Make It Last (Friends & Lovers 1)

“Uh, yeah, he did.”

“Oh, my gosh. Is that all he said?”

“So far,” Kara replied. “I just put in their order, and I have to get back to my other customers. But I’ll come back with updates.”

Kara sauntered back out into the dining room, leaving Briana momentarily distracted by what she’d just told her. Briana knew that she didn’t want to see Colin or talk to him, but she couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction upon hearing that he thought she looked good.

Good. Maybe he’d regret breaking her heart.

Briana went back to filling orders and waited for the next update from Kara. The word must have spread, because as the other servers came in to pick up their orders and grab condiments, they couldn’t help but make comments to Briana about Colin being in the other room.

“Damn, B

ree, you used to date him?”

“That man is fine, Bree. If you don’t want him, I’d like to take him out for a spin.”

“Colin is lookin’ good, Bree. You sure you don’t want to relive the high school days?”

Briana was starting to lose it when Pete walked in.

“Don’t say it, Pete. I swear to God, I’ll kill you if you say anything about Colin,” she said.

Pete put his hands up, as if he were under arrest. “I wasn’t going to, I promise,” he answered. “Kara is over there with them now. Rich just walked in and joined them.”

Rich and Colin had been best friends growing up. Briana got to know Rich pretty well when she dated Colin, and they both went to Texas A & M together. Rich was one of the only people she’d known when she got to college, so they were pretty close during her short stint there.

Pete went to high school with all of them, too, but he hadn’t run with the same crowd they did, so they’d never hung out. But he knew Colin and Rich.

“Oh, yeah?” Briana asked. “I haven’t seen Rich in ages. I didn’t know he was back in town.”

“I overheard him telling Mrs. Grayson that he was home for the summer. He only has one year left at A & M.”

Briana paused for a minute, trying to ignore the ache in her chest when she realized that she would also be that close to finishing college if she’d stayed.

“Anyway, I didn’t come back to talk about Colin and Rich, although I should have realized you were back here freaking out,” Pete said.

“I’m not freaking out,” she tried to play it off. “What’s up?”

“Um…I wanted to ask about Kara,” Pete said, his skin starting to match the shade of his hair. “You know, um, if she said anything to you about last night.”

“Not really, Pete. You know Kara. She doesn’t take that stuff seriously.” Briana said. “She’s not a relationship kind of girl.”

Pete looked over her head and nodded. “Yeah, that’s kinda what I figured.”

He walked back out.

“Pete,” Briana called, but he didn’t turn back.

She hoped he didn’t end up getting hurt. Kara made sure that the guys she was with new the score before they did anything, but Briana knew that Pete was different from the guys that Kara usually hung out with.

Pete was one of the good ones.

Kara came in a few minutes later. “Okay, Mr. Hot Stuff has an equally gorgeous friend. This is his order. Can you make it up now so it goes out with the rest of the orders?”

“Sure,” Briana replied. “Mr. Gorgeous is Rich. We were all friends in high school. He and I went to A & M together, actually.”

“Wait. A. Minute,” Kara stated, pulling Briana so that they faced each other. “Is Mr. Gorgeous the A & M guy that you told me about?” she asked, eyes wide.