Three years after his mother's death, Noah Reed is lost once again. Unsure of where to go after running from his problems for so long, he ends up back home, wanting a place to finally settle down. He's ready to tie up loose ends and to try and corre...
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The two of us find seats at a booth. The diner is almost entirely empty, except for us and an older man sitting at the counter, sipping from a mug of steaming coffee. It's now just past one in the morning, so I'm not surprised when the waitress on duty gets our orders down only moments after Blake and I take our seats.
Once the waitress is gone and we're left alone to wait for our food, Blake and I sit opposite each other in silence, gazes locked.
I clear my throat before I ask, "Are you looking forward to tomorrow?"
Blake smiles faintly, nodding as she rests her chin in her hands, elbows propped up on the table. "I am. I'm excited. I'll miss Mia and Thorne when they go off on their honeymoon, though."
"They'll be back," I retort. "They'd miss us too much to stay gone for long."
Blake's smile widens at my statement, her brown eyes warm and dancing with mirth. "What about you?" Blake questions. "Are you ready for the big day?"
"Considering I have to wear a tux and I'm going to get less than five hours of sleep, I'd say no."
Blake rolls her eyes at my teasing, biting down on her lip to restrain a smile. "Who's your plus one?" she asks.I can tell by the casual tone with which she asks the question and the way she nonchalantly sips her tea as she awaits my answer that she's trying hard to seem impassive, though the way her gaze pins me gives away the fact that my answer is more important to her than she's letting on.
I shrug as I lean back in my seat. "I'm going solo," I inform her. "What about you? Are you bringing the guy you've been seeing?"
Blake purses her lips, wiping away the condensation on her glass. A shadow passes through her gaze before quickly disappearing, tranquility taking its place. "Actually, Dylan and I broke up," Blake admits. "I'm bringing Jess as my date."
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. It's harder than it should be for me to hide my elation at the news of Blake being single again. Trying to keep my tone neutral, I say, "I'm sorry to hear that. Am I allowed to ask what happened?"
"In all honesty, nothing really happened.I just realized that being in a relationship isn't what I want at the moment. Dylan was dealing with some . . . personal issues, I guess you could say, that were separate from me. In the end, we both decided time apart was the best way to solve our issues."
I want to ask Blake what she means by not wanting to be in a relationship at the moment, but the waitress reappears with our food before I can come up with a way to voice my thoughts, ceasing further conversation.
I thank our server before she walks off, leaving Blake with her grilled cheese and chocolate milkshake, and myself with a burger and fries.
Blake sneakily tries to steal a fry off of my plate. I eye her suspiciously, though allow her to get away with it. She smiles at me innocently once she realizes she's been caught, knowing good and well that smile of hers can get her out of anything.
