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“No, I’m not. You did good, Luce.” I want to tell her no more surprises, but I know how much she loves them, so I don’t.
She smiles wide. Grant returns, so I drop my arm as she moves towards his side. “Did y’all have a good drive here?” he asks.
“Yeah, but I think I’ll tie Olivia to the roof on the way back. She likes to sing.” I fake a cringe and she slaps my arm.
“You loved it, don’t even lie.”
I laugh because I did, a little bit. We hang out with everyone for a while before Patrick starts shooing people out. Jamal slaps me on the shoulder and is the only one who tells me to keep in touch. Olivia and I leave too, since it’s been a long day for us both. Once we get settled in, she turns her head to look at me.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No, not really.”
She smiles. “Are you going to text Jamal someti
me? I think he misses you in however guys miss each other. Plus, he was the nicest.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. You know,” I turn on my side to face her. “I never realized how much of a jealous person I was until I met you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Dean,” I grit. “His eyes hardly left you all night.”
Her brows bunch for a moment. “The creepy guy? The one where you threatened to break his hands?”
I smile wide. “Yes, the creepy guy.” Who knew those three words would make me so happy? “I would have made good on my threat, too.”
She rolls her eyes as if I’m kidding. “What’s so bad about him and not every other guy there?”
“He has no boundaries. He’ll sleep with anyone. Even if he knows they are in a relationship, he’ll pursue her anyway because he thinks if she’ll cheat, he might as well benefit from it. Trust me, if he could have gotten you alone, he would have tried to fuck you in the bathroom.”
Olivia makes a disgusted face and I’m pretty sure I love her. “That’s terrible. Were you friends with him before?”
“Not once I found out how he is, but that was mostly because I didn’t want him anywhere near Luce.”
She nods in understanding. “You did good tonight. You weren’t grouchy even once! Although, I kind of like you grouchy.”
I laugh. “You do?”
“Well, sometimes. I don’t like the arguing part we seem to do so much, but I like that you get ill with me. It means there’s still a fight in you, even if you’re fighting for the wrong thing.”
Reaching for her hand, I interlock our fingers. “You do realize that all our fights are because you don’t know when to stop pushing, right? Your see-into-my-soul radar stops working and you keep going.”
“Don’t try and blame it all on me, Corey. There’s still things you clam up on and barely acknowledge. You—”
“I know, Olivia,” I interrupt. “But you’ve said yourself that there’s no quick fix, so sometimes, you gotta give me some space and let me breathe first.”
It seems I’ve stumped her because she’s quiet as she mulls over what I’ve said. “I never thought about it like that. Only that you need a good kick in the ass to get something accomplished.”
“At some point while we’re here, be sure to give me a kick in the ass, so I can tell them, okay?” Tonight, I made the decision to fill my siblings in on what’s been going on with me. Ms. Cynthia is right. I want them to know, so they know what to expect. Even though I don’t want them to worry, it’s better than keeping them in the dark.
Olivia’s eyes widen. “Really?”
The surprise so clear in her voice halts me. “Yeah, unless it’s a bad idea? I thought I needed to tell them, but if you think I shouldn’t—”
“No, no. That’s not what I meant. I’m just surprised you want to.”
With a wry smile, I say, “I don’t, but I do. Looks like seeing Ms. Cynthia is a good thing for sure.”
