Chapter 44

Calvin and I went to the car a little later so he could drive me home. I found it funny yet odd how close we were becoming. It was nice, but I feared it. We had something good going on right now, but this was all because of the contract, and something told me that every contract would come back and bite me in the ass.

“Do you need anything else?” Calvin asked, looking over at me briefly as he drove.

“Oh, no, I think I’m good,” I muttered, though I felt like that was a lie. I could use some snacks for later on, but I didn’t want to bother him with that.

“You think?” he asked, in a much more stern tone now.

“Okay… Maybe I may need some snacks. Just maybe,” I admitted, turning to look out the window. There was some traffic, so that was something to deal with.

“You and Janelle are just the same.” He sighed and shook his head. That got my attention.

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking over at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

“You want something, but you won’t say what. If I didn’t ask you twice, you wouldn’t have spoken your mind,” he explained and shrugged. Clearly, he was used to this behavior, but it seemed like he didn’t like it.

I pouted and thought for a second what to tell him. The truth would do. “I don’t like—” I was saying when I got cut off by him.

“Being a burden to people?” he finished my sentence before I could. “I can see why you and Janelle are such good friends. You’re the same,” he teased, a smirk on his face when he looked at me. It was the first time I saw him in such a playful mode.

“Hey—” I poked him, then rolled my eyes. He continued to look at me, but soon, the light turned back to green, and his focus was once again on the road.

“Come on, we’ll go to the grocery store,” Calvin decided. I noticed he was now driving without any GPS, which I never could. Even back in my hometown, I’d still drive around with the GPS.

“We don’t have to,” I replied, not wanting to trouble him.

“I think it’s best we go,” he said firmly. “Wouldn’t want you going by yourself and running into that special ex of yours,” he then teased, which made me roll my eyes, but I decided to play along.

“Oh my, you’d get yet another chance to save the damsel in distress,” I teased back, watching as he smiled, showing off those dimples of his.

“It has become my favorite thing these days.” He grinned and winked at me. Wow… That wink sure was something.

“I can tell.” I laughed.

We stopped at the grocery store. I picked out some of my favorite snacks quickly, then went to pay for it, but Calvin beat me to it. We made our way back to the car, and he dropped me off at home. When I got home, I saw Ines and Madison in the living room watching an action movie with their favorite actor starring in it.

“Hey, you two,” I said as I walked to the couch and sat down.

“Don’t just ‘hey’ us. Tell us everything.” Ines paused the movie and moved closer to me.

“Was he an asshole again?” Madison flat out asked, holding onto the pillow.

“Or was he sweet? I think he was sweet. Look at that smile on her face,” Ines began to tease. Her teasing made me realize that I was indeed smiling like an idiot.

“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes and straightened my pose.

“So she’s right.” Madison giggled, which made me sigh.

“Okay, I’ll admit. It was great,” I said truthfully. He was, after all, a gentleman tonight. “Dinner was amazing, and after dinner, we got ice cream. This was the first time we talked so much and turns out the man does actually have a personality.”

“My, my,” Ines teased and nudged me.

“He even took you out for ice cream. Isn’t he the sweetest,” Madison pointed out, knowing how much I loved my ice cream after dinner.

“Also stopped at the store to buy me sweets.” I showed them my bag of sweets.

“So I guess he is capable of being a good guy.” Madison sounded surprised.

“He actually is, and he’s also quite a nice person,” I admitted.

Two days later, I invited Janelle over for dinner with me and the girls. She had been asking to meet up for brunch, but due to work, I couldn’t. I asked her over for dinner with these girls because I had noticed how Janelle was alone and thought perhaps this could end up good for her. The two would love her; she was a kind, funny lady.

I put on some shorts and a crop top. We all decided to settle for comfy clothes—plus, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be comfortable with crop tops, so I’d take my chances now. I stepped out and saw Madison wore the same shorts as me only in baby blue and mine was baby pink. We both bought it when shopping together, so it was no surprise. Ines was wearing some sweats and a tank top.

I heard a knock on the door and went to open up for Janelle. I saw her stepping out of the car. Calvin had dropped her off. He looked in my direction and waved at me. I noticed he was focused on my outfit, which made me smile and look away.

“Are you done eye flirting?” Janelle asked as she stood at the door with me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I rolled my eyes and took a step back to let her in. She was dressed in some sweats and a hoodie. Luckily, she understood the assignment. She also brought two round tins. I wasn’t sure what they were.

“I brought an apple pie, and the other is some cinnamon rolls,” she explained, handing me the bag.

“Oh my god, I love apple pie,” Ines appeared and spoke so excitedly. “By the way, I’m Ines.” She then extended her hand out, but Janelle just hugged her instead and introduced herself.

“I’m Madison,” Madison said, introducing herself to Janelle. We briefly spoke, mostly doing a quick get to know one another. We then went to the kitchen and began to look at our options. We settled for BBQ wings, pizza, french fries, and fried chicken. It was quite a lot, but it was exactly what we wanted.

“Okay Madison and I can do the french fries and fried chicken,” Ines decided, picking their strong suit, which worked out perfectly because I was better at pizzas and wings.

“I do make a mean BBQ wings. you’ll love it,” Janelle grinned.

We all started out with preparing our food and spoke mostly about work, our hobbies, and finally landed on talking about men. Janelle was the only one married out of us but sure had a cute love story to tell us.

“I have no idea where you found that man,” Madison sighed, then took a bite from a cinnamon roll.

“Neither do I, to be quite honest, but I do appreciate and love him more than anything,” Janelle laughed and shook her head.

“I’m still here waiting for a reply,” Ines said jokingly.

“If you have to wait for a reply, just leave him and look for the next one.” I shrugged. Ines was a pretty girl and could have many men after her.

“So, second baby, huh,” Madison mentioned.

“Yup, never thought this would be happening so soon.” Janelle laughed.

“What’s it like?” Ines asked.

“Scary. I’d never been in charge of such a vulnerable thing, and every day, I worry if I’m a good mother or not, but as long as my child is happy and healthy, I assume I’m doing it right,” Janelle answered. “Do you two want kids someday?”

“I’m stuck between wanting to be the rich aunty or just one child,” Madison answered, laughing.

“Hmm, I want three of them! But I also want them with the right person,” Ines explained. Soon, we moved onto other much more fun topics such as our favorite actors and artists. We all had our plate full of unhealthy food when we decided to sit down on the couch and watch a movie. For once, picking a movie went smoothly because we found a movie with two actors we both loved, so of course, we had to watch it. We truly had a great night together, and I could see us doing this again in the future.

When the time came, Janelle was notified Calvin was leaving to come pick her up. “I’ll walk you to the car,” I offered and led the way to the door. “Thank you,” She smiled and held the door open for me. I followed her to the car and looked over at Calvin.

“I’m assuming you all had a good time?” he asked, slightly leaning over the car window, his head tipped back a little and looking oh so seductive.

“We did.” I smiled.

“Have a good night, Lily,” he said with that adorable smile on his lips.

“You have a good night too, Calvin.” I smiled at him. He waited till I was inside the house again before he drove off.