Let me love you. ✔

3 My best friend

Nova

I drag myself out of bed after a sleepless night.
His face and his soft fingers caressing my thigh haunted me until the sun came up.

I always start the day with a run on Saturday. I take a quick shower before putting my running clothes on even though I don't feel like going today.

Yeah, I know, who showers before the actual run. Me. Because otherwise, I'll be a running zombie. I don't feel fully awake without it.

Downstairs, I greet my roommate Hannah and her fiancé Jaimy. They're watching a movie snuggled up against each other. I go straight into the kitchen, avoiding questions about the lack of color on my face.

I pour myself some tea when Hannah sneaks up behind me. Jumping on the spot when she asks, "Trying to avoid us, Chica?"

"Hannah! You scared the shit out of me." I shriek, spinning around to face her.

Seeing my state, she immediately looks worried. "No offense, but you look like death warmed over this morning. Is there something wrong?"

I shrug and pull myself on the kitchen countertop with Hannah's eyes still on me.

"Just go back to Jaimy and watch your movie together," I grumble.

"Nova?" she sighs. "Tell me. The last time you looked like this was when you moved in ten months ago. So, don't give me shit and tell me what's going on."

Annoyed, I groan. "You're not gonna drop it, are you?"

She leans back against the kitchen table and crosses her arms. She is not going away.

"Some guy grabbed me." avoiding her gaze when saying it.

She sighs and shakes her head knowing this is, unfortunately not an occasional problem. "That sucks, but..." pausing and pushing up one eyebrow. "It's not the first time that it happened. Why are you so upset about it this time?"

"What! Because men think they can grab women when they want, I should just be okay with it, Hannah?" I question her.

"That is not what I mean and you know it." she says calmly." Normally, you let Cary take care of it and you shrug it off. So why are you this upset?"

Irritated, I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose before leaning back against a cabinet, sighing, "Let it go, Hannah, please."

Of course, she didn't and now we're stuck in a staring contest, both not ready to give in.

Hannah huffs and throws her hands up in frustration, accepting her defeat after minutes of steady glaring and grumbles, "Fine, Nov. Then you don't tell me." she turns on her heels and stomps away, leaving me to feel even more awful than I already did.

Shit! Am I gonna tell her?

My heart is banging incessantly against my ribcage and my voice is unsteady when the words tumble over my lips. "I felt attracted to him."

She stops dead in her tracks and flings her body around to face me. Her eyes are wide open so is her mouth, making me wish I kept mine locked.

I try to swallow away my discomfort and fiddle with one of the cords of my hoodie, unsure how to move on with this conversation.

Suddenly her face lights up like a firefly in the night. Her mouth now formed into a big smile and her feet taking quick steps towards me, engulfing me in a hug.

"You liked him?" she grins with her eyes trained on my face.

"Yeah, well. It doesn't matter, Hannah. He's..."