“Fine,” I conceded, not bothering to look at the clock.
It would only make him smugger to see that he was right. When we made it outside, he opened the car door for me, and I made sure to put my seat belt on right away so I didn’t meet another one of his disapproving stares.
“So, go on. Tell me,” Dom began as he started the short journey down the block that would’ve been just fine if we’d walked like normal people who lived in town. He gripped the steering wheel, as if it was threatening him.
“Tell you what?”
“Tell me what I need to know about what I am waking into here,” Dom said. “I expect that the rest of your …familywill be here at the graduation?”
It dawned on me what he was asking, and it wasn’t if someone was saving us seats.
I snorted. “Oh, yes. Don’t say a single word to any of them. The coven hates men, and they will curse you a second time if you look at any of our big, hairy moles on our chins.”
Dom rolled his eyes. “I’m being serious.”
“So am I.”
Dom made a sound of displeasure as we made our way up the hill and pulled into a parking lot designated for professors. There was a slim chance that anyone was going to be ticketed today. The campus was packed with people. Families took photos everywhere with their graduates dressed in baggy caps and gowns. They wandered around, pointing at old, crumbling brick buildings, like they were staring at the architecture of Italy instead of BU. Graduation day had turned into a rural tourist attraction.
I hummed a sigh as I angled myself to land on my heels on the way out of the car. All I needed was to casually burst out of my dress or have a nip-slip situation.
“You’ll figure it out yourself when you meet them soon.”
He didn’t seem happy about that answer either.
“Seriously? Just stick near me, and we’ll be fine. That seems to be the whole curse after all. If we aren’t together, we are both destined for bad luck. Together, we even out. So, there will be no horrible graduation stories to be told since I cannot miss today. Whether or not my family likes you, they aren’t going to let you get in the way of Lu’s day.”
“I understand that.”
“And I mean, sure, everyone might absolutely hate you,” I finally acknowledged.
“Excuse me?” Dom asked, entire head swinging toward me. His steps slowed before he took a few to catch back up to me.
“But like I said, they aren’t going to openly take that out on you today. They have manners. Most of them do anyway.”
Dom stared at me.
I sighed, looking away from his wide, shocked eyes. His normally narrowed voids were now large and demanding more context. He was lucky people weren’t paying attention to the two of us, or we’d be getting more than a few strange looks.
“Last summer wasn’t just felt by me, Dom,” I explained quietly. We came upon more people heading in the same direction we were to the main event. “Do you get what I’m saying?”
A sort of understanding crossed his face.
“After what happened and what was said that day …” I took another deep breath. “In case it wasn’t obvious already, Dom, the things you said and how it all went down after the summer really messed me up.”
“You told them about me.”
“Of course I did. You … the entire scenario of what happened last summer made me stop for a bit. The entire love affair and what I’d thought happened versus what did happen made me question myself. I questioned who I thought I was. No one has ever done that to me since I left home, and it wasn’t pretty. So, yeah, they all know.”
After a second, making sure I was done, he nodded.
“I’m sure I’m just a silly story you tell whenever someone asks if you had a fling for the summer,” I said.
“You weren’t just a fling, Ana.”
I stopped walking. “What was I then?”
Before Dom could answer, I shook my head. I couldn’t let this turn into another screaming match. Not today. Not here.
