Chapter 29
Quinn
February, Junior Year
Quinn felt like she and Liv were in a good place.
The trip home for the holidays had been lovely, if a little stifling, given the amount of time they’d spent with Quinn’s family, playing games and hanging out and dealing with roughly seven million comments, questions, and side-eyes about the nature of their relationship.
Still, it had been nice to get that time, for just a couple of weeks, with so many people that she loved.
And, as if making up for lost time, the first week they’d been back in their own place had been an entirely different kind of nice. They hadn’t bothered finding a reason to sleep separately since, not when they were under the same roof. Things were great.
Late afternoon one Saturday, about five weeks into the winter semester, Quinn arrived home from her weekly grocery run to find Emma and Liv sitting in the living room.
“My two favorite people,” Quinn said happily, until she clocked the strange tension in the room, particularly from Liv.
“I’m going to head back to campus,” Emma announced, adding as she left, “Good luck!”
Quinn wasn’t sure which one of them she was talking to.
“Is everything okay?” Quinn asked, taking the seat next to Liv on their sofa.
Liv looked like she was going to be sick. “It is…”
“Ok, what’s going on?” Quinn asked .
“Do we have any plans for Valentine’s Day next weekend?” Liv replied, her voice sounding small.
Okay, that’s absolutely not what Quinn was expecting her to say.
Not that she had any idea, really, what was coming.
But she never would have guessed that. Valentine’s Day was not something they’d ever discussed, and the thought of having plans, purposely celebrating together… well, it was decidedly un friendly .
“We do not,” Quinn answered, cautiously optimistic.
“I need a favor…” Liv replied. Okay, well, that certainly didn’t sound romantic. But whatever Liv needed, if it was within Quinn’s power to give, she had to know that Quinn would provide. “Can we…”
“Just spit it out, Liv,” Quinn encouraged her, making sure her tone was gentler than her words. She was confused by the distress in her voice, the concern written across her face.
“Would you be okay with taking a trip Wednesday to Sunday next week? Missing swim and classes for a few days?”
“I’d have to look at my schedule and get with coach and my professors, but I don’t miss much so I don’t think it would be a huge deal,” Quinn answered. “Why? What’s going on?”
“I sort of committed us to going back to your hometown and keeping an eye on your siblings for the weekend,” Liv finally said, her words leaving her in a rush.
Quinn felt like she had whiplash. “You…huh?”
“I will pay to fill your gas tank, and I promise to do the majority of the necessary caretaking,” Liv said, and Quinn still just felt an overwhelming sense of confusion at all of this.
“What are you trying so hard not to tell me?”
Quinn watched as Liv took several deep breaths, as if building up to this. “I was talking to my dad a few weeks ago, and I mentioned how great your parents were over the holidays.”
“You told them about that?” Quinn asked, confused.
“I told them that I stayed with a friend for Christmas, and it was really nice,” Liv explained, her eyes not meeting Quinn’s .
Ah, yes. A friend.
“Okay,” Quinn said, trying to maintain her focus. “I’m still missing a piece here.”
“My dad asked what I wanted to do to thank them, and something your mom had said sort of took root, and when I mentioned it to my dad, he didn’t even seem to think twice about it, so…
” Liv was rambling, but Quinn couldn’t help her get to the end of her explanation, so she just let her meander there on her own.
“I mean, you know we are pretty well off, and I know you don’t like it when I use any of my money on you, but this isn’t for you, exactly, so…
I may have booked your parents a long weekend in Paris. ”
A chill shot through Quinn because… “What?”
“I’ve been working on the logistics for a couple of weeks now, and I knew you wouldn’t love the idea, but, well, it’s not about you,” Liv said, before muttering, to herself, “Still not sure I should have said it like that, but Emma said it packed an oomph, so…”
Quinn stared at her dazedly.
“You’re angry,” Liv assumed.
“My brain is still trying to catch up here,” Quinn said, trying to wrap her mind around everything Liv was saying. “I mean, Dad can’t just take time off. What if they can’t go?”
Again, that nauseated look took over Liv’s face. “I’ve been working on this with your dad. You’re right, of course. I had to make sure the logistics worked out, that they had passports and…everything.”
