I throw my hand over her mouth just as the bartender approaches us. He looks between the two of us, seeming unsure whether he should tend to us or choose someone else.
"We'll have two gin and tonics with lime, please."
She licks my palm that's covering her mouth, and I remove it with a gasp. The bartender nods and walks away to prepare our drinks. He likely could have made them here in front of us, but if I were him, I wouldn't want to stand by us either.
Fia lowers her voice, which is a big improvement from the last time she opened her mouth. "What I'm trying to get at is that you clearly react differently to him than you do most people you sleep with. I've been around you pretty much every day for about a year now, and I've never seen you act this weird about anyone. Maybe it means something? Plus, the way he looks at you is so grossly adorable, I almost let the two of you have the room to yourselves at a few points throughout the night." She shrugs and leaves it at that.
"Actually," I get the bartender’s attention, "could I also get a glass of tequila?"
"A shot?"
"Yeah. A shot of tequila...in a glass...with two other shots in it."
He gives me a look, but I ignore it.
"Thank you."
The bartender brings our drinks over, and Fia tells him to add them to her tab. Then she turns to me, lifting her cocktail. "Cheers."
"Cheers."
I move to clink my glass with hers, but she pulls away. "To being nervous and kind of liking it."
"And to not choking onbig, beautiful, fatcock," I add.
She purses her lips together, trying not to give me the satisfaction of a smile as she taps her glass to mine and takes a sip. I'm pretty sure I saw the bartender shake his head in my peripheral vision, but I remind myself that I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks.
"So,why didn't you go back to that girl’s place with Fia?"
I shrug in the passenger seat of Lou's car as she drives Iris and me home while I scroll through my social media. "Didn't feel like it."
I stop scrolling when I get to a picture on the tattoo shop's profile featuring Kass, Raina, and two small girls. I can't believe I didn't notice it before when I was stalking him. But to be fair, I wasn't looking for it back then. One of the girls is a replica of Raina, and the other is Clover. She's a few years younger, but still recognizable. God, that girl is going to have people in the palm of her hands with those dimples and that adorable face.
"Is that them?"
"Huh?"
Lou leans over slightly to glance at my phone, which I'm sure she already did. "Is that Kass and his daughter?"
"Yeah, these two on the right. The other two are his coworker and her daughter. She's the one who was supposed to do my tattoo, but she was getting surgery that day, so I had to switch to Kass."
Iris leans forward from the back seat to look at the picture on my phone. "That seems kind of weird that theywould make you go to a different artist. Wasn't that kind of stressful being with someone new for a piece so big?"
"I mean, they gave me the choice to reschedule with Raina for a few months later if I wanted to, but Kass does really great work, so I wasn't worried."
"And he's nice to look at," Iris adds.
"Yeah, that too." I stare at the picture for a moment longer, then take a screenshot before closing my phone. Why I did that, I have no clue. Maybe a small part of me wants to look at it later. It might be easier to wrap my head around everything by looking at the two of them next to each other, by blending those two separate parts of my life into one.
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. I can totally see Clover being raised by Kass. But who's her mom? The better question is, why do I care who she is?
I notice Lou is being quiet again.
"What's wrong?"
She shakes her head and says in a timid voice, "Nothing."
"Come on, say what you've been dying to say all night."
