Friend-Zoned (Friend-Zoned 1)

Don’t even go there.

I finish chewing, swallow, and declare, “This one’s my favorite, sweetheart. ”

Her smile beams like morning sunshine and she says, “I’ll remember that, Niki. ”

After instructing us not to work too hard she’d gone back to work.

When I’d come back from our sushi lunch yesterday, I was annoyed and pissy as hell.

Tina laughed off the kiss like it was nothing. To me, it was the best kiss I’ve even had so it made me mad as a hatter that she didn’t feel that way. I was ready to ask Tina to be my girl which is a huge deal for me. I thought everything was going good. I walk into Safira and bam! She jumps on my like I’ve come home from war. I enjoyed holding her like that. She’s so small. Her breasts pushed up against my chest and her face a hair’s breadth away. Nice.

Then she writes off the kiss as ‘curiosity between friends’…like hell!

I wanted to kiss her right there on the sushi bar enough to leave her breathless!

I turn to Max and tell him, “Yeah, we’re good. ”

***

Poker night is awesome! Again!

We all got together at Nik’s house at eight thirty. I decided to try a few new cupcake flavors today and went with strawberries and cream cupcakes and white chocolate cranberry cupcakes. Both were a hit. Ceecee had one of each before dinner. Max tried to look angry but couldn’t stop himself from grinning at her.

Totally got him wrapped!

I snuck her one more that he didn’t see. Pizza came at nine. We all ate, drank, and chatted together, including my little angel Ceecee. Max ended up putting Ceecee to bed a little later than usual because I’d managed to talk him into letting her play a few rounds of Uno with the girls. We cheered her on when she won twice and she was absolutely beaming with pride. Max couldn’t stop smiling at her. I knew why he was smiling.

As soon as I walked into the house, I greeted everyone and went straight to the kitchen to sort out my cupcakes. I was just about done when I almost had a heart attack.

“Tina! Tina! Tina! Tinaaaa!!!!” That yelling was coming from Ceecee. My heart clenched in fear.

I ran out of the kitchen with wide eyes and a pale face. Everyone else looked just as afraid as I was.

Only when I was her huge smiling face did I begin to relax. I held a hand on my chest and said, “Geez Louise, Ceecee. You just about sent me to an early grave!”

She stopped right at my legs, looked up and burst out, “I did it!”

Confusion set in. I shook my head slightly, shrugged and asked, “Did what, angel?”

She beamed, “I made a friend! All on my own. I just saw a girl from my class in the library and went over to her and said hi, I told her my name and you know what she said?” Excitement was leaping off her face.

I widened my eyes, leaned closer to her and whispered, “What’d she say?”

Ceecee smiled my favorite crooked smile, “She said she saw my art project up on display and thought it was awesome!”

That. Is. Awesome!

Ceecee took my silence as permission to continue, “She told me to eat lunch with her tomorrow so I can meet her friends!”

Totally. Freakin’. Awesome!

Still in a rush of excitement, she went on, “I did what you said and it worked! You’re the best, Tina. Love you!” After she dropped that bomb I like to call a miracle, she rolled on down to the hallway and out of sight.

Jiminy Crickets! We did it!

I was too busy watching my little friend stroll away to see Max bounding towards me. I let out a small yelp when I was picked up from behind.

He was laughing in my ear, “Only you, teeny Tina. ”