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“Yeah, that sounds perfect.”
She yawns, and I open her car door. After one last long, lingering kiss, Leila climbs into the car and drives off.
Back in the house, I put off cleaning up the kitchen and opt to go to bed instead. I’ll regret it tomorrow afternoon when I’m back from filming and I have to clean up, but for now, I want to revel in the happiness I feel after such a great date with Leila.
Slow and steady has never been my instinct. I fall for people hard and fast, which I did with Leila, but if I want our relationship to be smooth sailing from here on out, I’ll have to learn how to relax and go with the flow.
It won’t be easy, but for Leila, I’m willing to try.
Chapter Twenty-Five – Leila
When Malia suggested we spend our Saturday night having a good old-fashioned girls’ night, I couldn’t say no. Spencer is busy all weekend anyway, and I could use a fun time.
I show up at Malia’s home in the hills with some cupcakes I bought from the grocery store. “Hey!” I say.
She hugs me immediately. “Thank goodness. I’ve been bored all day. Mason is on a business trip, and I’m going insane!”
I laugh. “I’m here now!”
“The pizza should be here soon. I’ve already opened the bottle of wine. I’ve got face masks, and I figured we could do mani-pedis!”
I hold up my bare nails. “That sounds perfect to me.”
She welcomes me inside, and I’m not surprised to see it’s a well-decorated space. Malia’s design background is clear in the house. She has expensive artwork all over the walls and furniture that is fit for a queen with high backs and purple fabric.
“This place is awesome.”
“Thank you, thank you. Please, have a seat.”
I take a seat on one of the plush couches while Malia pours me a glass of wine.
“This is going to be so much fun. I haven’t had a girls’ night in forever. I swear I spend all my time with Mason these days.”
“I haven’t done it since I left home. I haven’t made any other friends since I moved here. It’s just you and Spencer.”
“Well, we are pretty awesome, but if you want to start meeting other folks, I could do another girls’ night with some of my friends for you to meet. There aren’t many of us, but I think you’d like them.”
“Something small, for sure, but I’d be interested.”
Malia smiles. “Great! I’ll plan it for next time. Tonight I wanted it to be just us, though.”
I hold up my glass to cheers against hers. “That I’m perfectly fine with.”
“Okay, so, how about we do face masks now, and we can do our nails after we eat pizza?”
“Sounds good.”
“I got the ones with animal faces on them because I thought they’d be fun!”
“Ooh, I want to be the panda!”
Malia laughs. “Good, because the sloth is all mine.”
As we sit with our face masks on, carefully drinking our wine through the little mouth holes, I ask Malia about things with Mason.
“We’ve been together for a while now,” she explains. “I’ve been dropping hints like crazy. I want him to propose. Or at least ask me to move in with him.”
“But then you’ll have to leave your house!”
“I know, and you’d hate Mason’s place. It’s very techy. His fridge connects to the internet. And it’s all bland and silver.”
“I guess everyone has their taste.”
“When I move in, you and I are sprucing the place up. You did so good at Spencer’s house. I’d love to set you loose on Mason’s.”
“I wouldn’t mind!”
My phone pings next to me, and I glance at it, then groan.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s just my mom.”
“If you need to look, it’s fine. I don’t have a no-phone rule.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s probably another message about how happy she is that I’m with Spencer. She sends them pretty much every week now.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? She should be happy about your relationship, especially now that you’ve made it official.”
“It would be good if it were for the right reasons.”
“What do you mean?” Malia asks. I can see her furrowed brow under the face mask.
“My parents are very overbearing. My whole life they’ve told me not to bother with school or anything because I’m going to find a rich husband who can take care of me.”
Malia gasps. “Are you serious? That’s so old-fashioned.”
“Tell me about it! My ex was going to be a doctor, and they were thrilled. When I broke it off, I thought my parents would disown me. They tried to get me back with him until the news was out about Spencer and me. Now they just check to make sure I’m still dating a celebrity.”
“I get it. My parents are similar. Maybe not to the same extent, but they push me to get married and have someone to take care of me. They don’t get that I can take care of myself.”
