Resplendent Read Online Free Page A

her waist and kiss her naked shoulder. “You’re right, that is original,” she admitted with a slow smile. Good.
    “I’ll call you that from now on.”
    She laughed. “All right, Dre.”
    “Dre? So we both have nicknames now, huh? You flirting with me?” I pulled a strand of hair off of her shoulder. God, I hope she is. Her smile quickly faltered, and a blush crept up her face. Not good. I made her uncomfortable.
    “No, I’m sorry, I know you’re with Carmin.” She bit her lip and looked around nervously.
    Whoa, whoa, whoa.
    “I’m not with Carmin. She’s just my date…” I stopped talking when I saw her eyebrow rise and she took a step back.
    Shit. I didn’t want to sound like a dick, but Carmin wasn’t my girlfriend. She didn’t mean anything to me.
    I knew what that eyebrow meant though. Family, girl code, and all that shit.
    I tried to backtrack. “She’s my date, but we’re just friends. She knows that.”
    I tried to sound confident in what I was saying but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t know if she did or not. If she’d been talking to Peach about me then I needed to make it very clear to her before the end of the night where we stood.
    Her face softened, but she didn’t look all that convinced.
    “Well either way, I didn’t mean for it to come across as flirting.” She glanced down and averted her eyes.
    “I wouldn’t think anything bad about it if you were. Actually, I wouldn’t think bad about you in general,” I assured her.
    Her luscious lips curved upwards in a smile. It was small but still a smile.
    “Where’s my drink?” Carmin asked, coming up behind me and wrapping her arms tight around my waist. I turned sideways and gave her the cup in my hand. I had already forgotten the plan was to get us both drinks, so I’d just poured one for myself. By the time I looked for Savannah again, she was dancing with Adam. That fucker. He already had his Grubby Palms behind her back—a little too low, if you asked me. He was a dickhead for touching her that way. They’d just met for crying out loud! And the way he was leaning in to whisper what I bet were some panty dropping lines was a sleazy move, even for him. I’d never do that—to her.
    “You look like you need this drink more than I do.” Carmin’s voice distracted me.
    I looked down at her and realized she wasn’t dancing. Instead, she was just standing in front of me with one hand on her hip. “Anything you want to share with the class?”
    “The class?” I asked. Not the class, I just wanted to warn Adam not to try anything with Peach. Ever.
    “Everyone except Adam and Savannah can see the shit face you’re wearing right now.”
    I quickly wrapped my arm around her shoulders and turned toward the sofa. I didn’t know I was being that obvious. I normally didn’t have a problem expressing myself, but right now I had to keep it cool and let Carmin loose gently. I knew the school they went to was not far from me—it would be easy to keep in touch. I sat Carmin down and tried to think of the best way to approach this. She was already too clingy. I wouldn’t be able to pretend having any feelings for her if we went on another date.
    I had to do this right, so I could get to know Peach better. We just needed time. Just a little bit of time, that was all.

 
     
    It’d been three months since I met Andres. When I gave Adam my number at the end of the night, I was surprised to see it was Andres who kept calling me. He’d asked me out as friends a few times and I’d finally agreed to see him. Carmin had been quiet about him, and I didn’t know what his game was. I peeked into Lola’s bedroom and saw her lying down, sorting through a magazine. She had her dark black hair pulled up in a bun and had her reading glasses on. Completely absorbed in an article, she hadn’t noticed me at the door. I softly tapped my fingers on her door before swiftly walking in and plopping myself down on her