"Why do I have to always be the first one to check up on Alex?" Tamika looked at Nancy and Selena over the rim of her black Ray-Bans before setting her phone on the tabletop. She tapped her manicured fingers on the table as she waited for Alexander's text to come in.
"If you have to chase a guy, he's just not that into you," Nancy sipped her iced latte and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Right, Selena?"
"I don't know," Selena shrugged.
Nancy cocked her head and studied her friend's side profile. Selena was dressed in her office wears being a Wednesday, long slacks, and a matching shirt, with her hair so neatly tied up in a high bun that there was not a single strand out of place.
"What's going on with you?" Nancy asked.
"I didn't say anything was going on," Selena stared at the chocolate croissant on her plate. "I'm just stressed."
"Then let's take a mini vacay this weekend, I've been hounding you for one," Tamika chipped in, reaching for Selena's hands across the table. "We'll just go to Paris and be back before work on Monday."
Selena shook her head. "Paris is boring."
"But the men aren't," Tamika said with a wink.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Alex?" Nancy asked.
"We're not official or anything, and besides, he's always got work to focus on,'' Tamika said. She withdrew her hands away from Selena's and reached for her bag, fetching her lip gloss and mirror, and slathered a generous amount on her lips. "Besides, we're in our twenties, no man is going to tie me down till I'm in my thirties."
"And that's how you'd let the right man slip through your fingers all in the name of enjoying your twenties," Nancy tutted with a light laugh.
"Oh? Just like you did?" Tamika retorted.
The words were too late to take back. Nancy stared at Tamika wide-eyed with surprise. Tamika lowered her mirror and gloss, her lips hanging.
"Nancy, I didn't mean…"
"No, you did," Nancy gave a tight smile as she sipped her cappuccino. "You've been wanting to get it out of you for long."
Tamika looked to Selena for help, but she looked away. She wasn't going to deal with anything emotional, and besides, she had enough on her plate planned for the day.
Tamika's phone pinged. She picked it, and a smile replaced the guilt on her face as her fingers danced around the screen. Selena believed Alexander had responded to her text. She couldn't understand the man, even with her he'd been aloof one minute, and caring the other. He was stringing Tamika along with breadcrumbs of attention, and those were the kind of men Selena hated the most, second to manipulative men.
"I have to run," she stood from her seat. "I've got an apology to make."
"What apology?" Nancy looked at the untouched croissant on her plate and up at Selena. "You've not had anything. Is there something wrong?"
"I've got to go apologize for my behavior," Selena waited a moment before she dropped the bomb. "To Valentin."
Tamika's eyes lifted from her phone at that. Nancy frowned.
"The same Valentin or…"
"Yup, the same ex-boyfriend," Selena confirmed.
"Why would you go apologize to that sleaze of a man?" Tamika asked, furious. "Are you high or something?"
"It's a business matter," Selena said. She couldn't tell them the entire story at that moment, or maybe not at all. They'd rage and probably make matters worse by sending Valentin the meanest messages possible.
"Anyways, I'm off now. Any regards you want me to send him?" Selena smiled.
"Tell him I hope he falls in a pool of piranhas someday soon," Tamika said.
"Tell him I hope Patricia and he last forever," Nancy added.
"Ooh, that's a good one," Tamika clapped. "They'd be such a miserable pair!"
"Messages received, bye dolls!" Selena bade them and left the quaint cafe.
It took her almost an hour to get to the headquarters of Valentin's company, Regals, a male designer shoe company that was one of the leading ones in the country. She introduced herself at the front desk, and when the receptionist called Valentin to inform him of her presence, she was directed to his office immediately after the call ended.
Selena walked into the warm room, the smell of leather enveloping her. Valentin was seated behind a large, brown ceramic desk, one that Selena had picked for him when he wanted a new one. She hadn't expected him to still own it.
"I can't let go of it," Valentin said, knowing the direction of her thoughts. He leaned back in his chair and smiled at her. "I was expecting you sooner."
"I'm not supposed to come here, but you've somehow managed to manipulate my mother into thinking I hurt you that day," Selena said.
"Well," Valentin rose from his seat. "I had to find a way to see you again. Not that I'm complaining about being bitten, I'm all for that kind of stuff, you know that."
Selena didn't reply to that. She walked over to one of the shelves holding the latest designs of shoes, all made from unique leathers sourced from around the world.
She felt Valentin stand next to her but didn't bother to look at him.
"I meant every word I said to you at your house," Valentin said in a low voice. "And I'd like for us to solve every issue between us."
"There's no us, so stop making me repeat it to you," Selena said. "I'm not like you. I've got a man, and I stay loyal to him."
"I was loyal to you, Selena."
Selena laughed, and only looked at him then, hoping to find the humorless stupidity of the joke written all over his face. But she didn't, his eyes were determined and no humor lurked in them.
"You should look into the business of comedy," Selena said, tracing the snake leather of a shoe before setting her hand by her side. "It'll suit you. Anyway, I only came here because my mother wouldn't let me be if I didn't. So, don't cause any trouble for her in the future, it's the least you can do."
"Is that the most of your apology I'd get?" Valentin pocketed his hands.
"It's the best you'd get," Selena said. "I'm leaving."