to one of the booths.
“Hello,” Ana said, as Charity approached the table. She stood up, and the two women hugged.
“Hello,” Charity replied. They then both took their seats and Charity sighed, reaching for her menu. “I’m starved.”
“Me too,” Ana agreed. When the waitress came, they placed their orders and then the waitress left to get their drinks. Charity took a drink of water because she knew that Ana would instantly start grilling her, and she was right. “So, how have you been?” Ana asked.
Charity put her water glass down and smiled. “How’ve I been since you talked to me on Monday and told me the news about Derek and his inheritance.” Ana’s face had a hint of pink on her cheekbones, and she nodded slightly. “Great…considering.”
“Considering?” Ana asked softly.
“Well, it’s every girl’s dream to know that the guy she slept with is only using her to benefit himself.” Charity took another drink to drown out the lump in her throat.
“But the sleeping together thing didn’t mean anything right?” Ana asked.
“Right!” Charity quickly said, looking down at her glass of water. She continued to stare at the glass like something was swimming inside of it. The waitress brought them their drinks, they thanked her, and she was gone, all while Charity continued to stare at the glass.
“Charity?” Ana started. Charity lifted her eyes up to Ana’s. “It meant nothing, right?”
Charity started to nod again, but then suddenly stopped, and she lifted the glass of water to her lips. She took a long drawn out sip, as Ana continued to watch her. Finally, Charity had to make a choice…drown from all that water or confess the truth. “Fine. Maybe the sex didn’t mean nothing. Perhaps, it meant something.” She swallowed the lump in her throat and reminded herself that her best friend was staring back at her. She didn’t need to have secrets from her. “Okay…truth is it meant everything. I wanted him, despite telling myself I didn’t. When you called, I was upset and hurt because I thought it meant something to him. He bought me condoms for heaven’s sake.”
Ana nearly spat out the soda that she just drank. “What?” Ana asked, chuckling.
Charity shrugged. “He wasn’t expecting to have to need them. He stopped at the store and along with buying me the charger that I forgot at home, he bought a box of condoms. I thought it was romantic, only to find that he had an ulterior motive.”
Ana sighed, taking another drink from her glass. This time, she got it all down, then she said. “Have you talked to him since you’ve been back?”
Charity raised an eyebrow. “Uh…no. Why would I? Shame me once, shame on you, shame me twice, and shame on me. I’m not going to let him get to me again.”
“Would it hurt to just talk to him?” Ana asked quietly.
Charity opened her mouth to argue, but the waitress came back with their food. “Need anything else?” she asked, placing the trays down in front of them.
They both shook their heads and the waitress left. “Now, I’m a bit confused. You’re the one that told me about the inheritance. You seemed angrier than even I was. So, why the sudden change of attitude and telling me that I should talk to him. It doesn’t make sense.”
Ana looked down at her food and started eating, while Charity continued to gawk at her. There was clearly something unusual in Ana’s demeanor, and Charity couldn’t pinpoint the strangeness. Finally, Ana dropped French Fry to her plate and looked up. “He stopped by today to see me.” Charity raised her eyebrow and didn’t even need to ask the question because Ana answered it for her. “Yes, at my parent’s house.”
“How did he get their address?” Charity asked.
Ana shrugged. “He said that he found it in your desk drawer.”
Charity frowned. She was never that careless