Friend-Zoned by Belle Aurora Read Free Book Online Page A

the
sponsor?
Nik123: Pretty damn big. It’ll mean big money for us.
TheTomicBomb: Cool! I hope u get it. I have 2 go, I’ll see u4 lunch
the day after 2moro :)
Nik123: Great. Just warning you, I’m a big sushi fan
TheTomicBomb: Me 2! Sounds like a plan :p
TheTomicBomb logged off.

I don’t know what just happened but I’m smiling like an
idiot. Should’ve cut her
loose. ***
    Last night was spent
packing away most of Nat’s things in the second bedroom.
I’m super psyched!
Next week she’ll be here and I’ll be living and working with my
bestest friend in the whole wide world!
I messaged her to tell her how her room was coming along.

Me: Hey hon, your room is almost sorted. You’re almost here!
Yay!
Nat: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Totally awesome! I went to
your dad’s and got his spare key.
Me: Cool. How is he?
Nat: You know your pops, always working on something. He made a new
coffee table last week!

This is good news. My dad is a carpenter and fascinated with
anything wooden. Most of my childhood memories of him include him
making something out of wood. When Mom died, he stopped tinkering
and became a bit of a recluse. Unfortunately, I wasn’t much of a
help to him because I was mourning the loss of my sweet Mia. We
comforted each other as best we could but living in Cali became too
hard for me, so I moved to New York. I think it took me moving to
break him out of his spell. We call each other a few times a week
to chat and Nat goes over on occasion to check up on him.

Me: Awesome. How’d it look?
Nat: You tell me. It was in the moving truck! Oh, wow! Me: I thought it was yours! I put it in your room!
Nat: Nope, it’s yours babe. You have a new coffee table! I gotta
jet, see you soon. Love you x
Me: Love you more x

This is awesome because I never even had a coffee table to begin
with. I walk into Nat’s bedroom and take a closer look at my
gift.
It’s beautiful. It’s as high as my knee with a toffee brown finish.
The hand carved pattern around the sides is of roses, stems, and
leaves. The stems wind their way around; it’s so realistic he’s
even carved the thorns into it. I love it.
My eyes mist and my throat tightens with emotion because I know
this table is more than a gift. It’s a message from my dad. The
message is to not worry about him because he’s okay.
Relief settles me while love warms me.
I wipe at my eyes, clear my throat and pick up my cell to call my
father.
***
    “ Knock Knock!”
I lift my head from my schedule to see a smiling Tina standing in
the doorway of my office. She’s holding a large white
container.
I smile and ask, “Hey, what are you doing here?” I check my watch;
its 11 am. Still got some time before my meeting.
“I was just in the neighborhood!” She looks a bit sheepish as she
continues, “Well, I know you said you’ve got an important meeting
so I brought something to sweeten the deal for them.”
My eyes widen. I ask, “Oh, yeah? What have you got there?”
She walks over to my desk and opens the container. There are twelve
of the most delicious looking chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever seen.
Half have chocolate frosting, half have a light brown colored
frosting. The smell hits me. Pow!
Right in the kisser! I can smell
peanut butter. I’m salivating. I tell her, “These look so great”
Multiple footsteps approach the office. Max and Ghost appear. It’s
like they can smell food from down the street.
Max smirks, “Hey Tina, what’s shakin’ baby?” Ah, Max, what a
knucklehead.
Ghost lifts his chin to Tina.
Her skin flushes as she explains, “Well, I made some cupcakes for
the sponsor meeting thing. I know it’s important and these babies
can be really persuasive.” She turns to Ghost and says, “I don’t want to
toot my own horn but these cupcakes,” her eyes narrow and she looks
left then right like she’s trading inside information, she finishes
on a whisper, “are the bomb. ”
Her phone buzzes and ‘Thrift Shop’ by Macklemore