Overstimulated

Reneging

"Wait! Wait wait wait," Jade exclaimed shaking her hand over her beet and burrata salad. "You kissed this nigga?!" They were sitting out on the patio at Angelini Osteria, Jade's favorite Italian spot, having lunch to celebrate the amazing meeting they'd just had at Red Hen Press. The publishing house loved Aurora's second book and had preemptively offered her a deal for a third.

Aurora had wanted to keep the change in her relationship with Erik a secret - she had tried stupidly hard to do it too; going as far as locking herself in her apartment and avoiding her phone for days - but, as soon as Jade had asked about him, she just spit the information out on the table. Almost literally.

"I know, J," she said into her lasagna verde, dropping her fork on her plate, exasperated with herself and her poor decisions. "What the fuck was I thinking?" Aurora speared her fingers through her hair; it was silky smooth from her straightening it the night before.

"Huh?" Jade asked confused, pushing the walnuts in her salad to a corner to eat last. "Back up bitch, what do you mean 'what the fuck were you thinking?'"

Aurora huffed, picking up her merlot and swirling the glass.

"I mean, why the hell did I kiss him?"

"Probably cause the nigga melted ya panties off speaking that African tongue to you."

Aurora rolled her eyes and tried to fight the smile threatening her lips.

"Why are you like this?" she asked good-naturedly.

"You know it's true. I'm hot from hearing you repeat the shit," Jade admitted around a mouthful of beets. "What I don't understand is why the hell you're fighting this. He obviously likes you. What's the problem?"

"Obviously?" Aurora asked hesitated. "It's not obvious, J."

Jade pressed her lips together.

"He literally said 'you got me.' In what planet is that not obvious?"

Aurora thought back to the heated exchange for what felt like the hundredth time the last few days. She wondered if she wasn't looking at the situation through rose-tinted glass. Romanticizing further what actually happened.

"It could have been a line," she supplied making Jade groan into her wine glass.

"Or," she stressed the word with a sharp look in Aurora's direction, "he could have been telling you the truth. Shocking, sis, I know"

"Why would a nigga like him even want me?" Aurora damn near whined.

Jade's gaze grew narrow as she leaned forward in her seat.

"What the fuck does that mean, Aurora."

Ari pressed her lips together, the dark thoughts she had been fighting for the last few days swirling together like tar in her mind.

"I don't know," she sighed, sitting her glass down and picking up her fork. She began deconstructing her pasta, attempting to get her thoughts together as Jade sat patiently. "Erik is him," Aurora started. "He's funny, gorgeous, kind, attentive, supporting and damn near genius. He oozes sex like no one I've ever met. He deserves some less..." she made an emphatic motion to herself in example.

Jade folded her arms over her chest, salad forgotten, and face full of anger.

"Less what, bitch? Beautiful, kind, gentle, funny, deserving ?"

Aurora sighed. They've had this conversation before and it never ended well.

"You already know, Jade."