My lip fuse together. She watches me cautiously. I take a deep breath and ready myself for another punch.
“As usual, Mom and Dad kept hounding me about why we’re not dating and all that crap. When it was just Mom and myself, she started talking about all this stuff, like how Wren is so happy and not alone and then she told me how she’s worried about me because I am alone and that’s part of the reason she wants me to be with you and—” I let out the breath I’m holding “—and I don’t know, it just all came out as one jumbled mess.”
“Well, why the hell didn’t you backtrack?”
“I tried! But by the time I was able to, she had already told everyone, and no one believed me when I tried to tell them I didn’t mean it.”
“God, I’m going to kick your ass.” Oakleigh groans.
“I feel terrible about this, Cherry, really, I do. But the more I thought about it during the night, the more I thought that this could actually be a good thing for us.”
She watches me like I’ve grown two heads.
“How the fuck could this be a good thing? Why the hell do we even need a good thing?”
“I just thought that if we pretend that we’re together for a little bit, then tell them we broke up, maybe they’d just leave us alone after that because at least, to them, we gave it a try.”
I’m about to take a sip from my cup, when my mind decides to play tricks.
It’s been a while since you checked that tea…
So?I think.
God only knows what’s gone in there since you last took a sip. Best to just make a new cup.
I shake my head and try my best to focus on Oakleigh, because after taking two sips, I’m not making a whole fresh cup of tea. Cherry looks to be a concoction of furious, confused and apprehensive.
Make it.
Make it.
Make it.
“I have to make a new cup.” I try and say the words so quietly as I stand and storm over to the kitchen, shame making my stomach twist. It seems my intrusive thoughts are winning more and more these days. I pretty much whisper it, but it doesn’t matter. We’re two people in a house by ourselves. There are no other noises to drown out my shame, and so, of course, Oakleigh hears me.
“I thought the compulsions had stopped?” She follows me, trying to inspect my face, as if the compulsions are some kind of rash on my skin.
“They have,” I lie. “It’s just the occasional one that breaks through.”
For once, she actually looks concerned for me, and I lap up the change in attention. It’s so rare that I get anything other than contempt coming from Oakleigh, so to finally have a moment where she’s offering me something new? I’ll take it, no matter what it is.
“Finley—”
“Anyway, I know it was wrong to lie to her, but she seemed so sad, Lee. What else could I do?”
She stays silent, nursing the cup of tea in her hands.
“Look, it’ll only be for a month. One month, and then we can tell her we broke up and she’ll just be happy that we gave it a shot.”
“This is dangerous territory, Finn,” she says, caution making her voice strained.
“I know, I know. Trust me, I’ve been beating myself up since yesterday. But Oakleigh, call it pride or selfishness, whichever it is, I can’t bring myself to tell her that it’s not true.”
She watches me closely and I squirm under her hazel gaze, choosing to focus on the new cup of tea sitting on the countertop, staring at me like some cruel joke.
“Please, Cherry.”
Minute after agonizingly slow minute, she stares at me. A zip goes up my spine when her tongue darts out to lick her lips. The new glint of moisture beckons me like a moth to a flame and I’m only too happy to burn.
