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I had forgotten all about Sophie and Jack until we stepped out of the bedroom after our shower together. They were sitting in the living room, engrossed in a serious conversation, it seemed like.
It suddenly occurred to me that they definitely heard everything from this morning, and my body stiffened as I felt my cheeks begin to heat up. But when they looked up at us and smiled, it wasn’t filled with tease. It was just polite smiles, but I wondered if they were just pretending out of curtesy.
Oh god.
As my thoughts began to spiral, Nicole spoke. “Oh, hey. How was picking up Dan?”
Right. They were probably out the entire time. At least, I hoped they were.
We settled down on the couch across from them.
“Relatively easy,” Sophie answered. “He has to come back for a checkup in a couple weeks, but the doctors are confident letting him go home.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so excited,” Jack added amusingly. “He was practically skipping out of the hospital.”
Sophie rolled her eyes and then shifted her attention to us. “Did you both sleep well?”
I stared at them, not knowing how to answer. It was a very simple question, but my mind was still stuck on the mind-blowing sex from this morning. Sophie didn’t look like she knew anything had happened though.
“We slept very well,” Nicole answered casually.
Sophie nodded and glanced over at Jack. Then, very slowly, I saw it. There was just the slightest upturn on Jack’s lips, and then Sophie was biting down on her lip too.
“Oh my god,” the words spilled from my lips. Groaning, I dropped my face into my hands. “They heard everything.”
Jack was the first to laugh, and then Sophie’s followed immediately after.
From beside me, I heard Nicole let out a breath. “Alright, that’s enough.”
“Okay, not everything,” Sophie tried to reassure us. I kept my face in my hands, refusing to meet their gazes. “We just heard a little when we came back and then immediately took Riley to the park.”
Jack laughed even harder. “I’m pretty sure Riley’s traumatized!”
Hearing his name, Riley trotted into the living room, glancing around at us. Then he sat down and stared at Jack, who was still cracking up at our expense.
“You’re such an ass,” Nicole said lightly. I felt her rub my back soothingly and despite my embarrassment, I leaned into her touch.
“Stop teasing them!” Sophie scolded her husband playfully.
Dropping my hands from my face, I finally dared to look at them. Jack had his lips pressed firmly together even though it looked like it pained him to hold in his laugh.
Sophie gave me an apologetic look. “Sorry about him. Men. They can be so immature sometimes.”
My face was still hot, but I felt a little bit better.
Jack pecked her cheek lovingly. “You’re in love with this man, though.”
She sighed dramatically. “Unfortunately.”
Nicole’s body vibrated with a small laugh, and I leaned against her. She draped her arms over my shoulders, and her fingers subconsciously traced circles on my arm.
“So how long will you guys be able to stay?” Sophie asked. “Jack and I wanted to take you both to Rudy’s tonight for dinner.”
Nicole pulled away slightly to meet my gaze, a question in her eyes.
I shrugged. “I don’t have my first final until Tuesday. I’m okay with staying.”
Truthfully, I liked being here with Nicole, and I liked how happy she was around Sophie and Jack. Plus, they were great company even though I was still embarrassed from the “little bit” they had heard this morning.
“Great!” Jack clapped his hand together as he stood up. “I’ll go book us a table.”
Sophie gave him a gentle smile. “Thanks, honey.”
He shot her a wink before leaving the room to make the call.
“It’s hard to believe that you guys hated each other before,” I said suddenly. The thought had been pressing on my mind ever since last night, and seeing how they were with each other now, I wondered how it happened.
Fortunately, Sophie was not offended, and she released a soft laugh that filled me with relief.
“They were always at each other’s throats in high school,” Nicole said amusingly. “And they didn’t even run in the same social circle.”
“He was so annoying though!” Sophie exclaimed. “You remember when he and Wilson spray painted the field that one night before the homecoming game?”
Nicole bursted out laughing. “Oh yeah! They canceled the dance to punish the whole school too because no one knew who did it.”
Noticing my confused expression, Sophie turned me to explain. “Jack and Wilson broke into the school one night while they were drunk and spray painted a penis on our football field.”
My eyes widened. “Oh my god.”
“It was the biggest penis too,” Nicole added.
“And no one ever found out. Jack told me years later when we started dating,” Sophie sighed. “You know, sometimes I wonder how I fell in love with him.”
“I think you two always had a thing for each other, even in high school,” Nicole said.
