Page 122 of F*ck It Out With A Devil

“Who is this?” She plays the bestie role better than anyone I’ve seen on tv with her arms folded over her chest in a territorial way, along with the scowl on her face. That is absolutely priceless.

“Would you stop that? You’re overreacting. This is Cressida, we teach together at the University. So go ahead and calm that raging storm down.”

“I most certainly will not. We had a visitor the other day, not that you would know since you act like this isn’t your home anymore.” She spits, rolling her eyes and adding her signature head roll.

“What? Who? When?”

“Slow down with all your questions, you’re making my head hurt. Ugh.” She groans.

“Are you really gonna make us stand out here all afternoon, or will you put your bruised ego aside for a spell?” I’m trying to defuse something before she makes it an even bigger pile of nothing. She better be lucky I like her, otherwise, I’d kick her ass to the curb and relieve her of her best friend duties.

“This isn’t over.” She says, stepping aside to let us in as she gives us both the evil eye when we pass her. Moving into the living room, she slams the door shut with a big ole bang and comes to stand in front of us. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your sudden arrival? It couldn’t possibly be because you’ve forgotten your best friend in the whole wide world, not to mention the only aunt that was there to wipe your tears when you needed it the most. Oh no, it couldn’t be that.” She claps her hands together in an ‘aha’ motion, like she’s found the greatest secret of life or something.

“I realize we haven’t hung out in quite some time, and… I, uh, I wonder if you’d like to grab some lunch with us for our break.” I don’t know why all of a sudden I’m nervous. This is Gaia for cripes sake, she’s not really mad at me. This is just her way of acting out so I’ll grovel at her feet and beg for her forgiveness.

“Isn’t that thoughtful of you.” She sneers.

“G, please.” I beg. Since she doesn’t want to talk about lunch, I try something else. “Tell me about the visitor.” I ask as she eyes Cressida suspiciously before she takes a seat in one of the chairs.

“It was an older man that came knocking at the door. Of course, Aunt Josie answered and let him and the younger guy in. I swear that woman is too fucking nice and is either gonna get beat up or killed for letting strangers in here.” She huffs, but continues. “I heard their hushed tones at first, prompting me to walk down the stairs unnoticed but definitely within earshot.”

“Good thing you’re nosey as hell, otherwise we wouldn’t know what all was said.” I snicker.

“Keep it up, bitch, and I won’t tell you.”

“Sorry, carry on.”

“Rude-ass, little whore-bag. Any damn way. The older man had that silver fox vibe going on, while the other just looked like a preppy guy. He gave me the creeps while the silver fox was actually pleasant and spoke to Aunt Josie with compassion and no attitude at all. When the young buck started talking strongly to her, I ran down those stairs faster than I did when I was about to get my ass beat for talking back to my momma and shut that shit down.”

“Oh, really?”

“You bet your sweet ass, because I was about to beat his stuck up ass to a fucking pulp. Nobody disrespects Aunt Josie like that. He better be lucky Aunt Josie and that other man were here, because whew, chile. The last time I got in a fight, none of those bitches came out untouched. Oh yeah, except me.” She laughs at her own joke.

“Okay, now that we have that little tidbit of information, care to explain what they wanted, and why they were here?” I ask when she finally stops laughing.

“Don’t rush me, I’m getting there. So, they asked if we knew where you were and wanted to know how well you knew Bash. Hmph, if you ask me, you don’t fucking know him, but that’s none of my business.” She cackles, crossing her arms over her chest once again.

“Okay, Gaia, I understand you’re mad at me, okay? I get it, but for the life of me, can you please stop acting like a grade-A bitch and finish your damn story?” I can see I struck a nerve, because she gets up from her seat, comes to stand in front of me, then bends down to my level and tells me exactly what’s on her mind.

“I know you may be stressed about it and all, but don’t forget, I was the one you left for weeks without a single thought or even a word. You’ve been living your best life since you moved out of here, and I never get to see you, but you know what? You don’t need me, right? You have your new bestie over there to stand in the gap. I think we are done here.” She says, walking to the door. “If you have any other questions, call Aunt Josie or come by when she’s home.” She opens the door and waits for us to leave.

“G, please.” I whisper.

“Have a great rest of your day, ladies.” She practically pushes us out of the door and slams it once again.

“Wow, she’s rather rude.” Cressida says in a high-pitched tone that is annoying all of a sudden.

“You don’t know her. She’s not rude, something has her on edge, and I need to figure out what and why.” Stomping to my SUV because I’m pissed at the whole situation. I have to stop for a minute and gather my thoughts.

It’s not Cressida’s fault Gaia is acting like that, it’s mine. I’m the one that ghosted her because I’ve been so wrapped up in all things Wyck, that I haven’t been making time for her, and that really sucks.

“I didn’t mean any harm by saying that, I just- I feel it could have been handled better on all our parts.” She lets out a sigh. “I’m screwing this up completely. What I’m trying to say is, why don’t you take me back to school, I’ll set up someone to take over your next classes, and you go mend things with your friend. How does that sound?” I couldn’t hate her even if I tried.

“Thank you, Cressida, that would be so awesome. Although, it will take more than just today to get back on Gaia’s good side.” I call out before we get into my SUV and head back to school.

A short while later, I’m pulling back into the driveway where I left G. Hopefully, she has had some time to cool down. I mean, she isn’t wrong and has every right to be upset. But we need to set that aside just for a moment and figure out who those guys were.

Rather than knock, I use my key and let myself in.

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