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“Are you wearing that?” he asked, repeating the question like he always did.
No matter what we were doing, or where we were going, it was inevitable that that question would leave his mouth before we left my house.
I gritted my teeth to keep from saying anything I’d regret saying in front of Tide and smiled tightly at Franklin. “Sure am.”
He sighed and held out his hand, but his words had pissed me off, so there was no way in hell I was taking hold of anything that was attached to his body at this point.
I might pull out my pocketknife and hack it off, then shove it down his throat.
Sadly, I couldn’t really blame my full bad mood on Franklin.
A lot of my bad mood had to do with the man I heard chuckling lightly at my back.
“You want to ride on my bike?”
Tide’s words had me tensing up, but it was Franklin who said, “I can give everyone a ride.”
There was a moment of hushed speaking behind me, and then Tide saying, ‘what?’ before Ethel whisper hissed at him. I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what she was doing.
She wanted to give Franklin a hard time.
And honestly, usually I would be all for that—because Franklin was too stuck up. He needed a little loosening. But not today.
I couldn’t handle Franklin in the same car as Tide.
Only, I didn’t get a choice when I heard Tide say, “Okay, okay. Jesus.” Then a bit louder he replied with, “Sure. That’d be great, man.”
A tightness in my chest—one that had solidly lodged itself there at the thought of Ethel on the back of Tide’s bike, wrapped around him like cling wrap—loosened.
The ride to the restaurant where the reservations were made took less than ten minutes.
When we arrived, I saw the line out the door and was glad I’d thought ahead and called in a reservation.
“God, I love this place,” I sighed loudly.
There was a pause before Franklin said, quite snobbishly, “Now I understand why you dressed like a cowgirl Barbie.”
I gritted my teeth.
Him and his comments.
Seriously, that was really the reason that Tide’s words from earlier that morning annoyed me so much. Because I heard shit like that on a daily basis from Franklin.
Honestly, at this point, I wasn’t quite sure why I was still with Franklin. The more he said, the angrier I became, until I knew at one point I’d just snap.
“I think she looks adorably cute. Don’t you, Tide?” I heard a light smack, and then Tide saying, “Sure. She looks great. Her ass looks…”
I felt my face flame as Franklin growled.
Honestly, it was so cute that I couldn’t even get mad at him for being jealous of a person that drove me insane.
“… fantastic,” Tide finished, despite Franklin’s obvious annoyance.
“Party of four for Roll Tide?” The hostess called out.
There was a growl from the man behind me, this one much more impressive than the one that’d come from my own boyfriend, that had me grinning like a loon.
“That’s me,” I sang.
Together, we all wound our way through the crowded restaurant.
It didn’t escape my knowledge that Tide said hi to at least four people on our way through. And Franklin didn’t know a single soul.
Hell, even I knew a few people.
I didn’t stop to talk to them, because I didn’t like people, but I gave them all head tilts.
I waited for Franklin to scoot into the booth, then took the seat beside him.
I unrolled my napkin and looked up in time to see Tide staring at the two of us with confusion on his face.
I must’ve missed something in that moment because Ethel was speaking. And pissing me off.
“There was that time that your family made her sit at the kid’s table,” Ethel said conversationally.
I nearly groaned.
Of course, she would bring that up.
Out of all the fights Franklin and I had, that was one of the worst ones. And the newest. We still weren’t quite over it.
“What do you mean, the kid’s table?” Tide asked curiously.
I pressed the balls of my hands against my closed eyes and pushed.
Maybe if I pushed hard enough, my head would explode.
“Well.” Ethel leaned back, crossing her arms as she all but glared at Franklin. “A couple of weeks ago, Franklin and Coreline went to eat at Franklin’s parents’ place. There were two tables. One for kids, and one for the adults. I helped Coreline make this quiche. It was beautiful. And it was all ruined by the fact that Frank’s mother wouldn’t allow Coreline to eat at the adult table with Franklin and the rest of them. Apparently, since she wasn’t married in ‘yet’ she couldn’t eat with them. It was the rules. So Coreline decides to leave.”
“Tell me she took the quiche with her,” Tide replied, bemused.
I didn’t stop the smile from forming on my face.
