19. Do I even want to know what a why choose is?
Chapter 19
Do I even want to know what a "why choose" is?
Luca
W hen I wake up Sunday morning, the first thing I think about is the last thing Ariana said the night before. I grin to myself while I get ready and then head down to the gym. I hope she doesn’t remember it. Or me calling her baby. I didn’t mean to, but fuck, it felt right.
Marco has someone working on expanding the gym and adding a fighting ring to it, but it won’t be ready for a few days. I work out before hitting the heavy bag for a while. Becca has a protein shake waiting for me when I’m done. Lil’s door is still closed when I walk by to take a shower, but open when I get out.
I head down to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and find Ariana pouring some in a mug with a unicorn on it that says, ‘ew, people’ and is already half full of some kind of too-sweet creamer. She glances over at me, and a small chuckle escapes my lips because she’s wearing sunglasses.
“Don’t be an ass, or I’ll drink the whole pot,” she warns as she fills another mug and hands it to me with a smug little smirk on her face because the damn thing says, ‘Coffee makes me poop. ’
“So very mature.”
“Shhhhhh,” Lil groans, her head down on the counter with her arm and hair hiding her face.
Ariana places a mug in front of Lil. “I would feel sorry for you, but I know you put more nasty ass schnapps in your second drink than you should have because you knew I wouldn’t make you switch with me halfway through, so technically, you had more like four drinks. One night after whatever the fuck you had at Amanda’s. You get what you deserve.” Lil flips Ariana the bird and then grabs her coffee. Her mug says, ‘Have a nice day,’ but when she takes a sip, I see it has the middle finger on the bottom.
I roll my eyes again, but mostly out of habit because I also have to hide a grin behind my coffee cup. They start bickering, and I head out to sit at the patio set in the backyard to avoid getting caught up in their chaos.
“Fuck, it’s bright as shit out here.” I turn toward the sound of Lil’s voice to where she’s standing, blinking and cringing at the sunshine.
Ariana’s a few steps behind her. “Well, why the fuck did you follow Luca out here then?”
“I dunno, to continue to harass him because it makes me feel better?” Lil reaches her hand out and snatches Ariana’s sunglasses. She puts them on her own face with an overdramatic sigh.
“Bitch. Don’t break those. They’re my favorite pair.” Ariana plops down in another chair with a groan. “What are you up to today, Luca?”
I shrug. “Don’t really have plans or anything.”
“We’re going to hide in the house, away from the evil sun.” Even though it’s the opposite of what she just said they were going to do, Lil sits down at the table as well. We all sip our coffee in a silence that strangely isn’t uncomfortable .
It doesn’t last long, though. Within minutes, they’re talking about books and their reading competition.
“I’m going to win Total Number of Books Read,” Ariana declares, a cocky tilt to her head.
“Because you’re a cheater. You and your novellas.” Lil pouts, crossing her arms.
Ariana shakes her head. “Hey, it’s about numbers, baby. Plus the three S’s: Short, Sweet, and Smutty.”
Thankfully, I’m not currently taking a drink of my coffee because it would have ended up coming out of my nose again.
“Cheating.”
“Well, next year, you can petition to change the rules. But this year, they count. So suck it up, buttercup. You’ll have to focus on something like Longest Book Read or Most Books Read in One Series.” Ariana sticks her tongue out at Lil. As usual, where she’s concerned, I find myself fighting a grin. Even when she’s being childish as fuck, she’s adorable.
Fuck. Who the fuck am I?
They continue debating the rules of their challenge before finally deciding they need to get some actual reading done and go back inside. I watch Ariana’s curvy hips and full ass sway as she strolls away and stifle a groan. It doesn’t matter how many times I jerk off to her, which is a nightly thing; I want her more and more.
I check in with Marco and join him in the basement gun range. He has me run through loading different guns like he taught me a few days ago.
“I’m proud of your progress, Luca.” Marco claps me on the back. He does that a lot. And tells me I’m doing a good job. Ford does, too. And Mia thanks me for keeping the girls safe when we get home every day. I’m still getting used to the praise.
“Uh, thanks.”
“Let’s go see what’s for lunch.” He leads the way back upstairs .
Lunch was never a family affair back at home, but this kitchen’s full of people. The counter is covered with platters of sandwich fixings, bowls of sides and chips, and condiments. I lean against a wall out of the way as they build their sandwiches.
“Parker, don’t you even think you’re getting out of eating with us,” Mia says as he tries to sneak back to the tech room with his food. He sighs and follows Lil outside, his face turning redder by the second.
Ford snickers as he slathers mayo on some bread.
Sully’s smirk turns to a frown when he looks at his plate. “Damn it, Ariana, stop putting goddamn pickles on my sandwich!” He picks a slice off with two fingers like it’s going to bite him and tosses it at her.
“Grown ass adults, all of you,” Marco reminds them.
Ariana peels the pickle off her cheek and chucks it at him. Without looking my way, she says, “Luca, get your ass over here and make a sandwich, or I’ll do it for you, and if I do it, I’m going with the most random combo I can think of.”
“Yeah, yeah, bossy.” I push off from the wall, take the plate she hands me, and throw some cheese and roast beef on a giant hoagie with spicy mustard. She piles turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and yellow mustard on a smaller hoagie.
Everyone else heads outside. Ariana grins up at me, her gray eyes sparkling. “I would have put all this,” she points to her sandwich “all that,” she points to my sandwich, “plus ham, pepperoncini, and olives on it for you.”
Sucked into the magnetic pull she has on me, I reach out and tuck a wayward piece of hair behind her ear. She slips her bottom lip between her teeth, and I almost groan. Fuck, my dick is getting hard in the middle of the kitchen as we stand here holding goddamn hoagies. I lean down, seriously considering saying ‘fuck it’ and kissing her, split lip be damned. Does she want to kiss me? Would she knee me in the balls? Would Marco haul my ass out to the shed? I still find myself leaning in, and she’s not pulling away. In fact, she’s raising up on her tiptoes.
