Make It Last (4 page)

             
“Well…” Kara began, finally standing still and twirling her finger around a lock of her blonde hair. “I did hear Colin mention that he saw you, and that you looked good.”

             
“He did not
.
”
             

             
“Uh, yeah
,
he did
.
”

             
“Oh
, my gosh. Is that all he said?
”

             
“So far,” Kara replied.
“I just put in their order, and I have to g
et back to my other customers. B
ut I’ll come back with updates.”

             
Kara sauntered back out into the dining room, leaving Briana momentarily distracted by what
she
’d just told her.
Briana
k
new that she didn’t want to see Colin or talk to him, but she couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction upon hearing that he thought she looked good.

             
Good.
Maybe he’d regret breaking her heart.

             
Briana went back to filling orders and waited for
the next update from Kara.
The word must have spread, because a
s
the other servers came in to pick up their orders and grab condiments, they couldn’t help but make comments to Briana about Colin being in the other room.

             
“Damn, Bree, you used to date him?”

             
“That man is
fine
, Bree. I
f you don’t want him, I’d like to take him out for a spin.”

             
“Colin is lookin’ good, Bree. Y
ou sure you don’t want to relive the hi
gh school days?”

             
Briana was starting to lose it when Pete walked in.

             
“Don’t say it, Pete. I swear to God, I’ll kill you if you say
anything
about Colin,” she said
.

             
Pete put his hands up, as if he were under arrest. “
I wasn’t going to, I promise,” he
answered. “Kara is over there with them now. Rich just walked in and joined them.”

             
Rich and Colin had been
best friends growing up. Brian
a
got to know Rich
pretty well when she dated Colin, and they both went to Texas A & M together. Rich was one of the only people she’d known when she got to college, so they were pretty close during her short stint there.

             
Pete went to high school with
all of
them
,
too, but he hadn’t run with the same crowd they
did, so they’d never hung out. B
ut he knew Colin and Rich.

             
“Oh, yeah?” Briana asked. “I haven’t seen Rich in
ages.
I didn’t know he was back in town.”

             
“I overheard him telling Mrs. Grayson that he was home for the summer. He only has one year left at A & M.”

             
Briana paused for a minute, trying to ignore the ache in her chest when she realized that she would also be
that close to finishing college
if she’d stayed.

             
“Anyway, I didn’t come back to talk about Colin and Rich, although I should have realized
you were back here freaking out,
” Pete said.

             
“I’m not
freaking out,
” she
tried to play it off. “What’s up?”

             
“Um…
I wanted to ask about Kara,” Pete said, his skin starting to match the shade of his hair. “You know, um, if she said
anything to you about last
night.”

             
“Not really, Pete. You know
Kara. S
he doesn’t take that stuff
seriously.” Briana said.
“She’s not a relationship kind of girl.”

             
Pete looked over her head and nodded.
“Yeah, that’s kinda what I figured.”

             
He walked back out.

             
“Pete
,” Briana called,
but he didn’t turn back.

             
She hoped he didn’t end up getting hurt. Kara made sure that the guys she was with new the score before they did anything, but Briana knew that Pete was different from the guys that Kara usually hung out with.

             
Pete was one of the good ones.

             
Kara came in a few minutes later.
“Okay, Mr. Hot
Stuff
has an
equally gorgeous friend. This is his
order. C
an you make it up now so it goes out with the rest of the orders?”

             
“Sure,” Briana replied. “Mr. Gorgeous is Rich. We were all friends in high school. He and I went to A & M together, actually.”

             
“Wait. A. Minute,
” Kara stated, pulling Briana so that they faced each other.
“Is Mr. Gorgeous the A & M g
uy that you told me about?” she
asked
,
eyes wide.

             
“
Yes
, “Briana
admitted. “But you have to keep that to yourself. Seriously, no one else knows about that
.
”

             
“Wow
.
”

             
Briana shushed Kara when a couple
of
servers walked in to pick up their orders. She looked over as Bert came in from the back to join her for the night shift.

             
“So happy you could make it
,
Bert,” she
said sarcastically, watching Kara as she backed out of the room.