“You’ve been talking to my dad?” Quinn asked.
“Yeah, I’ve had both of your parents’ numbers for a while now…” Quinn knew, on one level, that that made sense. They’d traveled together a few times to watch Quinn swim, and any time her family had visited, they’d attached themselves to Liv.
“And he just accepted this?” Quinn asked, eyebrows raised. That didn’t sound like the Nicholas Miles that she knew and loved .
“He’s a proud person, but…I’m pretty persistent,” Liv answered simply, and Quinn snorted indelicately in response. “I explained about my dad, about the company… We’re taking care of everything for them.”
“And you just didn’t tell me,” Quinn said, hoping she didn’t sound as hurt as she felt.
“I knew you wouldn’t like it…” Liv seemed to know that wasn’t a winning argument, wincing as she said it.
“But apparently you talked to Emma,” Quinn said.
“I wanted to bounce it off of her, and I needed to get an idea if it was even possible, you missing a couple days of swim practice…”
“Sure, that tracks,” Quinn said, nodding to herself.
“Quinn, I don’t want you to be upset with me,” Liv said, the words catching in her throat. “I just wanted to find a way to say thank you to them.”
“So you gave my parents an all expenses paid trip to France? Do you not hear how that sounds?” Quinn replied.
They’d gone almost three years not letting the drastic difference in their family backgrounds affect them.
Three years of pretending like there wasn’t this vast disparity.
But this was quite a way to blow that all apart. “That’s not normal.”
“It’s my normal,” Liv responded, letting some of her emotions trickle out, her tone bordering on angry. “I never throw money around or try to make you feel weird about it. I try to be mindful. But the cost for this is nothing at all to my family.”
“I get it,” Quinn said, even though she knew she didn’t.
“I don’t think you do,” Liv replied, her expression sharpening.
“No one has ever welcomed me like they did, called me family and made me actually feel it. They’ve always been so kind to me, and on top of that, they made you , and you’re my favorite person.
You and your parents, you’re all just…you’re so good.
And I want your mom to get her dream trip. ”
Damnit, she couldn’t just say sweet things like that, not when Quinn was determined to stay angry .
“Does my mom even know?” Quinn asked, still trying to understand what was happening, regardless of the incredibly kind things that Liv had just said.
“Your dad told her this afternoon,” Liv answered.
Quinn nodded. “I’m going to go call her. I need a few minutes.”
“I’ll be here,” Liv replied softly.
Quinn nodded again before walking dazedly to the room she’d hardly ever used to call her mom.
But as soon as she made the call, she knew that this was something she was going to need to move past. Because her mother was alternating between sobbing and shouting on the line, sounding something like Quinn thought she might if she’d won the lottery.
Which, Quinn supposed, wasn’t too far off from how she must be feeling.
She was bawling so much that Quinn couldn’t even get a word in, and eventually she chose to hang up and send a text that she and Liv would call later.
Quinn took a few minutes, though, to check in with herself. Because this was…a lot. It was a lot because of the ridiculous expense of it all, regardless of how wealthy Liv’s parents were, how wealthy Liv was, even if Quinn didn’t often think about it like that.
But it was also a lot for reasons entirely unrelated to the cost of the gift.
Liv, her friend , had done this incredible thing for her parents.
Quinn was overwhelmed and a little embarrassed by the gravity of the gift.
But she was also touched, swept up in an emotional whirlwind, and she felt like she was going to cry with the weight of it.
Such a good friend .
When she walked back out into their living room, she found Liv exactly where she’d left her, still more nervous than anything, though it did appear she’d taken a moment to put the groceries away.
The way she was watching Quinn, though, with uncertainty and utter apprehension, melted away the remainder of Quinn’s discomfort .
“Thank you,” Quinn said softly. “I didn’t get much out of Jennifer, but she sounds ecstatic.”
Liv nodded, a small, tentative smile growing at the corners of her lips. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Quinn replied simply, and she leaned down to press her forehead to Liv’s, hoping that the tenderness she was feeling was explicitly clear in her expression. “You’re something else.”