Free Dark One: One for Sorrow... (The Khiara Banning Series Book 1) by Sydnie Beaupré

intention of texting you, but I got kind of caught up in the hanging out with Cael. He’s…” I search for a word, “different.”
    Tristan raises his hand as if he was in class, and I have to laugh at the sheepish look on his face. “Should I not be here right now?”
    “No! I mean, no you shouldn’t not be here right now…I mean you can stay!” I say awkwardly, feeling bad that we’d all but completely excluded him from the conversation. “Sorry Tristan, I bet Cara didn’t tell you how awkward I can be sometimes.”
    He smiles, “No, she warned me. I just didn’t believe her, but I guess she was right. I’ve gotta say I’m kind of happy she was, because it makes for an interesting friendship.”
    Grinning I reach out and tousle his hair, “I’m glad we’re friends then.” He looks as if I’ve just made his day, and I can’t help but laugh some more as his face turns a bright red. Maybe he doesn’t have very many friends at his school. Cara had told me that he goes to this very prestigious private school about an hour or two from town, a very posh place tucked into the woods. It’s a boarding school and he lives there, being originally from the city of Montreal over in Quebec, but he works at the mall in town for extra pocket money.
    “I’m glad too. I was worried you wouldn’t like me, actually,” says Tristan, all awkward and cute, and right then, I really see what Cara likes about him and I can only hope that they work out well. I like his guy for her. I just hope she smartens up and doesn’t end up hurting him. I’ll have to talk to her about it later.
    Cara links one of her arms through mine, rolls her eyes and says, “Well, we’re all glad. Now, let’s get down to business. I want Ice cream and cheap thrills, and I know you guys don’t have any of that here.”
    “You want cheap thrills? I can take my shirt off if you’d like.” I say sarcastically, “But you need to take me out on a date first.”
    “Or, we could go to the amusement park and ride the Tilt a’ Whirl until we puke.” She says, already standing up.
    Laughing, I say, “There’s that option too, I guess.”
    Cara slaps my arm, “Shut up already and let’s go. You can tell us what you did with Cael the lover boy on our way there.”
    We stand up and walk out of my room, momentarily forgetting about Tristan. Pug whines from my room as we open the front door, and Cara and I both almost collapse into a fit of giggles as we run back to my room to get Tristan.
    “Hurry up!” says Cara, all excited and ready to go.
    “I have no say in this, do I?” asks Tristan.
    Cara and I both look at each other and smile, “Nope.”
     
    Once we get in Cara’s car, I tell them all about Cael and his café, and even about before that, the day of Cara’s party. Tristan listens intently, and Cara voices her opinion on the matter.
    “You got a job and a boyfriend all in one day? Skills girl, you’ve got skills.”
    Is he my boyfriend? I’m not really sure, considering we haven’t even gone out on a date yet. “I guess so, at least for the boyfriend part anyway. I’m not entirely sure…I don’t know him all that well, we’ve only known each other for what, two days?”
    Cara slows to stop at a red light and once she’s stopped, she applies a fresh coat of lip-gloss, “Well, find out then. Call him, invite him to come.” She offers me her lip-gloss and I shake my head.
    “Just call him, Khiara. It won’t kill you!”
    Grasping for any excuse not to call him, I say, “He’s busy tonight, actually. He’s got this thing to go to…”
    “What thing?”
    I bite my lip. “Just a thing, you know a function of sorts,” I lie.
    Tristan sighs and pats me on the shoulder from the back seat, “A function of sorts? You’re a bad liar, Khiara.”
    “Yeah well…you suck,” I turn around to stick out my tongue at him like a five year old that’s just been told that she’s not allowed candy and he grins at me, which just