“Is it?” she asks, chipper as ever. “Oh, well. We’re all going over to Miles’s for dinner so…” She shrugs innocently, sticking the spoon back in the batter.
“Who is‘all of us’?” I ask, laughing at the absurdity.
We’ve been hanging out like always, so I don’t know why she’s pushing it. Since we came back from LA, Kennedy has been a little distant, but she usually gets like this around this time of year, given how far away she is from her family. It was a little weird that she didn’t want to celebrate her birthday much this year, so we stayed in and watched a movie for her twenty-first. It was fun as always, but something has seemed off. Maybe that’s why Wren’s pushing this.
“Just Kennedy, Harry, Milesy, me and you, obviously and uh, Evan,” she says, rushing her list.
I narrow my eyes on her. “Why?”
“I just thought it would be nice for us all to hang out now you and Evan are…”
“We’re what?” I ask.
“He’s your boyfriend, Scar. You can say it,” she says, shimmying her shoulder at me for extra effect. That word is still so weird to me. I even considered not calling him anything, but there’s nothing that he does that doesn’t fit my requirements for a boyfriend. And he’s annoyingly perfect at it.
“That doesn’t mean I want to,” I mutter.
“Can you stop being a grump for one night and enjoy this delicious meal thatyour boyfriendis putting together while I make dessert,” she warns. I nod at her fierce tone. “Okay,” she says it softer this time. “I’ve organised a seating plan, so be prepared.”
* * *
I wish she was more specific about being prepared because with the six of us, and although Wren made it clear she wants to see me and Evan ‘in action,’ she put us at opposite ends of the table as soon as we got here.
I wouldn’t care that much if he didn’t look so good. I just want to ruffle his hair, mess him up a little, take off that white button down and run my hands all over him.
Instead, he’s sitting directly across from me at one head of the table, as I sit at the other. On his right, Kennedy sits next to Evan and Miles on her side, next to me. On my other side, Harry sits across from Miles, while Wren sits on Evan’s other side.
“Baby,” Miles presses as we start to eat the lasagne Evan made. “This seating plan is awful. I can’t do this. Scarlett chews like an animal.”
I kick him under the table, jabbing my heel into his shin and he winces. “If you want to complain, you can sit on the floor for all I care,” I say.
This guy gets more and more immature as the days goes by. After the advice he gave me with Ev, I thought maybe he had grown up, but apparently not. He glares at me, but I roll my eyes.
“What’s up with this seating plan, Wrenny?” Kennedy asks, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. I turn to look at Wren, ready to accuse her, but my eyes snag on Harry watching Kennedy. She’s completely oblivious to the quiet, softie hockey player who is clearly head over heels for her. As much as they can say they’re just friends, the kind of looks he gives her hold so much more than a platonic glance. “I mean, I’m not complaining, but splitting up the couples is brutal. Miles’s veins are going to pop out of his forehead.”
Wren carries on chewing her piece of garlic bread innocently. When she swallows, all of us watching her, she turns to Evan instead, placing her hand on his. “This lasagne is delicious, Evan. Did you make it from scratch?”
“Actually, I got-” he starts.
We’re not doing that. At all. “Wren,” I press. “What are youdoing?”
She sits up straighter, pushing her blonde hair behind her shoulder before pinning me with a look. “Do you remember that time when you all said Miles and I couldn’t keep our hands off each other?” I nod as the realisation slowly hits me.
When Wren and Miles started to date for real, they couldn’t stop touching each other. After one of their games, all of us, excluding Evan, were in the living room and Wren was sitting in Miles’ lap while they whispered disgusting things to each other, basically making out in front of us. After Ken pulled Harry away for their infamous seven-minutes-in-heaven debacle, I was left in the room with those two and it started to getless and less child friendly.
“So, you think Ev and I can’t do that?” I ask, glancing at him. He looks so innocent, all put together as he slowly eats the food he made while everyone glances around the table. I want to kiss him so badly. Wren nods, clearly happy with her little genius plan. This is going to be more torture for her boyfriend than it is for mine. “We’re not like you two animals. I can eat a meal across from him.”
Wren shrugs as if to say ‘We’ll see’ before digging back into her food. Miles has been fidgeting at the side of me for the whole meal and he’s about to piss me right off if he doesn’t sit still.
“Is this about self-control?” Miles asks and she nods. “You know I don’t have a lot of that, baby.” Harry starts to laugh. Even as the designated baby on the hockey team, he seems to have more sense than most of them combined. “Hey! You can’t laugh, Butler. When you’re in a relationship then you can talk. Until then, you won’t know how completely devastating it is not to touch your girl.”
“Yeah, I know what that’s like,” he mutters in response.
As the words leave his mouth his eyes connect with Kennedy’s, and I swear time stops. The energy between them is radioactive, but for some reason, one of them seems to be giving it off more than the other. She smiles a little, dropping her gaze back down to her food while Harry’s face burns red.
Strange.
“How are you holding up, Ev?” I ask causally over the table, taking a sip of my drink. He smiles wide, those perfect teeth showing.
