Page 183 of As the Rain Falls
“Something more?” I let out a shaky breath, tilting my head back and closing my eyes. “Like what?”
“Like a crush?” she jokes, testing the waters. “Cassandra’s a pretty girl. Actually, she’s just your type. I wouldn’t put it above you to feel a little something, you know?”
I crack one eye open, unimpressed. “My type?”
“Troubled.” The brunette nudges me with her elbow, and I sigh. “What? You can see it in her eyes. It’s literally all over her face, too. She’s a problem.”
“That’s a load of bullshit.”
“Okay. Tell me what happened at the fundraiser, then.” Angelina waits for me to say something, anything at all, but I stay quiet. She hums knowingly. “Why isn’t she taking care of Pepé anymore when you’re not around? Why don’t you text her now and tell her to come hang out with us?”
“Because you two aren’t friends,” I point out the obvious.
Angelina tilts her head. “So, if I wasn’t here tonight, you’d have no problem calling her?”
“We haven’t been talking much lately.” I grimace. “I punched her brother.”
This seems to get Angelina’s attention.
She frowns, staring at me like she can’t believe what I just told her. “YoupunchedNathaniel Rivera?”
Her voice shows hints of her being thoroughly impressed.
“Why?”
“Because.” I run a hand down my face. “I got a new commission at the shop, and it was meant to be this jewelry box with engravings. But when I started working on it, I realized that the sketches our client sent looked a lot like Lucia’s drawings.”
Angelina’s face changes. She freezes a little, as if remembering something. The recognition fades from her gaze and turns into confusion.
“Nathaniel Rivera had one of Lucia’s sketches?”
I nod, unsure of what else to say.
“At first, I thought Lucia had given them to Cassandra.”
“Right.”
“But then I realized she didn’t even know about Well mentoring me.” I press my hands over my thighs, feeling uncomfortable. “When I confronted Nathaniel about it, he said, uh, he said some things I didn’t like to hear.”
“Oh.” Angelina sighs once. Then, more softly. “Oh.”
“What?”
“I just.” She pauses. “It’s probably nothing, but I did catch Lucia and Nathaniel talking to each other a couple of times, you know?”
I frown. “When?”
“At parties, mostly.” She wets her lips, thoughtful. “It wasn’t all that long ago, actually. Lucia really couldn’t stand his ass. He tried to talk to me, but she told him to leave.”
I sit up straighter. “He tried to talk to you?”
“Yeah, I was feeling upset about something stupid,” she sighs while saying. “I think Nathaniel was asking me why when she pulled me out of that conversation. I thought it was weird, but she promised it wasn’t anything important.”
“Nathaniel is eight years older than you. Why the fuck was he at your parties?”
“It was a college party.” Angelina blushes awkwardly. “Lucia knew a guy.”
“Ugh, you two are impossible.”
