20. Remi
twenty
Remi
Iwas in the laundry room sorting through a pile of clothes I’d been ignoring for four days when the sound of the alarm beeped letting me know someone had walked through the door.
I could have swore Richard and Vivienne were still in Seattle and Rio wasn’t expecting anyone, until I heard Lucy’s voice carry through the first floor because that girl does not know the meaning of an indoor volume.
“Oh wow. You must be the stepbrother.”
“Shit” I muttered, dropping a hoodie on the floor.
Then Rio’s completely unbothered voice after a moment of silence. “And you must be Lucy.”
“I am.” Another pause, and I could picture her looking him up and down conducting her assessment. “Remi showed me your photos. Well, she showed me more than just photos actually.”
“Oh, did she now.”
“Mhmm.” Lucy’s footsteps started toward the stairs. “Nice to meet you, Rio.”
“You too.”
I heard her coming up before I could even get out of the laundry room and by the time I made it to the third floor, she was already on my bed with her shoes off, looking like she’d been there for an hour.
“Your stepbrother,” she said, “is the most attractive human being I have ever seen in person, and I need you to know that I mean that as a neutral observation and not a threat.”
“Lucy.”
“I’m just saying what I’m saying.” She patted the bed next to her. “Sit down. You have a lot of explaining to do and I have nowhere to be until six.”
I sat next to her and told her everything from the party, what happened after, the days that followed, the night Rio came to my room, what I’d said to him and what came after that. I talked for probably twenty minutes straight and she listened, eyes on me the whole time taking everything in.
When I finished, she was quiet for a second.
“Okay so let me just make sure I have the full picture,” she said.
“He found you on OnlyFans, watched our videos, found your stream, then spent over a month in your lobbies and followed you to a café, home, found out you were his stepsister, went on the date anyway, moved into the house, and then you guys had sex on my car.”
“That would be correct.”
“On the hood of MY car.”
I give her an awkward smile.
“I sat on that hood this morning.”
“I know and I’m sorry and I will clean it.”
“Yeah, you will. With actual products.”
“Yes.”
She took a breath and let it out. “And now you’re wearing his shirt.”
I looked down, seeing Rio’s shirt. “It’s comfortable.”
“It is very clearly his.”
“Lucy.”
“I’m not judging you; I’m just building a complete picture.” She leaned back against my headboard. “Are you happy?”
I thought about the last few days, how the house had felt, about coffee appearing on the counter before I asked for it and him sitting at my desk watching me play without saying anything, just present and simply wanting to be next to me.
“Yeah,” I said. “I actually think I am.”
“Even with all the ways it’s messed up.”
“Even with all of that.”
“Okay babe, then I’m with you. That’s all I needed to know.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Obviously.” She reached over and stole my water off the nightstand without asking. “But Remi I need you to understand that this is the most unhinged thing you have ever done and I have watched you do some things.”
“I know.”
“Like top shelf chaos.”
“I know, Lucy.”
“And I love you for it.” She took a long sip. “Now tell me everything again but with more detail because I feel like you rushed the part about the car.”
“I did not rush that part.”
“You glossed.”
“I gave you the full account.”
“You skipped the details about his dick. I want the explicit play by play.”
I threw a pillow at her, but she caught it without flinching and hugged it to her chest, grinning at me, and I thought about how there was nobody else on earth I’d want to have this conversation with.
We stayed up there for another hour, talking with nowhere to be, looping back through things and then getting distracted by completely unrelated topics.
Her acrylics were already chipping which she was taking seriously and wanted to have another girl's day soon. She’d also started watching a new show she needed me to watch immediately.
Eventually she’d said she was hungry and stood up and headed for the door without waiting for me to agree, because well, that was Lucy.
Rio was on the couch when we came downstairs, phone in hand, and he glanced up when he heard us. He looked at Lucy calmly assessing her, and Lucy looked back at him with the energy of someone who had just spent an hour hearing stories how good his dick was.
“We’re raiding your kitchen,” she told him.
“Help yourself.”
“Thank you.” She was already heading that way. “Are you eating? I’m making quesadillas.”
Rio looked at me and I nodded. “Sure,” he said.
Lucy pulled the fridge open and started taking stock. “Okay you guys actually have real food in here. I’m impressed.” She looked at me over her shoulder. “Did you go shopping?”
“Rio went.”
She turned back to the fridge with a smile I pretended not to see.
Rio came and leaned against the counter while Lucy took over the kitchen, finding a pan, the tortillas, started pulling things together, and somehow kept a running conversation going the entire time without breaking stride.
“So ColdSaint,” she said, not looking up from the stove. “How long did it take you to find her stream after you found the OnlyFans?”
Rio glanced at me.
“Under twenty minutes,” he said confidently.
Lucy laughed at him. “And the lobbies. You were just queuing into her games for six weeks before you said anything?”
“I said something eventually.”
“After six weeks.”
“I was taking my time.”
“That is definitely one word for it.” She cut the quesadilla into triangles. “Your friend Cole followed me on Instagram by the way.”
The change in Rio was small, but I caught it. “When did that happen,” he said.
“Few days ago. He sent me a DM this morning.” She looked up from the cutting board with an expression I couldn’t read. “He’s funny.”
“Yeah,” Rio said. “He is.”
“Anyway.” She slid plates across the counter to both of us like she’d been working this kitchen for years. “These are done. Eat.”
We ate standing at the island, all three of us, which was not something I had planned for the day and also somehow felt completely normal.
Lucy kept the conversation moving effortlessly, without making it feel like work.
She asked Rio questions that were just pointed enough to get real answers out of him and he gave them.
When she finally left an hour later, she hugged me in the doorway for longer than usual, her chin on my shoulder.
“I like him,” she said quietly.
“Don’t tell him that.”
“Obviously not. I have to maintain a position of neutral threat.” She pulled back and looked at me. “But I like him. For you, I mean. The whole thing is unhinged but I like how you look right now.”
“How do I look?”
“Like yourself.” She squeezed my arm. “Call me tomorrow.”
“I will.”
She walked to her car, and I stood in the open doorway watching her go. Behind me the house was calm and I could feel Rio not far behind me.
I closed the door and turned around to see he was at the top of the stairs, looking down at me with his arms crossed.
“She’s a lot,” he said.
“She’s everything,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said. “I can see that.”
I went upstairs, brushing his shoulder as I walked by him, letting him know to follow. We spent the rest of the evening in bed watching Gilmore Girls, talking, and laughing, like we’d known each other all our lives.