noise and laughter coming from behind the apartment door, and Sabrina smoothed her sweaty palms down her jeans. She'd been nervous since the train ride to Jake's friend's place and she had hoped it would have disappeared by now. Evidently, it hadn't. No matter how often she kept telling herself this wasn't a date, her body kept reacting as if it were.

After a few knocks on the door, which probably took someone a while to hear over the noise inside, a tall, attractive man filled the doorway. He raised a black brow at them curiously as mild annoyance flashed on his dark brown face.

"If you're here to tell us to keep the noise down, we already got the memo."

Sabrina shook her head. "No, Jake invited me. Is he here?"

The man's eyes widened and he looked from her to Deidra then back to her again. Suddenly, a wide smile softened his stern face. "Yeah, he's in the back. You must be Sabrina."

"Yes, and this is my friend Dee." Sabrina glanced behind him into his crowded apartment, trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of Jake.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Adam." He stepped back to let them in. At their hesitation, he smiled understandingly. "You can come in or you can wait out here and I can go get him. But just so you know, half of us in here are attorneys so no one is stupid enough to try anything."

With a small shrug from Dee, Sabrina decided to go with her instincts and they both followed Adam inside.

"There's pizza, wings, and beer in the kitchen," Adam said over his shoulder, pointing to his right. "And the bathroom's through there." He made an arbitrary gesture in front of them, but Sabrina wasn't paying any attention. She scanned the crowd to see if she could find Jake. The apartment was surprisingly larger than she expected, and there were small groups of people in every available space playing some sort of board, trivia, or card game. And it was there she spotted Jake.

She smiled gingerly at him as he looked up from his cards and gave him a small wave. His eyes widened and he got up from his seat, despite the loud protest from the other players.