Free When Love Comes Around (Love Conquers All) by Victoria Wells

word games over the phone. Getting to the point, she asked, “What’s up Kevin?”
    Laying aside his playful bantering, he’s tone became serious. “I think we need to sit down and talk.”
    Starr fell on her back, rolled over and buried her face into a pillow on her bed. That voice ! It did strange things to her. Like make the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention and sent shivers up and down her spine. She liked it better when he wasn’t so serious. At least when he was playful she could come back at him with a quick, witty jab. But when he spoke like he was doing right now, his soft words caressing every inch of her, her brain turned to mush. Stifling a moan, she unintelligently garbled, “We’re talking now.”
    “Not good enough, Starr.”
    He was right. They hadn’t even scratched the surface as to what needed discussing. From the firmness in his tone, a telephone conversation wouldn’t do. He was demanding a face to face.
    “Okay. You’re right. Do you want to meet somewhere so we can do this thing? I’ve made this mess, now I’ve got to clean it up. No use in avoiding the inevitable, s he chastised herself as she grounded her eye with the heel of her fist.
    “Name the place and time, I’ll be there.” Not wanting to put any unnecessary pressure on her, he gave her control of the location and when they would meet. He would play by her rules if it meant sorting out their future.
    Wanting to make this as painless as possible, she decided upon the most logical place, her home. If anything went down she didn’t like or wasn’t comfortable with, she could always ask him to leave.
    “You could come over here.” She whispered holding her breath waiting for his response. Even though he told her she could pick the location, what if he didn’t want it to be her home? After all, he might feel like he’s at a disadvantage. So what if he does…tough.
    “Cool. When?” The last place he thought she would agree to meet would be her home. This, however, pleased him. He would take this opportunity to observe how she was on home turf. He wanted to see her in her element. Most people tend to be their authentic selves in a comfortable environment. With what they were about to deal with they both needed to lay their cards on the table and be completely honest with one another. Kevin was ready to be honest. He wondered if Starr was ready to do the same.
    “How about Thursday around seven?”
    “Sounds like a plan.”
    “Great. I’ll see you then.”
    Immediately after ending the call, Starr called an emergency gathering with her posse. What was she thinking? Thursday was the day after tomorrow!
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 11
     
    On cue, the posse fell in one by one like dominos as they entered Starr’s home. After exchanging greetings and pleasantries, Karen, Ava, and Summer took a seat at the small table in the kitchen.
    “Anybody want some tea?” Starr offered.
    “Nope. Come on, sit down and tell us what’s going on.” Karen urged, only how a big sister could as she nodded to the empty chair at the table.
    Taking a seat, she felt three pairs of eyes boring into her with interest. They each looked as if they were waiting to hear some top-secret information.
    Nervousness made her giggle. “Y’all stop looking at me like that. I just need to run something by you guys and didn’t feel like having to repeat myself three times.”
    No one mumbled a word. They continued silently gazing waiting for her to get down to the issue at hand. Whatever that might be.
    Taking another sweeping glance, their facial expressions screamed, “Come on already and spit it out!” Starr sometimes had a flair for being on the dramatic side.
    Reading their body language she rushed out, “I have a date with Kevin on Thursday.”
    Back on speaking terms, after coming to a mutual understanding that their friendship wasn’t worth losing over words spoken out of