Chapter 15 #2
His voice is quieter than it needs to be if he’s trying to inform the whole group.
It takes a few seconds before I look up and realize it’s me he’s addressing. No one else.
“Okay. Do you want me to go with you?”
I ignore the burn of Liliana’s gaze and stay focused on Locke.
He shakes his head, slowly pushing in his chair. “No. I’ll be fine.” I’m yelling at myself to “just be fine” too when he leans over, close to my ear and whispers so we’re the only two that can hear, “I’m finding an excuse to avoid my sister as long as possible.”
It’s lighthearted, and humorous, and exactly aligned to the man I know behind the doors of our apartment. The Locke that seems to only be reserved for me in this moment.
We laugh together at a volume that feels solely for us before I knock his elbow and tell him I’ll save his seat.
When he’s disappeared into the café and Grant is in his own world with Derek, I look up and catch my best friend with a hand slapped over her mouth.
“Don’t.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Lil, not now.”
“Oh my gosh. Is this how you felt when I would come home talking about Grant?”
At the mention of his name, her boyfriend—Locke’s brother—cuts out of his conversation and leans over to us. “Talking about me?”
“No.”
It’s the first time Liliana and I seem to be on the same page. Grant’s eyebrows lift. He glances between us and slowly nods. “That… wasn’t suspicious at all.”
“Go back to your conversation, please.” Liliana’s request doesn’t help our case, but Grant doesn’t seem to mind. For as long as they’ve been together, he does what she asks and doesn’t question it.
Still looking confused, he nods again and turns back to Derek, looking for a phone charger in his bag.
When it seems like we’re in the clear, I kick Liliana under the table. “Now is not the time.”
“I’m sorry.” She looks around us before frowning. “I don’t want you to feel awkward, but I don’t know if I can keep my face under control. I can’t believe what I just saw.”
“You didn’t see anything.”
We have a stare down for what feels like forever. Wordless exchanges of I know what I saw, and, There was nothing to see, are passed back and forth before Grant’s chair screeches again.
“Hey party people!” The voice calling out to our table this time is bubblier than Derek’s.
The awkward glancing around, wondering who this person is, isn’t needed. Her butter blonde hair, high cheekbones, and unmistakable green eyes are enough to identify her.
Billie’s pink ruffled blouse flows when she flies right past Grant and into my best friend’s embrace. “Liliana! I missed you so much!”
“Missed you too, Billie.”
Grant crosses his arms and scoffs. “I’m gonna remember this the next time you ask me to cover your boba.”
She turns almost instantly, equally amusing, and holds her arms out. “Grant! My big brother—I didn’t even see you there!”
“That’s what I thought.”
I laugh along with them, and it’s like any sort of awkward tension in the air or uncertainty of meeting someone new is broken. Like the mood has shifted from strangers meeting for the first time, to a group of friends seeing each other after a few days apart.
Once the banter between brother and sister stop, and Billie introduces herself to Derek, she glances at the empty chair to my right.
Turning to me, her smile tilts from welcoming to knowing.
“And you have to be Rosie.”
Heat reaches my ears. I’m not shy when it comes to making friends. I like that I’m extroverted, and interacting with girls in particular is one of my favorite things. Meeting Billie was what I looked forward to most tonight, besides spending time with Liliana.
But when her eyes stay locked with mine, smile still crooked while she walks around the table and holds her arms up for a hug, I can’t think of anything to say.
There’s only one reason she would know who I am.
After a quick squeeze, Billie holds me at arm’s length, hands gripping my arms and a bright expression on her face.
“I am so happy to finally meet you. You are so beautiful—even more than he says you are. And trust me, he says it a lot.”
My body can’t make up its mind. It runs cold at the realization of what she’s implying, but burns hotter with the blush creeping up my neck.
“Who are we talking about, exactly?”
She smirks, green eyes sparkling with humor. There’s no doubt she’s Locke’s sister.
“You know who I’m talking about.” Her hand reaches for the chair next to mine, nudging it enough to make a sound. No one has pulled their chairs out since she’s arrived, and not a word is being spoken around the table.
Billie knocks her elbow against mine and giggles. “Locke pretends like he has that quiet, mysterious thing going on, but he doesn’t have a subtle bone in his body. Like, the first time you guys watched movies together, he went on and on about-”
“That’s my seat.”
Once Locke’s voice cuts through, and his frame is towering over us, it’s almost impossible to think we didn’t notice him.
His eyes are pointed down at Billie, stern and unamused behind his glasses. “You sit at the end of the table.”
Her shimmery nail polish catches the light when her hands go up. “Of course. Should’ve known. My bad.”
There’s thirty seconds of shuffling around before people start taking their seats. Right as I settle in my own spot, a hand appears in front of me. Arm toned, veins snaking under the expensive silver watch. I’m so focused on his wrist, I almost miss the bucket of popcorn placed on the table.
I stare up at Locke, but he’s busy pulling out my chair to make eye contact.
“For me?”
“Only you.” Those words reach between us again, and I gulp. He does, too. “Who likes popcorn that much, I mean. I bought it for you.”
It’s the first time tonight he holds eye contact for more than three seconds. It’s too charged for a group gathering at a board game café, and too long for a couple of roommates, but I can’t stop myself.
His eyes are always so fucking soft.
“No Dr. Pepper for me?”
Billie calls from behind Locke’s back. Everyone has taken their seats, settled at the table and ready to play a game like we should be. Not staring into each other’s eyes over popcorn.
Liliana has a hand over her mouth again. I’m never getting out of this.
“They didn’t have Dr. Pepper.”
I take my seat, feeling overwhelmed by the gesture Locke decided to make—in public, in front of our friends—and bite my lip.
He barely gets out of an argument over snack choices with Billie when he sits. Chair closer to mine than I remember it being earlier.
“So,” my best friend starts. “We need to decide on a game and then I’ll go around getting drink orders for everyone. Are there any requests for what we should play first?”
I hear the question, but it goes one ear and out the other. I can’t focus when earl grey is taking over my subconscious and the café’s logo is so distracting on the screen.
I feel a foot kick mine. It doesn’t come from across the table, and is gentler than Lil’s.
To my right, Locke clears his throat and asks, “What about Rummikub?”