Denial & Desire [ #Wattys2017 ]

Chapter 1 : The Meeting

Note: Denial is the worst kind of lie because it is the lie that you tell yourself.

"Later Jen !" I cried out to the manager as I headed out into the bustling city. It was Friday and I'd just finish working a five-hour evening shift at Dave's bar on the corner of Paradise Avenue. I've been a waitress there for the past two years to help with my living expenses while I am at college.

It's usually full of flirty females and testosterone emitting males especially on a Thursday and Friday night but I couldn't wait to exit my part time job so that I could've met up with my best friends Akira and Emily.

I had not seen them since Tuesday. Two days without them seemed like my body was missing something, something one couldn't dare go without. Maybe mom was right when she referred to Akira as my hip bone and Emily as my backbone. We were meeting at our favorite coffee shop just up the street from where I worked, Bell's, and low and behold I was once again late for our meeting. I would not deny being notorious for tardiness.

When I pushed the door to the coffee shop I noticed my two besties immediately, you truly could not have missed their beauty. Emily's long golden ginger hair rippled down her back, framing her face in the most flattering way while complementing her freckles that covered her perfect cheek bones. Her sparkling green eyes looked to Akira's light dark brown eyes in amusement. I often thought of Akira as a smoothie, a perfect blend of Japanese and Black with just a hint of Creole. She is as equally stunning as Emily with her straight silky black hair framed in a bob cut and a smile that would make any gender swoon.

"Hey, guys!" I greeted them while taking my seat by the window.

"Hey Imani, Emily said that she and Jake did it in the car again" Akira proclaimed with an amusing smile.

I took a deep breath of the roasted coffee beans that swirled through the air and sat on my nostrils. It relaxed me, somewhat alleviating the tension that possessed my body.

"I could've guessed you guys were talking about something along those lines just by those wolfish grins I saw while entering the door," I said.

"Do we ever speak about anything else?" Emily added.

We all laughed in an already known answer to that question. You see despite their looks Emily was a low-key masochist and, well Akira liked nothing better. Though they were in long-standing relationships they both were very experienced and far ahead in the game than I was or would ever be.

"Anyway, I could top that," Akira noted bringing the topic back into full swing again.

"Leo played with my womanhood so much Saturday that I had an out of body orgasm, guys I felt like if I could have levitated."

Emily's mouth descended while my eyes widened "Well it's good to know that Tottomus prime and the totbot are having fun." I murmured with a sarcastic tone.

I love Akira and Emily to death but sometimes I do get envious of their tales. Despite their intense sexually stories, Emily and Jake have been together for five years already and Akira and Leo for four.

Meanwhile, I'm a twenty-one-year-old who has never had one boyfriend in her life. So, while they have fun movie dates, dinners and whatever else couples do with each other I drown myself in shoujo mangas and romantic novels. I mean why not rub salt in my wounds right?

It's not purposely done but can't a girl be an otaku while also having a serious love for authors like Nicholas Sparks and Jane Austen despite having limited experience in that field?

"So, Imani isn't it time for you to at least get a boy toy by now?" Emily continued the conversation aimed at me.

"No one wants me." I simply told