dad had a taste for “real tacos” as he called it.
“So, what do you think?” Shana whispers as we make our way toward the window side of the room, “He's cute, isn't he? I told you.”
“Yeah. He really is,” I say. A squeaking sound leaves her mouth as she hugs one of my arms right as the hostess begins to slow her pace, stopping at a booth.
“Will this be okay?” she asks.
“Yes, perfect,” Kyle says, looking at us all for approval. We all nod and slide into the booth. Once settled, we begin quietly flipping through the menu. In this setting, I’m finally beginning to feel at ease. Maybe it was just blind date jitters. I’ve so got this. Just as I have that thought, Lucas looks over and smiles at me, causing me to blush. Jesus, I’m a child.
A few minutes go by and our waiter comes to take our drink orders. We bounce between having group and side conversations, landing on one about how Kyle and Lucas met each other freshman year.
“We both had a thing for the same girl,” Lucas says, looking across the table at Kyle. “Until we found out she was dating both of us at the same time.”
“Oh shit,” Shana says. “How did you find out?”
“Well, I was spending the night at her place and in walks this asshole.” Kyle nods to Lucas with humor in his expression. My eyes widen as I slowly drop my menu, causing both guys to laugh.
“Right,” Kyle chuckles.
“Oh wow,” Shana says before looking up at the waiter who’s balancing our drinks on a large round platter.
“How did she handle that?” I look at Kyle as he thanks the waiter and puts his glass of Pepsi in front of him.
“She didn't have a choice but to fess up.” He says as he opens a straw. “She was caught red handed. She thought I was going out of town but I ended up canceling my trip at the last minute because my father broke his ankle skiing. Instead of calling her to let her know I was on the way, I wanted to surprise her. So I’m standing there with flowers, wine, and damn condoms when Lucas walks out of her room in a towel.”
“Goodness. But you two became friends after that?” I look back and forth between the guys in disbelief. The last thing I’d expect of two guys in that position is friendship. At the very least, they’d maybe suffer through an awkward nod in class or something, but friends?
“Yeah. We had a few choice words before we realized how much of a liar she was. So I told her to go to hell and offered to buy Kyle a drink. He agreed, then we both left.”
“Damn. That's insane.” Shana shakes her head. The table goes quiet for a beat as we all look over our menus again. I feel even more impressed by Lucas than I was a moment ago. No way in hell could I have been so adult about that situation. I grip the flimsy plastic menu and scroll over all the food options, zoning in on a chicken quesadilla. The picture shows a really golden crisp tortilla and it's making my stomach growl. Just as I raise my eyes to see if anyone else is ready, my phone vibrates in my purse.
I ignore it, then it vibrates again, which awards me a glance from Lucas. My mother was always strict about us checking our phones at the dinner table, and even though I’m a grown ass woman now, I still feel a little shame when I slide my phone from my purse and read the screen. My heart drops when I see it's a text from Jordan.
Jordan: About this weekend.
Curiosity floods me as I stare at the words but the sound of Lucas's chuckling brings me back to reality. No, I'm not doing this to myself. I'm on a date with a great guy. I’m not going to let thoughts of Jordan mess with my head.
Though tempted, I don’t respond. I slide my phone back in my bag and turn to the group. The waiter appears in front of us and we take turns ordering our food. By the time she returns to refill our drinks, my phone has vibrated three more times. What the hell?
“You gonna get that?” Lucas nudges me with a smirk as my phone buzzes a cadence in my purse, shouting to the world that someone is calling. I glance