Chapter 27
Twenty Seven
Eloise
The last few days have been good. The best really.
I’ve been cleared to play; it was thankfully just a really bad bruise and not a bone bruise or a strained ligament or a fracture.
Taylor is still pretty sheepish in public, so I get to tease her a little, letting my hand fall near hers to watch her fight with herself to hold her hand.
I get to hold her hand at home, and that’s enough for me.
She’s still in the closet, and we have to disclose our relationship with HR before we go much further. She seems keen, though. Everyone has noticed how happy she is, and she seems lighter than before.
She spoke to her sister within a day of us having our conversation about boundaries and how I wanted us to be able to talk things through. Her sister nearly invited herself over for drinks before Taylor told her off and suggested a weekend that we would both be home.
Which is this weekend.
I think tonight, actually. I should ask her. She only told me it was going to be a weekend and floated this weekend. She hasn’t said anything else since then, so I’m wondering if it ever made its way onto her calendar.
“Bab-Eloise,” Taylor says suddenly, loudly and in the locker room that’s got a few people who don’t know we’re together.
She ducks her head, cheeks turning pink before looking at me with wide eyes.
I’m trying to smother a laugh, but Winnie catches it and is going to mercilessly tease her when we’re in private.
“Yeah?” I ask, tying my shoelaces.
“When were we supposed to get drinks?”
“I was just wondering the same thing. Did you check your text messages?”
She winces. “I don’t think we texted the date to confirm.” She grabs her phone from her cubby, showing the screen to me. I shrug, not being able to read it before she sighs and continues to scroll. “I’ll call her.”
“Then text the date to me so I know too!” I call out as she walks out of the locker room.
Winnie nudges me. “Are you her mom or her girlfriend?” she whispers.
“Are you going to be nice or am I going to have to post something on your Instagram to sic Fallon on you?” I say in her ear. She shudders at the thought. “I thought so.”
“I think I liked you better when you weren’t getting action on the daily,” she mutters, pouting.
It’s a juxtaposition to see her miserable with bubblegum pink hair, you’d think that she’d be constantly whimsical with the pink hair.
I roll my eyes, not bothering to tell her how wrong she actually is.
That we’re not doing anything other than having the odd makeout session.
We haven’t been alone much since she stayed the night, which is a damn shame because I want to have her sleep over more often. I liked being able to sleep well with her in my arms.
I don’t do well sleeping on my own.
The door swings open, with Brynn coming through and pointing to me. “Tonight- 7pm, Grill ‘Em All?” she says questioningly. I nod, giving her a thumbs up. She peaks her head back out before letting the door close behind her. “Do I want to know?”
“Lucy.”
Her face drops into one of understanding before she grins. “You’re in for double trouble tonight. Do you want reinforcement?”
I shake my head with a smile. “It’ll be fine. How much trouble can two Matthews sisters be?”
Winnie’s snort beside me is not comforting in the slightest. She nudges me, forcing me to look at her. “I want to see this train wreck go down. Can we see it?”
“It’s not a show that I’m selling tickets to,” I say. “And she’s Taylor’s person, and that person wants to know who I am, because, you know, reasons.”
I see Rhea walk past us with a smile, and I wonder if she also knows the chaos of the Matthews sisters.
“Good luck with that. If you think Taylor is a vortex, then the two of them together are like a typhoon. They feed off of each other’s energy,” she taps her chin thoughtfully.
“To be honest, I think I’d also like to watch it unfold,” she teases.
“So, they’re going to kill me?” I ask, groaning as my head falls back.
“No, they’re fine; they’re just teasing you, right guys?” Brynn asks. It’s crickets for a moment before she clears her throat and Rhea backtracks slightly.
“Yeah, totally just teasing. We’re having fun. They’re a delight.”
“Oh yeah,” Winnie says, doing a piss-poor job at hiding her snort, “delightful.”
They were right. They weren’t being dramatic.
Lucy has been at the table with us for less than a minute and they’re already shouting at each other. “You are ridiculous, of course—”
“You can’t shout at me the first minute that you sit down,” Taylor snaps. “Besides, you haven’t even said hi to Eloise.”
Lucy, to her credit, lets her eyes trail down my body before nodding in acknowledgement. “You’re still being so stupid, like, holy shit, I can’t believe you didn’t know you were bi, and now you’re jumping straight into a relationship?”
“Well, no, we’re starting to do things slowly,” Taylor argues back. “She won’t even let me do more than make out with her.” She crosses her arms, pouting at me.
