Free Charming My Best Friend (Fated #2) by Hazel Kelly

once.
    Good things because kissing her and having my hands on her felt
right, as if making a move was something I should’ve done a long time ago.
    But I also had this horrible sick feeling in my guts that was
partly because I ate all the taquitos by myself and partly because I still
didn’t understand why she’d left.
    And that made me really sad.
    Because the firey little crush I’d developed was only flamed by
getting to taste her candy lips, and even though I knew I needed to apologize
for making her uncomfortable enough that she felt like she had to leave, I
still wasn’t sorry.
    In fact, I wanted to kiss her again, and not just on the mouth
either.
    I rolled onto my stomach and reached my hand under the bed until
my fingers found a half empty Gatorade. Then I drank from the nozzle until there
was nothing left and dropped my head on the pillow again.
    A moment later, the phone buzzed across my nightstand.
    “Lucy. Hey.”
    “How’s the noggin sleepy head?”
    “Not as bad as you might expect,” I said, rolling onto my back.
    “Glad to hear it,” she said.
    Was she still in bed, too?
    “Well, I’ll let you go back to sleep,” she said. “I just wanted
to make sure that we were cool and that you were alive.”
    “I’m glad you called. I need to get up.”
    “Okay, well, have a good da-”
    “Wait-” I sat up, propping a pillow under my head.
    “What?”
    I smiled. “I want to tell you about this crazy dream I had.”
    “Shoot,” she said.
    “I dreamt that we kissed.”
    “Did you now?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And how was it?” she asked.
    “It was awesome. You tasted like cake.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Yeah.” I stuck my hands down my sweatpants to readjust myself.
“And you couldn’t keep your hands off me.”
    “Sounds like a dream alright.”
    “A total nightmare more like,” I joked.
    “Good one.”
    “Seriously, though, I feel like I owe you an apology.”
    “For what?”
    “For sticking my tongue down your throat.”
    “Oh.”
    “And liking it.”
    “Sounds to me like you’re still drunk. Maybe you should go back
to bed until you’re ready to wake up and remember that we’re just friends.”
    “Ouch,” I said. “Was it that bad?”
    “No.”
    “So it was good?”
    “Meh.”
    I could hear that she was smiling.
    “It was a bit gentle for my taste,” she said, “but I give you an
A for effort.”
    “What?!” I sat up. “Come over here right now and let me try
again.”
    She laughed. “I’m not coming anywhere near you until you sober
up.”
    “I’m sober enough.”
    “Fine. I’m still not coming anywhere near you until-”
    “Until what?”
    “Until you settle down.”
    I groaned.
    “I know you’re eager to get back on the dating scene after all
that time in a relationship, but you need to cast your net in a different
direction.”
    “Damn. Usually one kiss is all it takes.”
    “Too little too late I’m afraid,” she said. “Though I’m
flattered.”
    “I guess it’s for the best anyway.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Cause a tease like you would drive me crazy.”
    “I am not a tease.”
    “I’m going to have to disagree with you. I mean, you came back
to my place in that short skirt and then you were all sexily slicing cheese and
shit.”
    “That is not true. There is nothing sexy about the way I slice
cheese.”
    “Sure there is. The way you get that big block in your little
hand like that and bite your lip while you’re cutting it.”
    “Okay, now you’re just making fun of me.”
    “What do you expect me to do?” I asked.
    “Not tease me.”
    “Yeah, well, maybe you don’t always meet my expectations
either.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “Maybe I expect you- as my friend- to not run out on me in my
time of need.”
    She laughed. “I only ran out on you because I realized I
couldn’t help you meet the kind of needs you were looking to satisfy.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Cause.”
    “You could’ve at least tried.”
    “You