Chapter 4
Molly
After we ate our traditional New Year's meal at my parents, we all dispersed.
I came home and crashed in bed, and I have no idea what everyone else did.
Which is why I'm waking up, surprised that it's dark outside.
When I gave myself permission to go to sleep, I thought I'd maybe close my eyes for an hour or so, but when I grab my phone, I realize I've been out for almost four hours.
I must have needed it since Dakota and I were up almost all night last night.
That's when I notice I have a few missed texts. Scrolling through, I grin when I see that all of them are from Dakota.
D: That meal was delicious. Do you cook like your mom? We've never really had a home cooked meal together.
He's right. Most of the time when we've gotten together, it's been to make out, and then it moved onto sleeping together pretty quickly. Not to mention we've been keeping it quiet, so we don't ever get out and about.
D: I'm so sleepy now. You wore me out last night.
I grin. He wore me out last night too, obviously.
D: Sense you're not answering, I'm going to assume you whent to sleep.
My chest tightens as I see this text. He must be really tired.
It's not very often Dakota lets his dyslexia show.
To the point where I've seen him use spell check for his text messages.
The fact that he feels comfortable enough with me to send me something that isn't perfect causes my throat to swell.
D: Night Mol, let me know when you wake up.
The fact that he knows I went to sleep says he knows more about my life than I realized. Sometimes after a big meal, I do enjoy a fat nap. With my arms stretched up over my head, I snap a picture, and send it to him.
M: I'm awake.
It doesn't take him long to answer.
D: Did you sleep good?
M: I had the best nap ever. I don't know what it was, whether it was the food, and then coming home to a super warm bed. Or if it was the fact we didn't get much sleep last night.
D: Do you feel like company? I don't have to work tonight, or tomorrow night. I'm not sure what your skedule looks like.
There it is again. The misspelling. God, I want to hug this man. I never thought he'd be vulnerable with me, but here he is surprising the fuck outta me.
M: I do. Maybe I could even cook dinner. Even though we've never done that before.
D: Can I bring anything?
For just a second I want to try and be sexy, make everything an innuendo, because that's what we always do with one another.
M: I'm not trying to make this sexual, I promise. But feel free to bring dessert.
D: I'll bring desert and I won't make it weird.
M: LOL! See you soon.
With those words, I slowly get out of bed and walk around my bedroom.
Part of me wants to take a shower, but there's another part of me that knows if I do, I won't get anything else done.
Opening the door to my bathroom, I head in and decide to at least wash my face and brush my teeth.
Once that's done, I change into comfortable clothes and walk to the living room.
Since this is the first time I'll be cooking dinner for Dakota, I want to make a good impression.
I need my best friend for this. Pulling my phone over to me, I request a FaceTime with Magnolia. She answers on the second ring.
"Hey," she says, grinning brightly. "What's going on?"
I can see Levi in the background, but he's playing some video game. "If you were cooking dinner for someone for the first time, what would you make for them?"
"Do you plan on getting freaky or not?" She questions, twirling a piece of hair around her finger.
"Jesus Christ, Magnolia. You're talking to my sister, and you're insinuating she's getting naked with someone. Please, just don't."
She rolls her eyes. "Your sister is a woman, Levi."
"I'd like to not be reminded of that."
She laughs, getting up and walking around the living room. "Let me go to some place where he won't be interrupting us."
I'm thankful for that. I love my brother, but sometimes I need to talk to my friend, and I need to do that without him being around.
"Okay, now that he's not around. What would you cook for someone you've never cooked for?
It's not that I expect to get freaky with him tonight, we've been doing that more often than we probably should be.
Tonight I just kinda want to show him there's more to us than that. "
"Okay, so you really do want to impress him?"
"I do." It feels good to admit that to her. "What should I do?"
"I'm going to assume he eats healthy, this is you we're talking about."
"He does."
She nods. "Okay, if I were you, I'd make some baked chicken and veggies with that balsamic glaze you make. My mouth is watering thinking about it right now. That will be the way to his stomach."
My brain is already working as I think about what she's saying. "You're right. That's one of the best things I make, and I'm sure he'll like it."
"So?" She questions. "When are you going to tell me who this is?"
I want to tell her, really do. Over the past few weeks, especially, I've been wondering why Dakota and I have decided to keep it a secret.
If it were a normal relationship, I'd be spilling all the tea to her, but instead he and I have kept things between us.
"I hope to tell you soon," I say with a shrug of my shoulder.
"Until he and I agree to it, I can't break the confidence. "
"You must really like him." She grins. "I've never known you to not talk about any part of your life before. We've always shared everything."
"We have," I agree. "Until this, and I know I started it, but I also know that you're keeping things with my brother close to the vest, too."
"Only because I don't want to jinx it." She pulls her thumbnail into her mouth, biting down. "I've had such bad luck..."
"I know, and I understand it, but it still feels weird. The two of us keeping secrets from each other." I'm rolling the sentence around in my head. "What if I were to start telling you things about him, but not mentioning his name?"
"I'd love that, Moll. I've missed that part of our friendship. I haven't shared a ton about Levi, because I'm scared I'm going to overshare."
This right here feels like how our friendship used to. "So, about this guy I'm seeing. He's hot as fuck."
She laughs, throwing her head back. "I didn't expect anything less from you. You've always had the hottest boyfriends. You're having a good time?"
"Yes," I answer, closing my eyes. "A great time. So many people need help from me, especially in the line of work I'm in, that sometimes I just want to shut my brain off. With him, I can do that. He doesn't expect me to entertain him, or to be anything other than the person I am, Magnolia."
"You've needed that," she whispers.
"I have. He's really been the answer to some actual prayers I prayed."
Magnolia smiles, and we sit in a comfortable silence with each other. Both of us are in places we never thought we'd be. But they're the best places we could have imagined.