I’m in a relationship with Ares de la Peña.
After the…moistureincident, he led me out to his car and took me for pie in a quaint little place called GTFO. It’s very sneakily hidden in the back of a laundromat on the far side of campus, and it might be my new favorite place on the face of the earth.
The little library section in the corner needs some love, and they could do with an influx of new board games because some of the ones on the shelves are… well loved.
We aren’t staying, simply waiting for our order to be ready so we can take it to go. But overall, I’m totally digging the vibe here. There are no empty seats in the tiny, secret cafe. Why doesn’t Brian the burly Irish pie guy scale up his business? Or, I dunno, at least publicize the fact a pie shop is this close to campus so he could bring more people in and maybe open another location. Wouldn’t that be cool? Maybe he’d open up in the back of a gas station or something next.
The smells are driving me crazy. I’m pretty sure Ares has heard my stomach gurgle and grumble about having to wait for the pies that smell so darn delicious—even over the noise of the patrons enjoying their food.
He keeps glancing over at me, like he’s afraid I’m either a figment of his imagination, or like I might bolt through the door leading into the laundry machines. The reality is, I’m wondering if I can go cozy up to some of the people enjoying delicious pie, share theirs, and then give them some of ours when we get it. Sometimes, I’m a simple creature.
I still can’t believe I’ve never heard of this place before. I risk a furtive glance over at Ares, and he’s staring at me, a small, intimate smile tugging on the edges of his mouth.
I guess we’re doing this. We’re officially a couple. We’ve skipped right over the first date part and we’re now… boyfriend and girlfriend. So instead of diving into an awkward first date, we’re diving into an awkward relationship. This doesn’t feel smart.
I swallow, hard. Dad isn’t going to like this, which means I’ll have to keep it from him, and that thought makes it even worse.
I don’t keep things from my dad, not really. I mean, I keep my bone-deep sadness about Mom to myself—and my therapist—and the fact that I feel like a twisted monster because of my face. But I generally share things about my life with him when we have dinner. Big and small things alike. We talk about things, he tells me about his latest trip on the road, and I tell him about my life.
And this… I drag my eyes from Ares’s toes all the way up to his perfectly coiffed hair… this is most certainly a big thing.
I guess we’re not technically skipping over the first date part, we’re doing it in reverse.
I can’t say I thought that this rich guy hotshot’s idea of a first date would be a tiny hole-in-the-wall pie shop called Get the Fork Out. He mentioned something about going to meet his pig, and I’m honestly not sure if that’s a euphemism for his penis, or if he really has a pet pig he wants to introduce me to.
It could go either way.
Though if this guy, this…boyfriendof mine—oh holy cannoli, Ares de la Peña is my boyfriend. My stomach’s in knots as another shiver passes through my entire body. This has to be a dream, right? Or a really, really,reallymean joke?
Oof. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to the idea that he’s my boyfriend. Anyway, ifhethinks he’s going to take me back to his place and show me any part of his naked self on the first date, he has another think coming.
My brain stalls out on the idea of Ares naked. Now that I’m his girlfriend… that’s part of the whole package. I’m going to see Ares de la Peña all-the-way naked.
I’d been so stuck on the fact that his perfectly manicured fingers had been inside me, had made me come in the library, that I hadn’t really thought beyond that. My skin is clammy, hot, and my panties are drenched from ourencounterin the library.
“Is this Persephone?” The tall, dark, and brooding Irishman addresses Ares, but his face is blank.
I offer a smile. “I’d like to think I’m more Aphrodite than Persephone.”
Brian tips his head. “Touché.”
I’m entirely convinced that Brian knows exactly what Ares de la Peña did to me in the library because he keeps giving me a look while we wait.
Thatlook. The “girl, you’ve totally been finger-banged in the library” look.
Speaking of finger-banging in the library, I pull out my phone. I have to tell Tori. I shoot off a text that says “Fingered in French” thinking I’m hilarious and instantly regretting it the moment I presssend. Though it’s creepy that Tori commented on the French section in her messages and that’s where I ended up making out with Ares. Is that where everyone goes to do…thingsin the library?
That’s not a thought I want to let fester, so I clutch the phone to my chest as Brian hands over our food. Ares hands him… ho—ooooohmigosh Ares is giving him two hundred-dollar bills. For four slices of pie? How upmarket is this place?
Brian doesn’t flinch or argue. He offers Ares a fist bump and tucks the money into the cash drawer.
The prices are next to the specials on the menu board. Price per slice, price per pie. Nowhere on the board does it say anything about fifty-dollar slices of pie. Does he bake gold into the crust? Or maybe Ares is paying him for something other than pie.
Oh, no. Is he back on drugs? Isthatthe reason he wants me to be his girlfriend? Am I some kind of good girl cover he can hide behind and pretend to be dating while he goes off the rails?
My eyes are hanging out of my head right now, but I can’t stop staring. Not only is Ares de la Peña my boyfriend, but it momentarily slipped my mind—I’m going to go ahead and chalk it up to being absolutely blinded by lust for the past couple of hours—that he is also the son of a billionaire.
My bad-boy boyfriend is rich. And possibly addicted to pie as well as alcohol and—according to the search engines—cocaine.
