secrets

twenty-three

ADELE
______

"I already told them I was bringing someone with me." I say to Laura as she fumbles through her messy purse in search of a five to pay for her donut.

She gives a joyful "Yes!" when she finds the money, handing it to the cashier and then saying to me, "Why did you tell them that?"

"They sent those invitations out like six months ago, when I was with someone." I explain, knowing she'll be able to do the math and figure that one out without me actually having to go into detail about the worst time in my life so far.

"Take Simon." She states, as if it's the most obvious thing to do. And in a way, it is.

"What?" I say, not because I didn't hear her, but because it took me by surprise.

"Take Simon." She repeats. "He is your boyfriend, isn't he?"

Hearing that never gets old. I've never loved any previous boyfriends the way that I love Simon. In fact, I've never loved anyone the way I love him. Nodding, I say, "He is." I pause as she takes her receipt and donut. "But I don't know if he would say yes."

As we walk towards the exit, she laughs. "Who would say no to you?"

"My mom always told me no." I joke.

She lets out another laugh before biting into the glazed donut she just bought. It causes my stomach to growl, and it's loud enough that she swallows and stops walking just to give me a look.

"Hungry?" She asks.

"A little."

"Why didn't you get something while we were in there?"

"I don't know." I shrug.

"Ah, so the lights are on but nobody's home." She says, taking another bite and turning around to go back inside.

"Shut up, I only got three hours of sleep last night."

She gives me a smirk. "What were you doing all night? Did your man stay over?" She winks.

Nearly blushing at the thought of last night I say, "He did. And you can probably guess what we were doing all night."

"That explains a lot, actually. I was wondering why you were walking so strangely." She says casually.

Any willpower I had left not to blush vanishes and I feel my cheeks go crimson. The sound of Simon's extremely deep voice comes back to me as I remember his exact words: "No one will know what we did. It's our secret." Keeping secrets suddenly became magical to me. "Is it really that noticeable?" I ask.

She just smiles and nods, amused at my how my cheeks find a way to become an even deeper shade of red. "Did you honestly only get three hours of sleep or are you just exaggerating?"

"Believe me, we didn't go to bed until four in the morning." I say firmly. My obvious exhaustion should be enough evidence to prove it.

She pauses before saying, "You know, I'm really happy for you. You should be proud." She finishes the last bite of her donut and tosses her trash away as I wait for my face to return to a normal color before I get my own donut.