             
“What?” Bert asked, stoned as usual.

             
“You were supposed to be here two hours ago. I’ve been slammed.”

             
“Whoa…c
hill, Bree. I just walked in and you’re going all ‘N
agging Mom’ on me,
” Bert countered, holding up his hands.

             
What was with the guys at work today?

             
“Okay, well, since you’re here now,
I’m going to take a quick break,
”
she
said, trying to decide if she should go out the back door, or stop being a chicken and go through the dining room.

             
She
held her head up and walked out the swinging door into the dining room. She tried to look straight ahead, but could hear the sound of Colin’s dad’s laugh and had to smile. She turned her head slightly and caught Rich’s eye.

             
Shit.

             
He
put his hand up as if to wave, then stood and pushed away from the tabl
e
. He said
something to Colin,
causing him to look over at her.
He
kept looking at Briana as Rich walked up to her, but she focus
ed
on Rich.

             
“Hey, Bree,” Rich said as he got closer, opening his arms to pull her into a hug.

             
She let herself be enveloped by his arms, her head barely coming to the middle of his chest. She smiled as she smelled his familiar cologne and was surprised by how happy she was to see him.

             
“Hi, Richie
,” She said
as she pulled back and smiled up at him.

             
“Girl,
you’re
the only on
e who can call me that and live,
”
he
said, returning her
smile
.

             
He really was hot, she thought, studying
his shaggy brown hair, hazel eyes, and the sweet
little cleft in his chin.
He put his finger under her chin, holding her face up so she kept looking at him.

             
“You doin’
good, Bree?”

             
“Yeah, I’m okay.”

             
“I miss you at school,
”
h
e admitted droppin
g his hand and putting
both hands
in his p
ockets as
he rocked back on his heels.

             
“I
’ve
miss
ed
you
,
too.” She looked at him for another moment, then said, “I only have a
couple minutes left o
n my break, so I’ve gotta run. B
ut we need to catch up while you
’
r
e
home.”

             
“Sounds good. See ya, Bree,
”
he
said
,
grinning
as he walked
backward
s towards his table
.

             
Briana grinne
d back, then looked over and saw
that Colin still watched her. Her grin vanished. S
he walked out the front door, hoping to get some air before going back in
to
the kitchen.

             
Luckily the rest of the night was uneven
tful, and after dealing with a
hangover that morning and the craziness of her shift, Briana opted to go ho
me rather than go out
.

Chapter Four

             
“So, what was all of that last night wi
th Bree?” Colin asked Rich, who was pulling
himself up into Colin’s truck.

             
Rich looked over at him and shrugged.
“Nothin’ much. I just haven’t seen her in a while
.
She left A & M pretty abruptly and I haven’t been home a lot since then, so I wanted to see how she’s been doing. Why?”

             
Colin looked at him thoughtfully, then back out at the road as he pulled away from Rich’s folk’s house.
“I don’t know. Y
ou guys se
emed pretty tight is all,” he said
. “I’ve never seen you h
ug her like that.
”

             
“It was
no big deal, man. Just sayin’ hi.” Rich shrugged again and propped
his boots up on the dashboard.

             
Colin knew that he should just let
it go. He’d lost any claim he
had on Bree four years ago, but he couldn’t help but feel like there was more to the story.

             
“Okay. Did she say she was doing al
l right?” he
asked. Despite his vow to leave her alone now that he was back home for good, he couldn’t stop thinking about her
.
Seeing her at the restaurant last night had brought back all sorts of memories, and he couldn’t help but notice how good she’d looked.
He also couldn’t forget the sick feeling he got in the pit of his stomach every time he thought about the way he’d ended it between them.

             
“Yeah, she’s cool,
” Rich responded
.
“We’re supposed to hook up before I head back to school.”
When Colin looked sharply a
t him, he amended his statement.
“I just mean
t that
we’re going to hang out.”

             
Colin didn’t know how he felt
ab
out Briana and Rich being buddy-
buddy. Rich was a good guy, but a real player
.
He didn’t want Briana getting tangled up with him.