“No we did not!”
“They do say people often disguise love with hate,” I chimed in, and Sophie turned her glare to me.
“Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy,” Nicole mused.
“Ooh, Cathy and Heathcliff,” I said, and Nicole grinned.
“Oh, fuck off!” Sophie scowled. “It was not like that at all. I hated him, and he hated me.”
Nicole raised a brow. “And you think that hate just evaporated after high school, and you two suddenly fell in love just like that?” She shook her head. “No, it had to come from somewhere.”
Sophie’s cheeks flushed pink. “Well, he was more mature when I met him again. And muscular too.”
“Who’s this muscular he we’re talking about?” Jack asked teasingly as he reentered the room and settled back down next to his wife. “Dinner’s set for seven thirty, by the way.”
“Jack, what did you think of me in high school?” Sophie asked him.
He gazed at her lovingly. “Well, I thought you were the most beautiful girl in the school.”
She smacked his shoulder, blushing harder, and he laughed. “Okay, but seriously. I’m trying to settle something here.”
“Seriously,” he said, glancing over at me and Nicole before turning back to his wife as his voice grew serious. “Nancy broke up with me because she thought I liked you, which I denied at the time, but I think she might have been right.”
Nicole’s smile widened. I glanced down at her fingers, which were still tracing small patterns on my arm. I felt the overwhelming urge to kiss them, so I brought her fingers up to my lips and kissed it quickly. Her gaze fell to me and flickered to my lips as her eyes darkened. I bit down on my lip and returned my attention to Sophie and Jack, but her gaze still burned into me.
“Is that why she was always glaring at me?” Sophie gasped. “I always thought it was because she just hated me because you hated me.”
“I could never hate you, babe.”
Sophie’s eyes softened. “Jack…”
His hand trailed down to grasp hers.
Without looking at us, Sophie said, “You two might wanna leave.”
With that, Nicole pulled me off the couch and just as I began to miss her arm around me, she slung it back on my shoulders and guided us towards the front door.
“Have fun you two!” she shouted back into the house.
Sophie’s giggles followed right after, and we exited the house.
“So…what now?” I asked Nicole as we stood on the doorstep.
“Breakfast?” She peered down at me with a smile. “There’s a nice mom and pop a few minutes from here.”
“That sounds amazing.” I was actually famished after this morning.
Leaning down, Nicole kissed me tenderly. “Perfect.”
——–
After breakfast, Nicole and I decided to go to a coffee shop to do some finals work just in case Sophie and Jack weren’t quite done.
Nicole sat across from me, biting down on the end of her pen as she read through a paper. Meanwhile, I was trying to focus on my notes for my government class, but my eyes kept getting drawn to her. She marked something down on the paper, her brows furrowing in concentration and her jaw clenching just enough for me to see it protrude slightly. My gaze trailed down to her neck, and I imagined kissing the skin beneath her ear and her gasping my–
“Do I have something interesting on my face?” she suddenly asked without looking up. I snapped back into reality as her lips pulled into a smirk, and then she finally looked up, her steely blue eyes filled with amusement.
I suddenly felt like the luckiest woman in the world to be able to see the warmth and playfulness in her eyes.
She waved a hand in front of my face. “Earth to Lily?”
I dropped my pen onto the table and leaned back with a sigh. “I really love you.”
Nicole grinned and leaned back as well, crossing her arms. “I love you too.”
“It just feels so surreal sometimes.”
“What does?”
I shrugged. “Us being together. You loving me. Waking up next to you.” Then my lips formed a small smile. “The sex.”
She laughed softly but leaned forward to take my hands in hers. Her fingers threaded through mine, and she brought my hand up to her lips to kiss my knuckles. Warmth spread through me.
“I’m glad that I get to do all those things with you,” she murmured against my fingers. “And I’m glad that I stopped pushing you away and that you haven’t run away from me after everything.”
Teasingly, I tried to pulled my fingers away. “Hm, I don’t know. That barista over there was giving me some flirty looks.”
Nicole tightened her grip on me as the smirk returned to her face. “Over my dead body. I’m not letting go of you so easily this time.”
I grinned. “Good. Because I will be the one to kill you if you try to push me away again.”
She laughed. “You have my permission.”
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
“Lets make a promise to talk things through with each other,” I suggested. “If we start to doubt our relationship, then we’ll talk about it with each other instead of trying to run away.”
