Chapter 6 #2
Anger rolls off of my new fake girlfriend as she sits beside me.
She hides it well behind a polite smile and a calm voice, but I’ve known her long enough to know her tells; studied her enough to know exactly what she’s feeling.
When she’s mad, she bounces her leg up and down continuously.
When she’s pissed, she’ll rub her hand up and down that same leg.
But when she’s furious like she is now, she’ll constantly change the way her hair is put back.
I guess since she works at the hospital, she’s so used to putting it back that she never really lets it fall wherever it pleases.
Even now, she’s gone from a ponytail that ends more than halfway down her back, to a messy bun atop her head, to a braid.
When my parents aren’t looking, she throws daggers in my direction.
I fidget in my seat, because while she never stays mad at my sister, I know for a fact that Oakleigh can hold a grudge like no one ever has before. I accidentally drank her coffee one time three years ago and still to this day it finds its way into way too many conversations.
“I still can’t believe it!” Mom cries, her smile threatening to stretch past her face. “I mean I just can’t believe it!”
“Me neither,” Wren pipes up, staring at the both of us skeptically.
I avoid looking at my sister. She knows me well enough to know when I’m lying.
“You need to tell us everything!” Mom squeals. “When did this start?”
“Eight months ago,” Oakleigh blurts out, surprising me. My head whips toward her but she ignores me. “We all went out in Eaglewood when Gus and Wren were still redoing the barn, and Finn drove me home. We kissed and things just kind of changed from there.”
Gus and Wren share a look, and I know that I’m in shit.
There are mixed feelings around the table—pure elation, confusion, skepticism. I feel as if I have the worst heartburn of my life. Lunch proceeds in a strange and awkward fashion, my mother making sure to ask as many questions as possible, none of which I know the answer to.
“So, what was your first date like?” she asks, the beef curry in front of her long forgotten.
“Mom, remember what we spoke about?” I chide.
“Oh, but Finn, please!”
“No! We agreed to not make a big deal out of this. That includes asking for specific details about the relationship.” Because I have absolutely no details.
“But—”
“Wanda,” my dad chides, draping an arm over her shoulders. “You promised. Let the two of them be together without all of us putting pressure on them.”
Thank God for my dad.
I mirror his pose, laying my arm across the back of Lee’s chair. I give the end of her braid a little tug, earning me a swift kick to my shin.
“Finn,” my sister smiles sweetly at me from across the table. “Can I please see you in the kitchen for a second? I just want to make sure that dessert is all ready to go.”
“And you need help with that?” I ask.
“Yep! You know me, clumsy Sue over here. Come with?”
She walks off to the kitchen without waiting for me to answer. Oakleigh sends me a look, and I move my arm from around her, giving her shoulder a squeeze before I get up and follow my sister.
The moment we’re in the kitchen, Wren whips around to face me, face set with an emotion that I can’t fully make out.
“Where the hell did this come from?” she asks.
“Wren, you know that I’ve been in love with that woman for an embarrassing amount of time.”
“Yeah, but I also know that you’ve been too scared to do anything about it, so why all of a sudden are you making out?”
Finally, a question I can answer.
I take a deep breath and lean against the countertop. “We were arguing about shit as we usually do, and she started telling me how I’ll forever be in the best-friend’s-brother zone.”
“What the hell is the best-friend’s-brother zone?” Wren questions.
“How the fuck should I know?” My sister huffs in frustration but lets me continue.
“Anyway, at some point things just started to sound a bit more … flirtatious? Next thing you know, I’m there telling her that if I wanted to get out of that zone then I could.
She essentially told me to prove it, without saying those exact words, and well … here we are.”
Wren watches me with confusion, and I begin to shuffle my feet. Mom’s laughter drifts in from the dining room and I turn toward it.
“So, what? You’ve just been dating in secret this whole time?”
In my panic, words seem to be biggest enemy, and so I simply shrug.
Wren steps closer to me and I find interest in my sneakers that have definitely seen better days. God, have they always looked this bad? I really should buy some new ones.
“Why are you acting so nervous?” she asks, watching me intently.
“Why wouldn’t I be? Look at you. I feel like I’m in a fucking interrogation room.”
“You are.”
Yay for me, I guess.
“Wrennie, I’m not doing this with you.”
I’m about to turn away, but she spins me back around.
“Yes, you are, Finley. That’s my best friend out there, not some random woman.”
My head tilts. “Wait, do you seriously think that I need the talk right now?”
She shrugs at me and her hand finds its way onto her hip.
I scoff and lean my head back, hoping to find where the hell this is coming from. “Wrennie, you have got to be kidding me. Have I ever even once given you a reason to think that any woman—especially Oakleigh—would ever be—I don’t even know the word that’s needed here … unsafe?”
Her expression softens and she busies herself with pulling dessert out of the fridge as she speaks. “No, Finley, you haven’t, but she’s my best friend and her only two family members left to go to the other side of the world. I’m just trying to protect her.”
“Still implying that she needs protecting from me.”
“Finn, I—”
“Just stop, Wren, please. You mean the best, I get that, but Oakleigh being your best friend doesn’t stop me being your brother that you’ve known your entire life, okay?”
I leave the kitchen before she can say anything else, my chest feeling tight and my head weighing heavy.