Chapter Fourteen
There was a spot on the wall in August’s dining room in the shape of a cross that was sunbleached.
Or rather, the area around it had been. The nail where the crucifix must’ve hung for a long time was still jutting from the wall among the family portraits, a bundle of dried flowers hung from it now, but I could still make out the bright shade of the wallpaper behind it.
August handed me the serving spoon as he held onto the large dish of pasta. “Take as much as you want,” he offered.
I put two spoonfuls on my plate. He didn’t watch to see how much I’d scooped out, and he didn’t ask me to take more. He just passed the bowl across the table to his sister.
Morgan was sixteen, a sophomore at our school, I learned. Her hair was the same sandy blonde as her mother’s, who sat on the other side of her, across from me.
“Lola, do you play any sports?” the woman asked.
“No ma’am.” I smiled, beginning to push the noodles around on my plate.
“She runs,” August said. “Just not on the track team.”
I tried to keep my expression neutral as she smiled at me. “I would’ve thought you were a cheerleader.”
Morgan snorted, “Yeah right, like a cheerleader would want to hang out with August.”
My jaw clenched instantly. I said in the sweetest tone I could manage, “I’m friends with all of the cheerleaders, and none of them deserve your brother.”
August’s cheeks turned that vibrant coral color I loved.
“He is quite the catch,” his mother agreed, and the color deepened.
Morgan made a gagging sound, her long blonde curls falling over her freckled heart shaped face with the violent heaving of her body.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” I asked her, unable to hold back my smile at her dramatics.
She eyed her brother, who had leaned in with a wide grin. When she didn’t answer right away August teased, “Yeah, Morgan, do you have a boyfriend?”
“No,” her tone was clipped of emotionship, but from the blush on her cheeks, I could tell she was hiding something. It made me wonder how protective August would get over his sister.
“What about you, Lola?” his mother asked, and I could tell she was trying to fish out if I was here as August’s friend or something more. I considered, briefly, lying to her. But Morgan answered before I could.
“She’s dating one of the Ken’s,” she said around a mouthful of pasta.
“What’s a Ken?” she asked, looking at her daughter with knitted brows.
August answered for her, “It’s what they called the guys who date the Barbies,” he used finger quotes around the name. “‘Cause they’re like the girl’s accessories.” I didn’t know if that last part was the true origin of the name for the guys, or if August had just added that for my sake.
His mother laughed. “And what exactly is a Barbie?”
Morgan pointed at me with her fork. “She is a Barbie.”
“Morgan.” August warned.
His mother looked at me expectantly. “I take it you don’t like that term?”
I lifted my shoulders, unbothered. “I don’t mind it. But I don’t think people mean it in a very polite manner.” She turned her attention back to her daughter, brows raised.
“Yes they do.” Morgan argued. “Barbies are always pretty, and they can do whatever they want.”
“That’s a very nice way of looking at it.” I smiled.
August’s knuckles brushed against the hem of my skirt under the table. I shoved a fork full of noodles in my mouth, a thick string of cheese catching on my lip.
“I’m going to get parmesan, do you guys want any?” Miss Brooks stood from the table, seeming to sense the tension.
When she stepped away, her back turned toward us in the kitchen, August’s fork was on my plate instantly, picking up as many noodles as would fit on the utensil. He shoved them in his mouth, and chewed quickly.
Morgan eyed him skeptically, so I smacked his shoulder playfully. “You have your own plate,” I laughed. He only winked at me. A small gesture that made a treacherous heat spread through me.
When his mother returned, she asked Morgan about her school day. I found August’s pinky on the edge of his seat, and wrapped mine around it, squeezing.
When everyone’s plates were cleared, his mother moved to the kitchen to pull cookies out of the oven. “Do you want to stay for dessert?” August asked casually.
“I shouldn’t.” I said, eyeing the dimming light outside the window.
“That wasn’t what I asked,” he said, lower.
I shook my head. “I have to get up early.”
He nodded. I thanked his mother for dinner, telling her how much I loved her pasta. She promised to give me the recipe. I said goodbye to her and Morgan, before August walked me to my car.
He opened the door for me, after I used the fob to unlock it. I leaned against the frame for a moment, mesmerized by the sight of him in the inky darkness of a late September evening.
“That girl, with all the belts, from yesterday?” I asked, suddenly remembering my conversation with Emily and Lindsey from that morning.
“Penelope?” he said, his brow furrowing.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Could you tell her not to go to the game tomorrow night?”
“She doesn’t go to the games,” he said, confusion lacing his tone.
“Are you sure?” I pressed.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m usually with her every Friday night.”
“Oh.” The sound came out too fast for me to hide the surprise in my tone. Images of them together, lying on his couch, flashed through my mind.
“We play DND in Wyatt ’s basement on Fridays,” he clarified.
“What is DND?” I asked.
“Dungeons And Dragons?” he said wearily, and in the soft moonlight I saw his cheeks change color.
I pushed off my car, and stepped closer to him. Using the tip of my finger to push a fallen curl out of his face I whispered, “You are so pretty when you blush.”
