Chapter 5
KADENCE
“I can’t believe we are really watching this show,” Lani sighs from her position on the white chair across from me.
“I can’t believe I actually like it,” Henley adds, throwing a blanket over her stretched out lower half that’s hogging the couch.
“I can’t believe Kady didn’t come home ‘til after three,” Adrianna sings.
My face slowly lifts to see two shocked expressions and one smug smirk.
She’s like having a fucking tabloid in the house.
“Um…I’m gonna need details,” Adrianna commands as she tosses her legs over the arm of the white chair she’s lounging in beside Lani. “And really fucking good ones. I had to ride home with some random dick I wasn’t going to be riding so you two could be alone. I need details. Fuck that. I earned details.”
No joke. She has earned at least a few details. She bailed early like a champ. Didn’t whine. Didn’t complain. Didn’t even insist we leave together. She just whispered a rally cry of ‘get some’ and took Calen’s offer for a ride home. It was a really kick ass wing woman thing to do. Should’ve known it was going to come at a high price. An extremely high price.
Lani adjusts herself in the chair, the look of relief in her eyes too apparent to ignore.
Adrianna taps Lani’s dangling arm with the tip of her toe. “Did I forget to mention you should expect Calen’s call today? I gave him your number.”
Our best friend’s eyes darken. “I’m gonna kill you.”
“You can try....”
“It’ll be easy. You won’t know it’s coming.”
“But I can be prepared, which is why I will be making all my own meals in this house for the next several weeks and installing an electronic lock to my bedroom door with a pass code that changes every eighteen hours.”
“No blood shed in the house. That shit stains too bad.” Henley pauses the show on the mounted flat screen television above the fireplace. Her head rolls to me seconds prior to me lowering my attention back to the project I’m working on. “Fess up, Kady. Did you let him tap that?”
I slide my laptop onto the glass coffee table that’s flooded with junk food. “Not exactly....”
The offense in Adrianna’s tone causes me to cringe. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“That she’s not a girl but not yet a woman,” Henley snickers.
Her joke receives a sarcastic smirk. “Thank you, Britney.”
“Puh-lease,” Lani joins the taunt train. “She hasn’t been a girl since Alex Moore finger banged her on Hen’s couch Halloween night during sophomore year of high school.”
Wow. Are we really discussing the origins of my sexual history? Do your friends do this type of shit? No? Just me? How the hell did I get so lucky? No. I don’t make pros and cons lists when it comes to them though if I did, you can bet your ass this ridicule would fall under con.
Adrianna wiggles her eyebrows at me. “And of-course we all remember how you were last to ditch that v-card. Holding onto that damn thing like an autographed Usher poster.”
“God, our senior year was so fucking busy,” Henley recalls, a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
It was. In so many ways….Fun pre-lude to college. That’s for sure.
“Let’s regain our focus here,” Lani commands to everyone in the room. “So…you didn’t give it up?”
“No.”
She continues her interrogation, “But did you let him have a taste?”
Her follow up question causes me to shift in my seat. “A touch.”
Everyone grows identical skeptical stares.
“Fine! Two touches but that’s it.”
Two amazing touches if I do say so myself. That man’s fingers could easily rival most of the sex toys hidden not so cleverly in my bedside drawer. Yes. They definitely, definitely go into the pros category…right along with being able to make me come multiple times.
“That’s it?” Henley’s questions slowly.
“I made up an excuse to leave and ate shitty drive thru food for that?” Adrianna grouses.
“Are we back in high school?” Lani pokes. “Are you gonna make sure he holds your hand and asks you to Homecoming in front of his friends first or will he be able to get a little mouth to cock action next time you see him?”
The three of them laugh at my expense.
Wanna trade groups of friends? I’m considering it….Where’s my pen? Wanna help me make a list?
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Why isn’t Maddie here to be a voice of reason on my side?”
Adrianna shakes her head. “Even Maddie would scold this shit.”
“We’re taking it slow.” My defense is met with another round of rolling eyes. “What’s wrong with that?”
“The collective cobwebs on your cooch,” Adrianna crassly argues at the same time the doorbell rings.
Anxious to get away from the conversations and accusations surrounding my sex life, I hop onto my feet. “I will gladly answer that.”
Adrianna advises, “Don’t move too fast, Kady. Would hate for the hottie you should be banging to get jealous of whoever you are rushing to please at the door.”
Maybe I don’t trade in all my friends. Maybe just Ri? Maybe we start making her a special edition pros and cons list.
They continue making jokes at about me though I can thankfully no longer hear them. When I arrive at the door, I check the peephole before answering.
We do have a gate and a security guard, but you can never be too careful. Sometimes crazy fans get clever. And as much as I may wanna bitch slap Henley for judging me about me not giving it up on the second date, I never want her in real danger. None of us do.
I crack the door open to get a better look at the delivery man holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Delivery for Kadence Allan.”
Baffled, I open it completely. “What?”
The sinewy young man repeats, “Delivery for Kadence Allan.”
“I’m…I’m Kadence Allan.”
He offers me his phone. “Sign here.”
After using my finger to provide my signature, he relocates the vase of white water lilies to my clutches and jogs back to his car. Inside the house I give the adorable display that includes a brown teddy bear holding a mini volleyball and a card, a long shocked stare.
Did he really send me flowers? You think this is maybe some sort of…I don’t know…way he lures women into bed? You know cook for them, swear he never does this kinda thing, send them shit, and then convinces them to crawl underneath his high dollar sheets? Like a lined out check list to guarantee he gets laid in the ‘harder cases’? Am I about to fall victim to a perfected panty dropping method?
I place the vase down on the entry way table and check the tiny white card.
Kady,
Balls in your court, babe.
You pick the speed.
You pick the night.
You pick the date.
I’ll be ready whenever you are.
Hope you call me soon.
-Levi
A wide grin creeps across my face.
So maybe not. Maybe Levi Stone isn’t as sex obsessed as my friends are or as much as I have him pegged to be. Maybe he really deserves the third date I want him to have. Maybe just maybe Henley’s right. Maybe I should ditch the list and just see where it goes. Maybe Levi Stone is Mr. Right Now who is willing to work a little harder to become Mr. Right.