Loud laughter rings out from the backyard through the open doors. Ariana jumps a little and breaks eye contact. Fuck.
She blinks a few times, then turns back to the food. She spoons some macaroni salad on her plate and grabs the bowl of cheddar sour cream chips.
Okay, I guess we’re ignoring what just happened. Or almost happened. I opt for the potato salad and return to our conversation about sandwiches. “I, uh, I still would have eaten it. And you’re sharing those chips.” I grab a couple of sodas because she’s looking at one like she’s trying to figure out how to carry it along with what she already has in her hands.
She laughs and walks outside to the table where Everyone is already sitting.
“The whole bowl, Ari?” Mia shakes her head with a smile.
“I’m sharing with Luca.”
“Only because I’m making you,” I say.
“Hush, you.” Her tone is light, and her smile is bright as she holds the bowl out to me.
I don’t remember enjoying a lunch so much in years. If ever. When we bring our empty plates and the chip bowl into the house, the sandwich stuff has been replaced with cookies. Parker, Sully, and Ford each grab a few and go their separate ways.
“I have a different idea for dessert,” Marco says as he tosses Mia over his shoulder and disappears up the stairs with a smirk.
“Ugh, gross!” Lil yells after them. “T.M.I. and inappropriate, and JESUS CHRIST, we don’t need to hear that shit!” She fake gags while Ariana doubles over, laughing.
It’s a full-on belly laugh. I think it’s officially my favorite sound.
Every time I think something about her is my favorite thing, something new comes along. They’re all my favorites .
“Come on, let’s go work on our reading challenge, far, far away from Mom and Dad’s room!” Lil grabs the plate of cookies. Ariana shoots me a grin before heading up the stairs behind Lil.
Now, what the hell am I supposed to do? I debate hitting the gym again or going for a swim, but I don’t want to be alone. Which is weird for me because I’m used to doing shit by myself. But sometimes it’s nice to be in the same place as someone else, like earlier when I sat outside drinking coffee with the girls. Being here has made me crave that.
I walk upstairs. The girls are settled in on the couch with their Kindles. Ariana has a blanket over her lap and legs. It’s the one she uses the most and is threadbare in spots. The plate of cookies is already half gone, so I grab one before it’s too late.
“Do you two mind if I play video games or something in here?”
“Go for it. I’ll yell at you if it’s too loud.” Lil smirks but doesn’t look up from her book. Ariana tilts her head up and smiles at me before going back to her reading. I drag a giant lime green bean bag chair from the corner and plop down in front of the TV.
Over the next few hours, every time I glance over my shoulder, they’re not in the same place as they were the last time I looked. Sometimes, they’re on opposite ends of the sectional. Sometimes, one has her legs thrown over the other’s lap or her head resting on a leg. At one point, they both have their backs on the seat and their legs up and over the back of the couch. Another time, Lil is lying on her stomach while Ariana is curled up in a ball in the corner, both napping. Occasionally, I hear one or the other say something like, “Holy hotness, you have to read this one!” Or, “What the fuck did I just read?”
We eat cookies and other random snacks they keep grabbing from the pantry. They have a couple of those nasty ass energy drinks while I stick to water. I don’t know how any of us are hungry at dinner time, but we dutifully eat the enchiladas Becca made, only to return to the living room as soon as we’re done.
“Ari, are you reading that why choose I told you about?” Lil asks.
“Yes. How do you keep all the peens straight, Lil? This shit’s so confusing.”
“What’s confusing about five boyfriends?”
I turn to look at them. What the hell?
“Besides the fact that there’s five of them? This girl has family drama, school drama, and best friend drama going on, plus a stalker, and then she’s gonna add five dicks to all that? No, thank you. I mean, I’m still gonna read it because I’ll read basically anything in the romance genre. Except clowns.”
“Clown porn is where you draw the line?”
“Yup. All smut is good smut until the clowns show up.”
“What the actual fuck?” I ask, shaking my head. They laugh and keep reading.
Before we know it, it’s midnight.
“My eyes are burning with the flames of hell and regret.” Ariana has those burning eyes closed, so she can’t see the grin on my face.
“Mine are bugging out.” Lil blinks about a thousand times.
I drag the bean bag back to the corner and fold the approximately fifty-seven blankets on the couch. Lil grabs the snack garbage while Ariana takes care of the drinks.
“Fuck, this one’s still half full.” I shouldn’t be surprised when Ariana lifts the energy drink can to her mouth and downs it. But I am. Have I mentioned lately that she’s going to be the death of me?
It’s still true.
“It’s midnight, and you’re just now chugging the last of that damn thing?”
“I forgot about it until now,” she shrugs .
“I think it was mine, actually,” Lil says.
“Just dump it down the drain.” A vein in my temple starts to throb.
“Just… dump it down the drain? That’s… no. Just no, Luca,” Ariana shakes her head at me like it’s the stupidest thing she’s ever heard.
“Ari’s never met an energy drink she wouldn’t finish,” Lil says, like drinking half an energy drink at midnight is no big deal. I guess maybe it’s not, based on some of the stuff I’ve read about neurodivergents, but it’s hard to wrap my head around. A lot of stuff here is hard to wrap my head around.
I groan and run my hand down my face before stomping away.
“Luca, you really should see a doctor about removing whatever crawled up your asshole and died. It’s been there too long and has turned toxic,” Lil calls after me. Ariana giggles. Thank god I have my back to them, and neither one sees the smile that I can’t keep off my stupid fucking face when I hear that giggle.
I’m screwed. Really screwed. Because I’m totally head over heels in love.