My eyes widen. “Why are you throwing me under the bus? Do you want to do more?”
She pales slightly, and Lucy, with identical eyes to Taylor, watches her curiously. “Well, um. I mean, yes. But I also just like making out right now.”
I bite my smile as Lucy snorts. “You’re such a big baby,” Lucy throws her hands up and shakes them mockingly. “Ohh, Eloise, I love making out with you, I want to have your babies but I’m too scared of being with a woman.”
My jaw drops as Taylor shoves her. “You can’t say that. We’re just starting to get to know each other. I’m allowed to take my time. And that’s one of our boundaries.” Taylor juts her chin out in defiance . “And why the hell am I justifying this to you? You hated Frank.”
Lucy rolls her eyes. “I guess you’re right. I mean, Frank would have tried to take over this conversation at least five times in the two minutes that I’ve been here. Eloise is just sitting demurely.”
I wave. The two of them look at me more for a moment.
Lucy is still trying to figure me out, and Taylor is looking at me softly.
“Yeah, but she’s mean when she wants to be.
She did nearly take my knee out two years ago,” she says.
“And she makes me talk through things instead of just going in headfirst.”
Lucy sighs, leaning back. “Yeah, I guess that’s good for you.” She looks at me appraisingly. “So, you’re her impulse control now?”
“Just a reminder,” I say. She nods, sipping her martini. “But she’s pretty good at—”
Lucy holds her hand up to stop me. “Don’t lie to me. I know my sister, and she’s shit at not doing stupid things at the moment.”
Taylor’s drinking her beer, nodding along.
“Like, one time, when we were little, Mom told us not to come back into the house until she called us for dinner, and so Taylor decided that we should become explorers in the backyard, and well…” Lucy shrugs.
“We got lost, and then we almost got eaten by a bear, and it got really, really dark before the cops found us off the trail.”
Taylor tries to argue, but Lucy cuts her off.
“And then, there was this time in high school when Taylor decided that she wanted to go to the beach, but we didn’t live close by, so she decided to go swimming in the river and there was a crawfish that crawled into her shoe.
She tried to take a step, and the thing clamped down on her toes.
She had to ice her toes for a week before she was able to shove them back into her skates. ”
“Lucy, shut up,” Taylor snaps. “Or I can tell Eloise about the time in high school when I had to pick you up from the university campus—”Lucy lunges for Taylor, but we’re saved by the waitress bringing over our meals.
She’s gone quickly, and Lucy points at Taylor. “Don’t you dare–”
Taylor, in her very mature ways, sticks her tongue out. “Also, I invited James for supper tonight. He should be here soon.”
Taylor stops. “James? You told him to come?”
My brain has stopped. “Wait, who’s James?”
“Our brother,” they respond in sync.
“I just told him that I was meeting your partner.”
Taylor groans, “Oh, he’s going to be so weird about it, Luce. You know how he gets around people he thinks are fucking his sisters.”
Lucy shakes her head. “No, that’s just the Frank effect, and you said so yourself that you’re not fucking Eloise yet.”
“Lord, give me strength,” I murmur into a bite of my fries. At least they taste good. I catch the eye of our waitress, who’s across the room, and point at my drink. She has a small smile as she nods and walks towards the kitchen.
Taylor leans into my body. Placing a hand on my knee which is the most brazen she’s been with physical affection outside of my apartment. The sparks flutter through my bloodstream and make me feel drunk on her. She’s smiling, but it’s strained. “At least he isn’t bringing his kids and wife.”
“Do you not like your sister-in-law?” I ask.
Lucy shakes her head. “She’s great. We love her more than we love James. But she’s over the top in other ways.”
Taylor nods. “It's better that James knows you first before she does. It gives us some time to ease you into the family.”
“And your brother is older?”
“Three years.”
“Is he like you?” I ask. Lucy snorts, but Taylor shakes her head.
“Of course not. He’s the angel child that tricked Mom and Dad into a two for one special.”
I nod. “Do twins run in the family?”
“Yeah, why?” Taylor asks.
I poke her nose; it’s pink from the alcohol. “If we decide we want children, we’re using my eggs.”
Lucy snorts her drink through her nose onto her food just as a tall blond man with matching green eyes and a beard comes up to our table.
“What fresh hell have I stumbled upon?” he asks in a rumbling voice. “Are you two terrorizing Taylor’s partner?” He looks around the table at the three of us. “Where is he?”
I stick my hand out. “Hi, Eloise Harper. Taylor’s partner.”