Miles away from shore

Universal Pull

"No, do it again," Lacey said. "You sound crazy right there."

"Well damn," Drena said, chuckling. "Tell me how you really feel."

Drena was recording a blog about planning a destination wedding and what she had learned so far and since Lacey didn't feel like working, she volunteered to assist her. Lacey sighed before hitting end on the iPad. "I'm sorry. Am I bitching today?"

Drena eyed her partner. "You've been bitching for a hot second now, friend."

Lacey frowned. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"I do," Drena said. Lacey shook her head. "Where is he now?"

Lacey pouted. "Somewhere overseas according to his Snap."

Drena laughed before walking over to sit by Lacey. "I knew it. You so sprung."

She sighed. "I don't even know how this happened. He went from being a friend to me low key trolling girls he follows to see if he's really with them."

"Maybe it's just you still feel a way about y'all not talking for those few weeks," Drena tried to reason. "Then y'all fell right back into being in each other's face all day."

Lacey sucked her teeth. "Maybe. I've been trying to keep my distance a little but I don't want him to think I'm still holding on to that when in reality I just realized his ass was right about us."

"And you having previously denied him is just making this funny as hell," Drena said. "He's not going to make this easy."

"I ain't even really trying to tell him," Lacey said. "Maybe it's just a little crush that I can get over."

"If you say so, buddy."

Lacey looked at her phone to see she had a message from Ken. She had no idea why he was all the sudden hitting her up again. She hadn't returned any of X's messages either for the last couple of days. Not that she owed either of them anything, but when she became honest with herself about her feelings for Jay she felt weird about hanging with anyone else.

It happened a few days after the charity event. Lacey and Drena were in one of their creative moods where they hardly even stopped to eat. Ever since the proposal, Drena had been on a role with content on how to plan a destination wedding and be a stylish bride on a budget even though hers was out of this world. Lacey joked that Darius being in the tech world was a God sent because between him and Drena, this wedding was going to cost a lot.

One day out of the blue, Jay shows up with food for Lacey, Drena, and Cassidy. He stayed and ate with her and helped her out with some content she was stuck on. Being back in his presence had her feeling giddy. She mentally kicked herself when he got up to leave and she found herself sad. Later that night, halfway down his timeline, she realized she wanted what he wanted.

"Now he's calling me," Lacey mumbled, her phone interrupted her thoughts.

"You want to take a break?" Drena asked. Lacey shook her head.

"No, let's go through it one more time you ain't slick."

Drena laughed with her tongue out before standing up straight to wait for Lacey to begin recording. Lacey was able to take a quick lunch before her meeting with Toni and Jamie. Since it was a little informal, she just hosted them in her office so they wouldn't have to rent a space.

"Hey!" Lacey greeted them as they came in. "You guys want anything before we get started?"

"Those teas you had last time were so good," Toni said.