6. Gigi
CHAPTER 6
Gigi
In Luke and Kai’s off-campus apartment, my mouth salivates at the sight of the stuffed peppers peeking through the oven door. The nausea is getting better now, and so is my appetite. It took all my willpower not to finish all the snacks in their cupboards while I was prepping the dish.
“It looks fantastic,” Kai says from behind me, also squatting in front of the oven. His dark brown eyes are focused on the Pyrex dish inside. “That’s going to make my potato salad look like a joke.”
“Are you kidding me?” I turn around to face him. “Your potato salad is to die for. I’ve been craving it since forever.”
“Well, all you had to do was ask,” he answers, sounding pleased with himself. “Your wish is my command, my lady.”
“Oh, shut up,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Do you know when Zoey will get here? She’s on dessert duty. I’m dying to know what she’s going to bring.”
At the mention of his own girlfriend, Kai goes rigid as he runs a hand through his chocolate-colored hair. “Don’t know,” he answers in a clipped tone. “You’ll have to ask her yourself.”
Damn, these two. They went hot and heavy in the beginning, but a few months ago after spring break, they started crashing and burning. I hope this is not their descent into Splitsville. The two of them are actually really cute together, but Zoey and Kai want different things in life. My mom told me once that high school and college relationships aren’t built to last because you’re still figuring yourself out. I think I’m bearing witness to one of those cases and it breaks my heart.
“Still fighting, huh?” I can’t help but probe.
Kai shoots me a pained smile. “She’s upset I’m going to move back home after graduation.”
Reminding him that Zoey comes from Philadelphia and telling him that it’s understandable she doesn’t want to follow him to live out in the boonies would probably just upset him even more. “You guys will figure it out,” I encourage Kai, slightly touching his forearm before making my way to Luke’s room so I can grab my phone and ask my best friend herself what she’s bringing for dessert.
As I open the door, I hear Luke talking to someone. He’s pacing around in his room. He has a hardened look on his face that immediately softens when he sees me turn the lock.
“Well consider this the courtesy call,” he says, his tone clipped. He pauses as the other person speaks, rolling his eyes at whatever is being said. “Then I’ll come home, and we can talk about it. The three of us.” I lace our hands together when I realize it must be Vince. “Yeah, okay. See you then.”
“Your dad?” I ask, snaking my arms around his torso after he ends the call. “He knows?”
Luke scrubs his face with his palm before shoving his phone in his jeans pocket. His eyes sport the usual tormented look they do every time he talks to his father or the topic of Vince is brought up. “Yeah. Since he felt so blindsided by us telling him we were together last time, I thought I’d give him a heads-up now before coming over. He did ask for a fucking courtesy call.”
I try not to wince when I remember that doomed conversation we had over summer break. It’s wrong, son. That’s what Vince told Luke about our relationship, right after telling him that I was Andrew’s girl. He must have very poor opinions of me now.
“Is he still upset with us?” I dare to ask, guilt gnawing my insides.
Luke wraps his arms around my shoulders, and I feel the tension all over his body. “Not any more than he was before. He’s more pissed off that Grandma left his childhood home to me instead of him. I never told you this, but she changed her will before the fire. Since Dad blames me for everything, well…yeah.” He doesn’t need to finish that sentence. I can guess where it’s going. “He wants us to come home for Thanksgiving to discuss the best way to handle this.”
“You do know I’m supposed to visit my dad, right?” I remind him. “I was planning on breaking the news then.”
“Yep.” He kisses the top of my head. “I can always go alone if you don’t want to, but I can’t fly out with you to New York, Gi. Sorry. I need to have this conversation with Dad so we can hopefully get some money.”
And fuck me, don’t I know it. The thought of Luke going to work and postponing his master’s degree turns my stomach into knots. He’ll probably get a scholarship for it. You can’t feed a family of four, afford childcare, and live comfortably on the stipend combined with my wage as a waitress, though. I don’t need to be studying accounting to know that.
“I’ll come with you.” I tighten my hug. “For emotional support. I’ll ask Dad to come out here instead.”
“You sure?”
I nod. “We’re in this together, Lucas Palmer. I won’t let you have that conversation with Vince alone.”
“You’re the best, you know that? We’ll do something fun after, I promise.”
Zoey’s eyebrows are raised, disappearing under her bangs. Next to her, Kai is three seconds away from laughing his ass off, trying his best to stifle it by biting his knuckles. Zach’s jaw seems to have stopped working because his mouth is hanging open.
“So let me get this straight.” Zoey finally breaks the silence. “You missed your shot, got pregnant, and next year you’re going to be having twins?”
“Yeah.” I grimace at her recap. I should be ashamed of myself. I am ashamed of myself. I’m happy, though, and Luke seems that way, too. That’s all that matters.
Zach shakes his head as he chuckles. “Must have been some summer.”
“Congrats, but holy fuck, I thought you guys banging was just a phase.” Kai’s words are followed by the laughter he was trying so hard to hold. Zoey shoots him a glare before he holds his hands up and finally stops. “Not a phase, my bad. True love.”
“So what are you going to do?” Zach asks. “With school, your living situation. Everything.” Good question, Zach. What are we going to do, indeed?
Hoping Zoey sees how bad I feel through my expression, I shoot her the best remorseful look I can muster. “I might have to move out, Zo. Sorry.”
“Actually,” she draws out the word, “it’s kind of perfect timing. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something, too.” Zoey looks at Kai and does her best to imitate the expression I just gave her. “I’m taking some time off. Well, not really. I’m going to do an exchange like Pierre. I’m going to London next semester for a year.”
“Really?” Now it’s my turn to shoot my eyebrows up.
“What the fuck?” Kai asks at the same time.
Oh boy.
Zoey ignores Kai and chooses to converse with me instead. “I’m really bummed that I won’t be here for the babies.”
“We’ll FaceTime all the time,” I say, trying to reassure the both of us. “And I’ll send you lots and lots of pictures.”
One upside to this pregnancy—the one that I was really looking forward to—was having Zoey by my side. I imagined us picking out outfits for the twins or going for coffee runs while I push the pram. I was looking forward to my future babies bonding with their auntie Zoey. I’ve always loved having girlfriends.
My heart deflates a little knowing that she will be on another continent and we won’t be able to share this. A pang of jealousy courses through me knowing that Luke will have Kai by his side. At least I’ll have Zach.