Nicole kissed my fingers again, her eyes twinkling with sincerity. “I solemnly promise to not run away and to talk to you when things get tough.”
I gave a firm nod of satisfaction. “I solemnly promise the same.”
With that promise, I felt our relationship and love for each other strengthen. For the first time, I could imagine her in my future.
——–
Rudy’s was a quaint restaurant that had a small menu of southern comfort food. The space inside wasn’t roomy, but it was intimate with low lighting and woodsy furniture.
The place was already packed when we arrived for our seven thirty reservation. Sophie and Jack were already at the restaurant. When we arrived back at the house to get ready, they were already gone. At the table, they had their faces leaned in close to each other, talking and laughing together while holding hands. God, they were the perfect couple.
I was relieved to find them in casual clothes. Nicole had settled on loose jeans and a plain, white tee. I only had a couple of outfits back at Nicole’s apartment that I was able to pack, and the rest were casual outfits I had borrowed from her. Luckily, I had packed a black mini skirt and paired that with a quarter-buttoned knitted sweater for tonight.
“You guys made it!” Sophie exclaimed happily. There was a glow to her face, non-surprisingly.
“Yeah, it’s been a while. I forgot how small their parking lot is,” Nicole said as we settled down in the seats across from them.
Jack poured us each a glass from the bottle of cabernet sauvignon they had ordered. I had drank wine before, but it was always with the purpose of getting drunk. Now, I took a small sip before setting it down to pick up the menu.
“What do you guys recommend?” I asked as my eyes scanned over the limited options.
“Personally, I’m a steak guy, and their ribeye is killer with the mashed potatoes,” Jack answered.
“Lily doesn’t like steak,” Nicole said as she set her menu down and casually draped her arm around my shoulder.
“What!” Jack exclaimed, and I pulled my focus away from Nicole to look at him. “Who doesn’t like steak?”
I smiled sheepishly. “I had a bad experience once when I was younger, and I’ve been scared to try it again since then.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Nicole bite down on a grin, and I angled towards her slightly to shoot her a warning glare.
Sophie immediately noticed it and leaned forward with an intrigued smile. “Now this I gotta hear.”
I made a promise to tell them the story after I decided on what to get in the hopes that they would forget.
That did not happen.
I had settled on the bourbon salmon, which was Sophie’s recommendation, with the mashed potatoes and an additional side of asparagus. After we gave our orders to the waitress, Sophie immediately brought up the subject again, and reluctantly, I launched into the very short story of how I grew to dislike steak.
It sounded silly now that I was telling them, and by the end of it, Jack’s face was red from trying to hold in his laughter while Sophie’s lips were pursed as she tried to do the same.
“It sounds a little weird now,” I muttered as I felt my face flushed red.
“No, no.” Sophie shook her head and attempted a sympathetic smile. “Not at all.”
“Well, I think it’s a valid reason,” Nicole defended.
“Your parents seem like the charmers,” Jack snickered. “Giving medium rare steak to a five year old. Really?”
“Jack, stop it.” Sophie smacked his shoulder, which barely did anything to him.
I breathed out a laugh. “It’s okay. Really. I don’t think my parents were ever ready to have a kid, but they tried. I think.”
And I meant it. I was accustomed to my parents’ passiveness and absence. There were still fond memories with them in my childhood, and I knew that my parents loved me. They just showed that love through money and gifts rather than affection.
“I’m gonna go to the restroom,” Nicole murmured into my ear, and smiling, I nodded. She pressed a comforting kiss to my temple before leaving the table.
I turned back to Jack and Sophie, who was now rubbing her pregnant belly as her expression grew serious.
Noticing the switch in her mood, Jack placed a hand over hers and looked at me with a sincere smile, all the jokiness gone. “In all seriousness, Lily, I think you turned out pretty well. Anyone who’s able to make Nicole smile like that all the time is a winner in my books.”
I blushed. “I think being back here with you guys have been helping her a lot.”
“No, it’s not us,” Sophie said with a smile now. “The last time Nicole came to town, she was still in a rough spot, and nothing Jack and I did was able to help her. Recently, though, she’s been smiling more and acting like her old self again, and I’m pretty sure it’s you, Lily, who has helped her.”
Then Sophie leaned forward and took my hand in hers, surprising me. “I have to say. I wasn’t the biggest fan of your relationship in the beginning, but now I’m just really glad she met you.”
