Chapter 116 (1/2)

She goes to the kitchen and calls over her shoulder, “I’m going to get to bed. I have an early shift tomorrow.”

I walk toward her and wait until she finishes her glass of water. “You work tomorrow, too?”

“Yeah, I work all day.”

“Why?”

She sighs. “Well, I have bills to pay.”

She’s lying. “And?” I press.

She wipes at the counter with her hand for a minute. “And maybe I was trying to avoid you.”

“You’ve been avoiding me long enough, don’t you think?” I raise a brow at her.

She swallows. “I wasn’t avoiding you. You barely reach out to me anymore.”

“That’s because you avoid me.”

She walks past me, pulling her hair from its ponytail as she does. “I didn’t know what to say. I was pretty hurt by you leaving the graduation and—”

“You left. Not me.”

“What?” She stops and turns around.

“You left the graduation. I only left after looking for you for thirty minutes.”

She looks offended. “I looked for you. I did. I never would have just left your graduation.”

“Okay, well, I seem to remember a different story there, but there’s no real point in arguing over it now.”

Her eyes lower and she seems to agree with me. “You’re right.” She refills her empty glass. And takes a small sip.

“Look at us, not fighting and shit,” I tease her.

She leans her elbow onto the counter and shuts the faucet off. “?‘And shit,’?” she repeats with a smile.

“And shit.”

We both laugh and continue to stare at each other.

“This isn’t as awkward as I thought it would be,” Tessa says. Untying her apron, her fingers get stuck on the knot.

“Need help?”

“No.” Her answer comes too quickly and she tugs at the strings again.

“You sure about that?”

After a few more minutes of struggling, she finally scowls and turns around to give me access to her back. Within a few seconds I’ve untangled the strings and she’s counting her tip money on the counter.

“Why won’t you get another internship? You’re more than a waitress.”

“There is nothing wrong with being a server, and this isn’t the end goal for me. I don’t mind it and—”