Page 79 of What We Got Wrong

“I don’t know if my head is in the right place to…,” Quinn said, gesturing at the bed as if she couldn’t articulate the words ‘have sex,’ an apology in her tone.

“What if I put on the robe,” Liv teased gently.

At least that got a real grin from Quinn. “The robe might help. But…can we just sit here for a little while?”

“Of course,” Liv replied, and she placed her hand on top of Quinn’s, filled with gratitude when Quinn flipped her palm over to squeeze Liv back.

And, on some level, Liv was proud of her restraint, because she didn’t say that spending the afternoon, just sitting with Quinn, sounded preferable to almost anything else.

Chapter 29

Quinn

February, Junior Year

Quinn felt like she and Liv were in a good place. The trip home for the holidays had been lovely, if a little stifling, given the amount of time they’d spent with Quinn’s family, playing games and hanging out and dealing with roughly seven million comments, questions, and side-eyes about the nature of their relationship. Still, it had been nice to get that time, for just a couple of weeks, with so many people that she loved.

And, as if making up for lost time, the first week they’d been back in their own place had been an entirely different kind of nice. They hadn’t bothered finding a reason to sleep separately since, not when they were under the same roof. Things were great.

Late afternoon one Saturday, about five weeks into the winter semester, Quinn arrived home from her weekly grocery run to find Emma and Liv sitting in the living room.

“My two favorite people,” Quinn said happily, until she clocked the strange tension in the room, particularly from Liv.

“I’m going to head back to campus,” Emma announced, adding as she left, “Good luck!”

Quinn wasn’t sure which one of them she was talking to.

“Is everything okay?” Quinn asked, taking the seat next to Liv on their sofa.

Liv looked like she was going to be sick. “It is…”

“Ok, what’s going on?” Quinn asked.

“Do we have any plans for Valentine’s Day next weekend?” Liv replied, her voice sounding small.

Okay, that’s absolutely not what Quinn was expecting her to say. Not that she had any idea, really, what was coming. But she never would have guessed that. Valentine’s Day was not something they’d ever discussed, and the thought of having plans, purposely celebrating together…well, it was decidedly unfriendly.

“We do not,” Quinn answered, cautiously optimistic.

“I need a favor…” Liv replied. Okay, well, that certainly didn’t sound romantic. But whatever Liv needed, if it was within Quinn’s power to give, she had to know that Quinn would provide. “Can we…”

“Just spit it out, Liv,” Quinn encouraged her, making sure her tone was gentler than her words. She was confused by the distress in her voice, the concern written across her face.

“Would you be okay with taking a trip Wednesday to Sunday next week? Missing swim and classes for a few days?”

“I’d have to look at my schedule and get with coach and my professors, but I don’t miss much so I don’t think it would be a huge deal,” Quinn answered. “Why? What’s going on?”

“I sort of committed us to going back to your hometown and keeping an eye on your siblings for the weekend,” Liv finally said, her words leaving her in a rush.

Quinn felt like she had whiplash. “You…huh?”

“I will pay to fill your gas tank, and I promise to do the majority of the necessary caretaking,” Liv said, and Quinn still just felt an overwhelming sense of confusion at all of this.

“What are you trying so hard not to tell me?”

Quinn watched as Liv took several deep breaths, as if building up to this. “I was talking to my dad a few weeks ago, and I mentioned how great your parents were over the holidays.”

“You told them about that?” Quinn asked, confused.