Her eyes grew glassy with tears, and I immediately grabbed some napkins and handed it to her. Jack rubbed her back soothingly as she pulled away from me to wipe her eyes.
I rubbed my neck awkwardly. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say.”
It only just started to feel like my relationship with Nicole was going somewhere serious and stable, so I wasn’t completely sure if I had anything to do with her changes. Sophie and Jack were convinced, though, and I doubted anything I said would change that.
Sophie shook her head with a smile. “Just as long as you’re both happy together, then that’s all that matters.”
Jack leaned forward with a serious expression and rapt his knuckles on the table. “And if she hurts you, then you come to us, and we’ll set her straight.”
Sophie nodded in agreement while my eyes widened. I had never seen him so threatening before.
“I don’t think it will come to that,” I said cautiously. “She and I promised to talk through our problems if there are any in the future.”
He grinned, and it was like that side of him never existed. “Nicole talking through her problems? Shit, hun, I think the world’s about to end.”
Sophie laughed. “Speak of the devil.”
A moment later, Nicole slid back into her seat, a troubled expression on her face. My stomach fell, and the mood at the table shifted.
“What happened?” Sophie immediately asked.
Nicole glanced around at all of us, her brows furrowed, before her gaze settled on me. “Dan invited Lily and I over for lunch tomorrow.”
“What?” Sophie exclaimed.
All I could do was stare at Nicole as I tried to gauge her feelings, and as she stared back at me, I imagined she was doing the same. At the same time, relief filled me because it had not been something worse, though I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting. Seeing her like that, I wasn’t sure why panic had been my first reaction at all.
Breakfast with Dan? That was manageable. Even the thought of Evelyn being there didn’t deter me.
So what wouldn’t have been manageable?
Before I could ruminate more on the matter, Sophie spoke again. “So what did you say?”
Reluctantly, Nicole peeled her eyes away from mine to look at her, and I did the same. “I told him I would talk to Lily and get back to him.”
She turned back to me, and before she could ask, I immediately nodded. “I’m fine with it as long as you feel comfortable going.”
Hesitance flickered through her eyes, and she glanced over at Sophie and Jack, who were looking at her expectantly. Under the table, I grasped her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She smiled just slightly and then sighed.
“I’ll go,” she finally said. “I’ll call and let him know after dinner.”
Sophie leaned back against her chair and released a sigh of disbelief. “I wonder if my mom knows.”
“I doubt he would reach out if she didn’t know,” Jack said with a wince.
Nicole grimaced.
Sophie steadied her gaze on Nicole. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Then she looked at me too. “Both of you, actually. You’ve met my mom. You know what she’s like. If she’s there, it’s not gonna be easy.”
Nicole still looked unsure. I gave her hand another squeeze, and she turned to look at me. “Whatever you decide, I’ll be there with you all the way.”
She looked down at our laced fingers and then smiled. Now, there was a surety in her expression as she nodded. “We’ll go tomorrow.”
Soon enough, the food came out, and the mood shifted back to the lightheartedness from before. There were some moments throughout the dinner where I caught Nicole worrying at her lip in thought, so I knew she was still thinking about tomorrow’s lunch. Yet, despite it all, I had a strong feeling that we would be okay because she was still here, and she wasn’t shutting us out.
———-
I ended up driving us back to the house since Nicole had a couple more glasses of wine while I only had the one. She was sitting in the passenger seat, her head leaning against the window as she slept. The roads in Macon were bumpy, and I drove carefully to avoid waking her up.
Jack’s car was already back at the house when we arrived. Nicole still had not woken up after I parked, and even though I didn’t want to disrupt her sleep, I shook her shoulder gently.
Nicole’s eyes fluttered open as she took in her surroundings. “We’re back?”
I brushed the hair back from her face. “Yeah, babe.”
Yawning, she angled her body towards me, pressing her cheek against the seat as she smiled sleepily. “What if we just stay in the car tonight?”
A laugh bursted through my lips, and she chuckled along. “That would be very uncomfortable, don’t you think?”
“Anywhere with you is comfortable for me.”
Warmth filled my cheeks. She always knew what to say to make me feel things and fall even deeper for her.
Nicole was beginning to doze off again, and this time, I didn’t wake her. I just watched quietly as her face relaxed, smoothing out worried lines.
Eventually, my eyes grew heavy, and I fell asleep, listening to her quiet breaths.
ero
