Make It Last (Friends & Lovers 1)

Colin looked sheepish for a moment, then pulled Briana over to him and looked into her eyes. “If she’ll have me.”

She met his lips gently at first, then deepened the kiss before pulling back and smiling brightly. “She’ll have you,” she replied.

Colin’s face broke into a wide grin. He reached over to bump fists with Pete, who watched the whole exchange from behind the bar.

“You hear that, Petey?” Colin sang. “Looks like we’ve both hit the jackpot in the girlfriend department.”

“Better ya’ll than me,” Rich quipped taking a drink of his two dollar draft.

“You say that now,” Colin laughed, “But just you wait. When the right girl comes along, you’ll be right there with us.”

“Fat chance,” Rich said, but Briana saw him watch Roni’s progress back to the hostess stand through the mirror over the bar.

“Briana, could you please not sit on the customers?” Pam requested as she came through the kitchen door.

Briana giggled and climbed off of Colin’s lap.

“Sorry, Pam. I was just finishing up my break.”

Pam rolled her eyes and told her to get back to work.

“You okay?” Briana whispered to Colin before going back to the kitchen.

He nodded at her and gave her a small smile.

As she went back to work she heard Rich ask, “So, what’s up dude? What did you want to talk to me about?”

She was leaving Colin in good hands with Rich. As much as he loved to joke around and have fun, Rich was the most loyal friend she’d ever known, and she knew without a doubt that he would be there for Colin now.

Chapter Twenty

Briana hung up the phone. Then she started jumping up and down and squealing.

“What?” Kara asked, running out of her bedroom. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” Briana shouted, jumping over to Kara and pulling her in a hug, jostling her around. “Everything is wonderful. I just got off the phone with the culinary school. They accepted my application and want me to start school in the fall.”

She broke apart from Kara and did a booty dance, shaking her butt and circling Kara.

Kara couldn’t help but laugh as she started dancing around the room with her.

“Yay! That’s wonderful.” Kara enthused. She stopped suddenly. “Wait a minute…that means you’re moving to Austin.”

She pouted prettily, which made Briana laugh.

“It’s just to Austin,” Briana assured her. “You’ll come visit me and I’ll come visit you.”

“Promise?”

Briana pulled her into a big hug. “Of course. You know I love you, girl.”

“I love you, too.”

“We still have a couple weeks together. Oh, I’ll have to give Pam notice. I feel bad about that, but she knows this is what I really want to do, so I think she’ll be happy for me.”

“She will be. Don’t worry about that, Bree. Everyone is going to be happy for you. I’m so proud of you for going after what you want.” Kara’s eyes misted over.

“Thanks, Kara. Oh. My. Gosh. I have to tell Colin,” Briana said. “I’m going to see if I can catch him at the store. I’ll see you at work, okay?”