"Is that who I think it is? Wayne! Come check this out!" Ray shouted from across the living room.
"Huh? What is it?" Wayne asked, eyes still fixed on the computer screen.
"Just come over here. Geez." Reagan demanded.
Wayne paused his game, then squeezed his eyes together in an attempt to get them back into focus. "Alright!" he groaned, pushing back his computer chair, stomping his way toward his childhood friend. He found Ray in the living room sitting 'Indian style' on the black leather recliner.
"What?" Wayne asked again, annoyed. "You know I've been trying to beat that level for the past two days. I was in a zone man." Wayne whined.
"Whatever. Look at this. A friend of mine just posted it." Ray said, passing him her iPhone. Wayne grabbed the phone and scanned the screen to see what was so important. After a few seconds of searching, he gasped. His heart took a nose dive into his stomach. Ray noticed her best friend's bewildered reaction.
"Isn't that the girl you used to mess with a couple of years back? Uh..." Ray snapped her fingers in an effort to jog her memory. "Karen?, Casey?" Ray thought out loud.
"Candice." Wayne answered, still staring at the screen.
"Yes! Candice! The one you were such an asshole to?" Ray smirked, combing her fingers through her short, curly hair.
Wayne finally looked up from the phone. Ray's sarcastic question shook him out of his daze.
"Fuck you!" Wayne snared. "And she's not a girl, she's a woman; but you wouldn't know anything about that though." Wayne snickered, throwing a toss pillow at Reagan's face. "Ok, you got me." Ray responded, tossing the pillow to the floor. "I may not look very feminine, but I'm definitely still a woman." Ray defended, examining herself. "Just ask your sister...and your mother."
The best friends busted out in laughter.
"Seriously though, what's going on through that big head of yours?" Ray asked, concerned.
Wayne looked back at the phone, staring at the picture of his ex sitting at a table with a huge smile on her face. She's still so beautiful, he thought to himself.
"This is great. I'm happy for her." Wayne finally responded. "I see she's doing really well for herself. I'm happy for her."
"Yeah, you said that already." Ray giggled. "Can you believe shorty is doing a book signing?! Wasn't she working on that book when y'all were together?" Ray asked, grabbing her phone back.
"Yeah, she was. I always knew she would make it. She's very talented." Wayne answered, thinking back on the times he'd watch Candice sitting at the kitchen table on her laptop, pounding away at the keys. He remembered how cute she looked when she was so intense and focused.
"You should go." Ray advised, noticing her friend in deep thought.
"Go where?" Wayne asked, picking the toss pillow up from the floor.
"To her book signing, dummy. Where else? Didn't you read the caption? She's going to be at Tubman Library downtown next week." Ray shook her head.
"Nah, I don't think that's a good idea. She probably doesn't even want to see me." Wayne declined.
"Bro, it's been over two years! I don't think she would hold a grudge for that long. She's most likely not even thinking about you anymore. She's famous now!" Ray joked.
"Indeed she is." Wayne agreed, his stomach twisting in knots. Wayne shook his head. "I'm not gonna go." Wayne finished, walking back to his computer.
