She took in my raised eyebrow and slowly put down her bowl and spoon with a wry smile.
“Come on then, let’s go.”
She jumped off her stool, grabbed her bag, and was at the front door before I had time to finish tying my sneakers and grab a sweater. The butterflies kicked up in my belly as we walked out into the sunshine and down the block to the brunch spot where we were due meet the rest of the gang, including Penn.
I told him this morning it was a bad idea.
I told him we weren’t ready to be around our friends yet, but he’d promised me everything would be alright. I didn’t argue because at that precise moment, his thumb was slowly tracing along the underside of my breast, back and forth like a metronome. It was right before his mouth made contact with my nipple, at which point I’d have agreed to anything he wanted.
It was the second time my baser instincts had overruled logic. The first time was when he turned up in the middle of the night, beside himself with excitement that he’d concocted a plan for us to spend a Saturday together. His tongue was trailing down my stomach while he mumbled his idea for all the girls to join the boys for their weekend. This would involve all of us going for brunch before we left the city to go watch the White Plains Jungle Kings and find some new players.
Least I think that’s what he said, because not long after, he’d made me come so hard I’d almost lost consciousness.
After that, he’d fallen into a drunken stupor until I’d woken him up at seven a.m. so he could leave my place before Lauren swung by to collect me for our eight thirty. spin class. That was when I’d learned that waking Penn Shepherd was not an easy task, and not something one should undertake lightly. I also learned that a prematurely woken Penn Shepherd was stubborn, moody, and wanted his own way - which at seven forty-seven this morning was to not leave my bed and thatLauren was going to find out somehow, so why not now?
He’d refused to leave, and in the end, I’d had to promise to wear the red lipstick for him the next time we were together, and do exactly what I was told.
My promise was the last thing I gave him as I pushed him out the door.
From the way my heart was still beating thirty seconds later when Lauren turned up, she could have mistaken me for having already been spinning. I held my breath, waiting for her to askwhy she’d bumped into her half-dressed brother, but luck must have been shining on me this morning because she never said a word.
I pulled my sweater on. The warmth of early September had firmly given way to the chill now present in the air; the orange leaves of the Elm trees lining Central Park offering shade from the deceptively bright sun.
“When was the last time we went to a game together?” Lauren asked, linking her arm with mine.
I shrugged. “Can’t remember. Not this year.”
“Hope some of Penn’s players are hot. Do you reckon there are rules against dating the owner’s sister?” she laughed. “And his sister’s best friend.”
“Nope, though I’m sure Penn would have something to say,” I replied, while dodging a guy on rollerblades who was weaving in between the pedestrians.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Though it might get your mom off your case for a while, especially after you served her with a lifetime ban from your place,” she chuckled. “I can’t believe you did that.”
My cheeks puffed on my heavy exhale. Since I’d kicked her out of my apartment yesterday morning and taken away her key, I’d been awarded blissful silence. I was, however, called by my dad who told me my mom had returned home ‘very upset’, and while he did understand my position as I explained it to him, I begrudgingly agreed to go over to their place for brunch tomorrow and make up with her.
I also wished I could take back the way I’d snapped at Penn yesterday, and the look he’d had on his face as he followed me into the bathroom while I continued to fume at my mother under the shower. It didn’t bypass me how annoyed he’d become as I told him about her continued efforts to get me dating, or hisown silent fuming after I’d firmly rejected his suggestion we told her about us.
But I knew the second she found out she’d be planning something. Plotting our relationship, our marriage, our future kids. It would be way,wayworse though, because Penn’s mom would be involved too.
Our moms would plot together. I’d be down the aisle before I could blink.
I scratched at my arm; I could already feel the hives breaking out at the thought.
No way. No way was I going to subject Penn to that.
No, I was going to enjoy my time with him until it inevitably fizzled out, and he went on to go live his life like a normal human being, never to be subjected to my mother’s incomparable need to have me settled down so she could run my life. If arranged marriage was part of our culture, I’d have been set up with an endowment two decades ago.
“Not sure that would make any difference. She’d find a way to stay involved. She lives to plot.”
“Ha ha, yes! She’d track his home and away games with your ovulation and make sure you were traveling. She’d run onto the field in the middle of the game if it clashed with a sex window.” She was laughing so hard she’d have fallen off the sidewalk if I hadn’t grabbed her.
“Don’t joke about stuff like that. Saying it out loud will make it come true!”
I was laughing, but deep down I could imagine that was exactly something my mother would do.
“I’ll protect you, we’re in it together.” She wiped her eyes, then stopped and waved.
I realized we’d reached the restaurant when I followed her sight to the end of the block, and saw Kit and Murray walkingtoward us; Murray carrying Bell, and Kit holding Barclay on his leash.
