"....I have to get up early for work in the morning?" I had to try to use the same excuse on Kent as I did with Jen, at the very least. "You should call your other friends instead, like Mike or Paul…”

"It's been too long since I've hung out with you, Elly. Sometimes when you get pulled knee deep into life, you forget the important things, like your real friends. I have to get up early too. I have some businesses to sell and some life to recapture. C'mon, I’ll even sweeten the deal with a pedicure.”

I hesitated. I had purposely not spent time alone with him in any setting outside of his office. My fatal mistake was looking him in the eye. Seeing the hope and desperation there, I couldn't resist any longer. I sighed and turned around, crawling a bit away from the edge before standing up.

"Fine. No toe nail painting though." Even if I went over to his house, it didn’t mean I had to have him touching me. It was basically the same thing as me touching him and it was a very non-platonic thing to do.

"What, don't paint your toenails anymore? You used to bug me about that all the time." Finally he chuckled as he pushed back from the edge and grabbed his jacket. He stood up and moved towards the ladder, waiting for me to join him. I closed the distance between us.

"That was back in high school. I pay someone to do it now," I hated lying to him but it was easier than the truth. I stood next to the ladder and looked down briefly. "You have to go first. If I fall I want you to be there to break it." I smiled innocently to him.

Chapter 5

Kent was starting to come out of his emotional funk.

"Alright, well I guess that will work. I'll make sure not to look up then Miss I’m-Wearing-A-Fancy-Skirt."

I knew he was being serious. He was always proper and gentlemanly, even when we were teenagers. But he probably was just like that with me because he saw me as a friend, like one of the dudes. If I didn’t keep reminding myself of that I might let my old feelings resurface. They had to stay buried deep. I didn’t want to be hurt like that again.

"You'd better not."

I waited for him to start down and then headed down behind him. Once he was halfway down I screamed, looking down to see if he was going to look up. When he looked up and spotted the black thong under my skirt he blushed, his cheeks burning with his embarrassment. I didn’t get to see them for more than a second though before he was looking down at his feet, concentrating on the task at hand.

I grinned at my victory. “You owe me next week’s allowance.”