The color deepened and his eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into the touch. The sight of it made my stomach flip.
“So pretty all the time,” I whispered.
His eyes opened slowly, looking down at me as he asked, barely audible, “Honest?”
“You only get me honest,” I said, before stretching up on my tip toes to press my lips briefly against his jaw. I turned to get in my car.
“Good night, August.”
“Drive safely, Sin,” he said softly before shutting my door.
The next morning, I was chewing the inside of my cheek as I walked down the hall toward August, who was already leaning against the wall with a thermos in hand.
He held it out to me just as I stopped in front of him and watched attentively as I took the first sip. I made a show of swallowing and ran my tongue along my bottom lip. His eyes tracked all of it.
“Can we pretend we’re in my room for a second?” he whispered.
“Why?” I asked.
“I want you honest,” he said.
I looked over my shoulder to make sure we were the only ones around. “Okay,” I agreed, looking back at him.
“Why did you ask me about Penelope last night?”
I swallowed tightly, twisting my mouth up. He studied my face, waiting for me to answer. “Some girls were talking about jumping her after the game,” I said as quietly as possible.
“Which girls?” he pressed. I shook my head in answer.
“You don’t want to tell me because it’s one of your friends,” he guessed, and I nodded.
He let out a long breath. “Okay.”
I eyed him, wondering if it really was okay. I was waiting for him to tell me I should find better friends, but he didn’t. Instead he said, “Why did you look surprised when I said I see Penelope on Fridays?”
I shook my head again, and this one earned me a rare, devilish smile. “Were you jealous?”
I glared up at him, my tongue pressed to the front of my teeth. His smile only grew wider as he said, “Ask me.”
“Ask you what?” I bit out.
“Ask me about whatever it is you’re worried I’m doing with Penelope.”
“Is she the girl you—”
“Yes,” he said flatly before I could finish the question.
I looked away instantly, trying to breathe deeply without it being obvious. “Do you—”
“No,” he interrupted me again.
I glared at him, crossing my arms. “You don’t even know what I was going to ask,” I sneered.
“You’re either going to ask me if I have feelings for her, or if I still fool around with her. The answer to both is no.”
“That’s not what I was going to ask,” I said petulantly.
“Then what?” he asked dryly.
“I was going to ask,” I took a deep breath, looking down at my heels, “if you’re the same with her…as you are with me.”
When he didn’t answer for a moment, I dared to glance at him, and he looked like I’d struck him.
“No,” he said firmly. I didn’t soften my glare. His fingertips brushed my elbow just briefly before he dropped his hand again.
“Only you, Lola,” he said desperately. “Only ever you.”
My nose twitched as tears threatened to well up. “Promise?” I asked hoarsely.
He held a pinky out, waist level so if anyone entered the hallway, they wouldn’t see. I wrapped mine around it instantly.
“Promise,” he said softly. When I didn’t respond, August bent his knees, forcing himself into my line of vision. “Do you need to hear what happened?”
I nodded reluctantly.
“She wanted to hook up last year. We did exactly what I told you before, and I thought it might lead to something more. But when I tried, she was very direct with me that she had no intention of dating me. I told her I didn’t want to go any further with someone I wouldn’t be with long term.
No feelings were hurt, we’ve never talked about it again, and we’ve never been anything but friends outside of that one incident. ”
He waited for me to respond, but I didn’t. I just stood there, bouncing my knee and chewing on the inside of my cheek. He sighed. “It’s just us. We’re in my room. No one else can hear you.”
“You hang out with her every Friday?” I asked, and I hated how pathetic my voice sounded.
He gave me a sad smile. “Are you going to watch your boyfriend play football tonight?”
“No,” I muttered.
He looked skeptical. “Why not?”
“Because I had to lie to my friends so I could get out of jumping your fucking girlfriend,” I hissed.
He rolled his eyes and pushed my chin up, forcing me to hold his gaze. “You wanna come play nerdy games with us tonight?”
I couldn’t help the surprise that lifted my features. “Thought you said we should hide this from our friends?”
He gave me a lazy smile. “Maybe just your friends. My friends will get over it.”
I scoffed. “I don’t think Wyatt will be that accommodating.”
He chuckled. “Tell me what you want, Lola.”
“I want you,” I said before I could stop myself.
“You have me,” he said so tenderly that it almost felt true.
I shook my head. “Not all the way.”
He gave me a sad smile, and I could barely hear him over the bell ringing and the back door swinging open. “You don’t want me all the way, Sin.”
We filed into the classroom, and I didn’t look at him as I set up my laptop.
His voice startled me when he said, “Wyatt, Lola is coming to game night.”
Wyatt responded, “Lola who?”
“The one sitting next to you,” August said casually, not looking at either of us as he opened his laptop. Wyatt and I stared at each other for a brief moment before a triumphant smile spread across my face.
August pulled my attention back to him as he asked, “Can I pick you up later?”
I shook my head. “I’ll meet you at your place.”
He nodded. “Alright.”
I turned back to Wyatt and asked, “What’s the dress code for this sort of thing? I don’t own a wizard hat.”