Chapter 5 #2
My mouth hangs open. I can’t believe he’s bringing up what I said a year ago.
The conversation I just had with my dad yesterday doesn’t help either.
I can feel my blood boiling. The longer I stand here in front of him, the closer I come to losing my sanity.
I picture what it might be like to wrap my fingers around his neck and squeeze.
“Whatever, though,” he says with a shrug. “Good luck planning something that will never have the chance to happen.”
He steps past me and heads down the stairs. I take a moment to breathe, cooling myself down before I follow him.
I find Tina and Ryan in the kitchen. Tina has both doors of her refrigerator wide open while she rummages through the freezer.
Oliver stops at the far side of the island counter while I stay on this side.
I turn my attention to Tina and Ryan to avoid looking at him.
I force a smile so that Tina won’t notice how angry I am.
“Sounded like you two had a hell of a workout up there,” Ryan says.
“Just a little crash course on treadmill safety,” Tina says, still facing the freezer.
“Something tells me there wasn’t anything safe about what the two of you were doing,” Oliver says.
My eyes slide to him involuntarily. He’s watching me. I frown and turn away from him, returning my attention to Tina and Ryan. There’s a prickle at the side of my head. I can feel Oliver’s stare pulling me back, but I fight it.
Tina finally turns around and sets two tubs of ice-cream on the island. “Do you want any?” she asks.
“Of course.” Ice-cream might be just the thing I need to help me cool down. “What kind?”
“Chocolate and strawberry,” she says, sliding them in front of me.
I grab the strawberry tub and open it. “You can never go wrong with strawberry,” I say, licking my lips.
“Boys?” she says, looking at Ryan and Oliver. “Want some?”
They’re still on the opposite end of the island, talking quietly now. Oliver looks up at Tina and shakes his head. “No thanks.”
“I’m lactose intolerant,” Ryan reminds her.
Tina rolls her eyes. “As if that’s ever stopped you before.” Then she shrugs. “More for us, then.” She hands me a spoon, then opens the chocolate tub and digs in without putting it in a separate bowl first. I stare at my spoon, then shrug and follow suit.
“Mmm,” Tina moans. “This is so good.”
“So good,” I agree. I don’t realize that I’m moaning too until I open my eyes in time to catch a weird look on Oliver’s face. My cheeks flush. I clear my throat.
“You girls really seem to be enjoying that ice-cream,” Ryan remarks with a smirk.
“I’m having a mouth-gasm,” Tina says. I almost choke on my ice-cream. “It’s almost as good as getting eaten out. Maybe even better.”
It takes a second for her meaning to hit. “Tina! Gross!” I scold, shocked.
She laughs. “What? It’s true.”
“I wouldn’t kno—” I cut myself off, realizing that I’m about to admit to never having experienced what she’s talking about. I pivot, saying, “I wouldn’t compare it to that.”
Nothing gets past Tina, though. “Oh, no. Priss. Please don’t tell me you’ve never had a guy go down on you before.”
She laughs. My face turns redder.
“Wait,” she says, suddenly serious. Her eyes go wide. She glances at the guys, then lowers her voice so they can’t hear. “You’ve never,” she begins, then finishes the sentence by silently mouthing, “been eaten out?”
I make the mistake of sneaking a peek at Oliver.
He’s frowning at Tina, but his stare switches to me almost as soon as I look at him.
He raises an eyebrow like he’s waiting to hear the answer.
I wish I could crawl into a hole and melt away.
My face is so hot that I feel like I might.
I take a bite of ice-cream to cool myself down, but all I accomplish is reminding myself of what Tina said about it.
“Of course I’ve done… that… before.” I whisper so the guys can’t hear, but I’m still ashamed of how unconvincing I sound.
Tina shakes her head. “You poor thing. We need to find someone who can fix that for you.”
I don’t want to have this conversation. Not in front of Ryan, and certainly not in front of Oliver.
I don’t care if they can’t hear us or if they’re having their own conversation.
They already know what we’re talking about.
I should be used to the crass things Tina says by now.
I already know that she has no filter. It’s one of my favorite things about her, but when it’s directed at me, I wish I could crawl away and hide in a hole.
I stare at my ice-cream so that I don’t have to look at any of them while I muster up the courage to speak again.
“Who needs that anyway, when this ice-cream is clearly so much better?” I ask with a shrug. I eat another spoonful, but I think that Tina might have ruined ice-cream for me.
“Do you want to go to a Knicks game on Sunday?” Ryan asks loudly from across the kitchen.
I’m grateful to him for coming to my rescue, even if he doesn’t realize he has.
It takes me a moment to realize that no one is answering him.
I look up and realize that he’s watching me expectantly.
