Chapter 28 #2
Nova and Willa share a secret glance, and I just know it’s going to be good.
“Well,” Nova begins as we take our seats, and then proceeds to tell the entire story.
Apparently, when she was fourteen her mom filmed a movie in New Zealand, and her Australian co-star also had a kid—a son who was sixteen at the time.
Nova spent about a month on set, and the two of them had a filming fling.
Nothing too crazy, lots of sneaking around trailers and making out when their parents and their tutors weren’t watching.
They parted on good terms and kept in touch on and off, so she texted him last night.
He doesn’t live in Sydney anymore, but he still had a bunch of friends in the city whom he put her in touch with, mostly kids of other famous Australians.
Nova is still with her terrible boyfriend no one likes, but make-out bandit Willa came out to play.
She hooked up with one of the guys, and they spent the rest of the night bouncing around clubs together.
He put our names on the list for this place and they’ll be here later, but Willa and Nova wanted to get here first to have some time with us.
“Jeez, I forgot Zane Mitchell even existed,” Nox comments with a shake of his head.
Nova smiles sweetly. “Well, if you’d have felt his very-well-moisturized, pillow-perfect lips, you wouldn’t have forgotten him either.”
Nox grimaces. “I did not need to know that.”
“That’s why I said it.” Nova affectionately pushes her shoulder into his. “Why don’t you go get some mocktails at the bar or something? Make yourself useful.”
He frowns. “Don’t we have table service?”
“Who knows how long that will take.”
Nox glances dubiously at the crowd on the other side of the velvet rope. “Probably less time than venturing into that.”
“Would you just go?” She bats her eyelashes. “Please?”
I lean over to whisper in his ear. “I think she’s trying to get rid of you.”
“Yeah, no shit,” he grumbles. “Do you guys want anything?”
“Vodka soda,” Nova says.
“Same,” Willa says with an apologetic wince. “Please! And thank you!”
He rolls his eyes and edges his way out of the booth. The second he’s gone, Nova and Willa lean forward, elbows on the table, getting as close to me as possible.
“Tell us everything.”
I laugh and shake my head. I should have known this was about to happen. “There’s not much to tell. You know most of it already, honestly. The only difference in the past two days is we’ve, you know, taken it to the next level physically.”
“Physically?” Willa waggles her brows.
“How physical are we talking?” Nova asks, but then her face twists. “Actually, wait. I don’t want to know. Why does he have to be my brother? This is so lame. I want all the details, but also, like, ew—I don’t. Ugh! I’m so conflicted.”
“Well, I’m not,” Willa interjects. “Did you have sex? Was it good? It must’ve been good. Those swimsuits don’t hide much, if you know what I mean. And I’m not into him, I swear, but I am only human. I had to look.”
“I don’t blame you for looking,” I answer with a laugh, unable to fight the happiness bubbling up inside of me. “He’s, well, you know. And it was—”
I break off with a sigh, not sure how to find the words. I don’t have much experience talking about these things, and I sort of want to keep it private between Nox and me. We experienced it together. It’s not fully mine to share.
“That good, huh?” Willa nods appreciatively, then offers me a sly grin. “What’d he do, exactly?”
“Nope,” Nova interrupts. “I love you, but I can’t do this.” She lifts her fingers to her ears. “La la la la la.”
I grab her wrists and yank. “Stop. I don’t want to talk about it anyway.”
“Thank god,” Nova admits.
“Boo,” Willa fake-whines.
“So you guys are official now?”
“I guess…?” My brows knit as I trail off, suddenly realizing we haven’t actually had that conversation, but it feels as though we are.
We must be. After everything we said, everything we did, I can’t imagine he would object to being called my boyfriend, but it’s probably something we should establish.
“She’s blushing,” Nova comments excitedly, elbowing Willa. “Look at her, she’s blushing.”
“You are.” Willa grins. “It’s adorable.”
I feel my cheeks self-consciously, while Nova sighs happily. “You’re so in love. I love it!”
My stomach flips at the word, but I can’t bring myself to deny it. They wouldn’t believe me anyway.
“Has he asked you to come to the games with us yet?”
Brakes screech across my thoughts. “What?”
“He told me he was thinking about asking you? You should definitely stay with us. My mom still has her house in LA. You’d get your own room. The views are insane. Come! Please come! We’d have so much fun!”
“I—”
My throat closes and I swallow. Is that what he was going to ask me?
I think back to the look in his eyes as we lay in bed, the slight hesitation.
I’d thought a different confession was pulling at his heart, the one that had been pulling at mine, but it must’ve been for this.
He was going to ask me to be there, to cheer him on, to watch from the crowd.
He was going to ask me to forget the countdown and let forever start right here, right now.
What would I have said?
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” I answer slowly, glancing toward the bar to see if I can spot Nox’s face among the masses. “You remember what happened at his invitational? I messed everything up.”
“No,” Nova interjects. “My father messed everything up.”
“Well, he used me to do it. And Nox can’t afford that. Not on the world stage. I’d only be a distraction.”
The word tastes ugly on my tongue—a bitter, stinging truth.
He doesn’t need me there, throwing him off his game.
He needs his normal routine. No changes.
No chances to fuck it all up. I’m not sure we’d recover if I went and ruined it for him, made him lose something he’s been working his whole life for.
I mean, I’m sure at first he wouldn’t blame me.
But over time, he’d resent me. How could he not?
It’s too much pressure on him, on me, on us.
Nova squints at me. “Did he not ask you?”
“No,” I admit. “But I’m not sure I want him to.”
She scoffs. “Stupid idiot.”
“Don’t say anything to him. Please.”
“You’re both being idiots,” Nova says with a pointed look, but then she eases back in surrender, holding up her hands. “But I won’t. I promise.”
“Promise what?” Nox slides back into his seat, settling all the glasses on the table.
Nova juts her chin in a random direction. “I promised Clara I wouldn’t tell that guy over there who’s been eye-fucking her for the past ten minutes to get over here since she’s still technically single and not at all in a monogamous relationship.”
I snort so hard into my straw bubbles splash onto my cheeks.
“What the fuck?” Nox growls under his breath as he swivels to search the guy out. After a minute, he turns back to us, frowning. “What are you talking about? She’s with me. Your brother. What the hell, Nova?”
“That’s not what I heard.” She shrugs, expression far too innocent as she takes a sip of her drink.
Nox glances from her to me, then back to her. “What’d you hear?”
“She asked if we were official,” I explain, humor coloring my tone, “and I told her honestly that I didn’t know. We never talked about it.”
“Never talked about it…” He trails off, staring at me as if I’m speaking a foreign language. “You’re my girlfriend,” he states matter-of-factly, then turns to Nova. “She’s my girlfriend. What am I missing? And where’s that guy?”
He drops his arm possessively across my shoulders and pulls me closer as he glances back at the crowd. I snuggle into his chest and grin into my drink. Willa’s doing her best not to audibly laugh. Nova just looks at us both and mouths, Too easy, above her straw.
Nox keeps a hand on me the rest of the night.
And you know what? I’m not mad about that at all.