Page 9 of The Dixon Rule

ME:

I’ll text you the address.

CHAPTER THREE

DIANA

Who taught you life?

“OH MY GOD, I’M GOING TO PEE MY PANTS. MOVE! MOVE, DIANA! GET out of my way!”

Gigi Graham barrels through my door and practically knocks me into the hall closet. We have dinner plans tonight, but instead of waiting for me in the driveway outside the Sycamore building like she was supposed to, she used her spare key to access the lobby and showed up at my door in a pee panic.

Her sandals slap the hardwood on her mad race to the bathroom. She’s in too much of a hurry to close the door, and seconds later I hear the faint tinkle hitting the porcelain.

“Where are your manners?” I call out.

“They left me after the third iced coffee. I made the mistake of chugging another one right before I left Boston to come get you.”

“Iced coffee, huh? Are you sure you’re not…you know…”

“What?”

“Pregnant, Gigi.”

There’s a loud strangled noise. “What! God no! Just because I got married doesn’t mean I’m ready for a kid. I drank too much in the car and didn’t feel like stopping. Trust me, you’d be the first person I called if I got pregnant. Because I’d be freaking the fuck out.”

The toilet flushes. I hear her washing her hands and then she returns to the kitchen, much more relaxed.

Her gaze drifts to my coffee table and stops there. “Did you get a cat?”

Thanks to the chaos of Shane moving in next door, I forgot about Lucy. She’s cowering under the table, her tail flicking in agitation. I texted Priya I’d bring her back when I left for dinner.

When Lucy sees me looking, she gives a whiny meow.

“Oh, you’re annoyed at me? Really? I get caught naked in front of my fuckboy neighbor because you decide to body-check me and I’m the bad guy?” I turn to Gigi, answering her question. “She’s my neighbor’s cat and she’s a demon. We need to drop her off downstairs on our way out.”

“Wait, were you talking about Shane?” Gigi bursts out laughing. “Shane saw you naked?”

“I fell when Lucy bolted and lost my towel just as Shane was coming up the stairs.” I growl. “I hate giving Lindley the upper hand. Seeing me naked is totally upper hand ammunition.” I raise my eyes upward in exasperation. “Why is this my life?”

“Why are you talking to the ceiling?”

“I’m not talking to the ceiling. I’m talking to the universe.”

“Why is the universe up there? It’s all around us.”

“Fine, I’m talking to the gods, then. All fifty of them.”

“You’re so fucking weird.” She steps away from the counter. “Okay, shall we head out?”

The click of her sandals on the kitchen tile is no louder than the drop of a pen to my ears, but to my neighbor Niall, our steps might as well have been an avalanche of pots and pans raining down from the ceiling.

“Keep it down!” I hear his muffled voice shout from below us.

“And I repeat, why is this my life?” I give the floor a quick stomp. “If you don’t like basic walking, Niall,” I shout, “then you’re really not going to like all the dancing I’m going to do tomorrow!”

“I take it Kenji’s coming over?” Gigi says in amusement.

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