Even then, it takes a few more seconds for it to register that his question is directed at me.
I look from him, to Tina, and to Oliver.
Tina raises an eyebrow. Oliver is still watching me, but he looks away when I meet his eyes.
His face looks a little pink. I wonder if I’m imagining it. I return my attention to Ryan.
“Me?” I ask, confused.
“I have four tickets,” Ryan clarifies. “I figured we could all go together.”
I shrug. “Yeah, sure. Isn’t that in the city?”
“We can make a day of it,” he says. “We can all drive down together.”
I feel my gaze returning to Oliver. He’s watching me again, his expression unreadable. His eyes narrow ever so slightly. I feel like he’s trying to tell me something, but I don’t know what it is.
“Sounds like fun,” I say to Ryan.
“Great,” he says. He brushes his hand across Tina’s back as he makes his way around her, then heads out of the kitchen toward the garage. Oliver follows him out of the room.
Tina skips around the island until she’s right next to me. “Oh my God,” she whispers. “I can’t believe you agreed.”
I frown. “To go to a basketball game? Is that so surprising?”
“No,” she says, dragging out the word. “To go on a double date.”
“That’s not what I agreed to.”
“Sure it is. Me and Ryan in the front seat. You and Oliver in the back.” She says this in a sing-song voice. “The four of us together at a game.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s just a game. Besides, I fully expect you to sit in the back with me the whole way there and back. Ryan only invited me so that he can have bro-time with Oliver and you won’t feel left out.”
“Not gonna happen,” she says. “And this was Ryan’s idea.”
I turn my head to look at the door where Oliver and Ryan disappeared. “Ryan suggested a double date? Since when has he been into that sort of thing?”
“I was surprised too,” she says with a shrug. “Please don’t back out because of that, though. It will be fun. And if you have an absolutely terrible time with Oliver, then I’ll ride in the back with you on the way home.”
“Are you kidding? I’m not gonna let Oliver get in the way of me having a good time.”
She purses her lips the way she always does when she disagrees with something I’ve said.
“What?” I prod.
“I mean, you kind of let him get in the way a lot over the last year. The two of you are constantly bickering. Sometimes it seems like you’re just looking for reasons to hate each other.”
“Exactly,” I say, because she does have a point. “I’m done allowing him to stop me from having fun. I’m over it. I’m over him.”
She raises an eyebrow. I wait a moment, but she doesn’t say anything.
“What?”
She shrugs.
“What was that look for?” I ask.
“Nothing,” she says, shrugging again. “There was no look.”
“Yeah, there was. Tell me.”
Tina sighs. “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but…”
I roll my eyes. I wait for her to continue because I know that she will, even though it’s clear that she wants me to beg.
She leans a little closer and lowers her voice so that she’s almost whispering. “You know you can tell me if you still like him, right?”
I’m caught off guard by her question. I frown, parting my lips, but I stammer for a moment, trying to think of why she might think I still like him. The only reason I liked him a year ago was because I didn’t know him well enough.
“I don’t.” I hope that my voice is stern enough that she takes me seriously. “And even if I did, I’m not sure I could tell you. You tell Ryan everything.”
“Not everything,” she says with a wiggle of her ring finger. “I think I’m pretty good at keeping this little secret. I could keep yours, too.”
“There is no secret to tell.” The thought that she doesn’t believe me makes my body feel hot. My face turns red.
“Fine. Whatever. Pretend all you want.” She reaches for a wine bottle and pours us each a glass. She hands one to me and then heads into the living room.
“I’m not pretending,” I say, following her.
Just as I’m sitting down in one of the two white leather armchairs that match the couch, Oliver and Ryan come back through the door and join us in the living room. Ryan sits next to Tina on the couch, and Oliver sits in the armchair opposite me.
“What were you guys doing in the garage?” Tina asks.
The guys exchange a glance before Ryan answers. “I was just showing Oliver my new rims.”
“Pretty sweet,” Oliver says.
Tina smirks. “You boys and your toys.”
I look at each of them, just now realizing it was a little weird how they both walked out of the room without a word as soon as I agreed to go to the game on Sunday. That, and the way they looked at each other before Ryan answered Tina.
My gaze lingers on Oliver for a minute. He’s not looking at me, but he glances at me once before quickly averting his gaze.
Only then does it occur to me that this isn’t a setup for me and Oliver at all.
This should be a relief, except it’s not.
If Ryan isn’t trying to set us up, the only other reason I can think of for him wanting me there is that he plans to propose to Tina at the game.
The way Oliver avoids my eyes all but confirms it.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I look away from Oliver to see who texted me.
Tina
You’re staring an awful lot for someone who is TOTALLY over him ;)