Truth or Dare - Danielle Allen Page 0,22

get another black pepper sauce for the table please?” Eli asked.

“Yes, of course,” the waiter replied. “Anyone else need anything?”

“We wouldn’t even need extra if Kingston didn’t stick his fingers where they don’t belong,” Eli muttered under his breath.

I was holding in a laugh, so I just shook my head.

“This looks wonderful, thank you,” Tisha told him politely.

As soon as the waiter walked off, Eli narrowed his eyes at Kingston. “Did you stick your fingers in the black pepper sauce?”

“I think he was tasting other sauces,” Tisha joked.

I lightly kicked my best friend under the table, and she laughed.

“I didn’t stick my finger in the black pepper sauce,” Kingston chuckled, admitting nothing else. He lifted both hands in the air. “I promise.”

Eli looked around the table. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I know the extra black pepper sauce is mine.” He pointed at the one near Kingston’s plate. “Something isn’t sitting right with me about this.”

We all burst out laughing.

The dinner flowed like a normal dinner amongst friends. We laughed and joked the entire time. I didn’t know if it was because I came or because of how hungry I had become, but I was able to enjoy my time with Kingston without being consumed by desire for him.

Maybe I was just horny and needed him to make me come before I could finally shake whatever this is, I thought as I listened to Kingston finish his story.

“I know I put it in the group text, but did you read the article calling Wright Now the new ‘it’ spot in Atlanta,” I mentioned, putting my hand on his forearm. “If I ever finish my collection, I’m going to have to do a photoshoot there.”

Kingston’s eyes lit up. “You really should though.”

Tisha gasped. “No seriously, Simone. You need to do that.”

“Didn’t you say at your thirtieth that you were leaving the bank and throwing your savings into creating a fashion line?” Eli pointed out. “What happened with that? Because it sounds like you’re bullshitting.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and all eyes were on me.

He was right. I was bullshitting.

I pouted. “In my defense, I tried to quit but the job offered me more money,” I began. “And so… I stayed.”

“When are you going to start going after what you want?” Tisha questioned. “This job is beneath you.”

“Tisha! You work with me,” I argued. “Doing the same thing!”

“It’s not the same. You want to do fashion design and you’re not going after what you want.” She shrugged. “I’m going after what I want—more money.”

We all laughed.

The four of us cleaned our plates and were nice and full by the time dessert rolled around.

I sat back in my chair. “I don’t think I can eat another thing.”

Kingston looked at me. “I could.”

And just like that, my body was on fire. I thought having Kingston touch me was enough to extinguish what I felt, but that was not the case.

Eli sighed dramatically. “Okay, look. I know what sneaking around looks like and you two really do look like something is going on,” he noticed. “You two have been whispering and giggling this whole time.”

“You and Tisha have been whispering and giggling, too,” Kingston deflected. “Does that mean something is going on there?”

Tisha and I looked at each other and erupted in laughter.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Eli wondered in confusion before his eyes got huge. “You two really are fucking?”

“No, we haven’t had sex. But you just told on yourself,” I replied.

Eli’s mouth dropped. He looked over at Tisha who was glaring at him with his arms crossed.

“Wait, no, I didn’t—never said—no, I didn’t say that we were…” Eli stumbled over his words as he dodged Tisha’s playful slaps.

“And how is it going over here?” Chloe asked as she appeared at our table.

“Everything is great,” Tisha spoke up first.

“The food was incredible,” I added, gesturing to my plate. “I ate everything.”

“Yeah. Did you taste the black pepper sauce?” Kingston wondered.

Chloe’s eyes zeroed in on Kingston. “Yes, I had it on my salad. It can go on anything, I swear! Um, Kingston can you come with me for a moment please? I need you to help”—she shifted her gaze to me— “Corrine with something.”

He wiped his mouth and hands with his napkin and then stood. “Yeah, of course.”

They walked away and I tried not to read too much into Chloe’s look. There was no way she could’ve seen what happened under the table.

“When you get your shit together and create this fashion