Page 60 of Rules in Love
Spiro nodded, then left to get his drinks and call his yia-yia.
“You don’t like cheese, Red? I’m sure I’ve seen it on your burgers, and pizzas, and sandwiches, and—”
“Yes. I eat a lot of cheese. I get it. I love cheese. It’s just…” Pausing, she held her hand over her mouth and looked between me and the cheese. “It’s just something Teddy said to me once. Never mind.” She dropped the fried rice ball and started nibbling on olive-oil-soaked Focaccia.
The cheese thing really piqued my interest. As did the sheen of olive oil highlighting her plump bottom lip, but it was clear she wanted to move on. So, I did.
“I had an interesting conversation with my sister tonight.” I winked, watching her chew and swallow. “Are you ready for me to dish, Bish?”
Scarlett pursed her lips and chuckled, “Ah, obviously, but first, you need to know you’re spending too much time with Teddy. You’re beginning to sound like him.”
“I know. It’s freaking me out, but he just gets under your skin!”
“Tell me about it. I spoke to him once—once—in class and haven’t spent a day without him since. Anyway, tell me what Evie said. Gawd, was it about me? About the brightness of my clothes? I’ve been getting a lot of negative feedback about that lately.”
“Relax, Red. Nothing was said about your clothing, which I love, by the way. But she did mention us.”
“Us,” Scarlett said with a smile. “That sounds…interesting.”
“Hmm, it was. Apparently, Jocelyn picked up on our chemistry, as she called it, the first time she saw us together. Evie said she had her suspicions too. What do you think about that?”
Tapping her chin with her index finger, Scarlett looked to the ceiling as though the answer was there and then replied, “I would say they were observant.”
“Evie also said if we ever got together, you’d have me whipped.”
“Ah, I see. Make that extremely observant. I knew I liked the look of your sister. Not only does she look younger than you, but she’s also wiser too. You should take any advice she offers from now on.” With a wriggle of her brows, Scarlett leaned over the table and gripped my hand. “Now, tell me what else she said about us.”
“I’d hate to disappoint you, but that was about it. We kind of moved onto a different topic then, and the less said about that, the better. Unless you want me to blow chunks all over the table.”
“I don’t want you to vomit, but I want to know what she said more. Tell me, and I will shield behind my napkin in case you do puke.” She held her cloth napkin over her face. “Go for it.”
Through my laughter, I relayed the whole story about Nate, about how he had fawned over Evie for years when we were kids. That he never did anything about it, even after I broke my promise not to get involved with his sister. And how they had been secretly communicating since we moved.
“Just because they’re talking doesn’t mean anything is going on. Maybe he does just miss Iris. And maybe he’s embarrassed to ring you all the time cause he’s a dumb guy. No offense.”
“None taken. We are pretty dumb. I dunno, though. I have a weird feeling about the whole thing. Nate has never been mates with a chick—not without trying to get in her pants.”
Spiro re-emerged with a beer for me and another margarita for Scar. The consumption of which soon had me forgetting all about Nate and Evie. Envy filled me as Scarlett took her straw between her lips, chewed it a little, sucked in the most beautiful manner I had ever seen, and then licked away the tiny drop that sat on her lip. She began to talk, and I did my best to pay attention while picturing my cock replacing the straw.
“Seems you and I are quite the point of discussion. I was going to tell you some gossip involving us too.”
“Blimey, I’m starting to understand how Taylor Swift must feel. People are as obsessed with our love lives as they are hers.”
“I know! And it’s as close to famous as I want to be. So, I was in the bathroom, innocently washing my hands, when none other than Victoria walked up behind me and just eyeballed me in the mirror.”
“What? What did she say?”
“Nothing. She just looked at me like this.” Scarlett held my gaze, knotted her brows, scowled, and pushed out her lips like a fish. It was so cute.
“Really? Shit, well, what did you say?”
“Okay, this is a long story. Try and stay awake. Right, so I stared back for a bit. I didn’t know what to say, then I noticed her hair looked nice, so I asked her where she got her hair done. She rolled her eyes and said,‘You couldn’t afford it.’Then she said,‘Have you and Finn got together yet? Because I overheard Gareth and Arthur talking about people bonking in the conference room. If you and Finn are together, maybe I could tell people it was you and not me and Jason.’”Scarlett made a shockedOwith her lovely mouth, then wrapped it around and sucked on her straw again. I lost all feeling below my eyes, and then she continued, “I said,‘No, sorry, we haven’t yet,’and then she said,‘Oh. Well, Jason and I are splitting from our spouses. Once it’s all done, we’re going public. We just wanted more time.’I felt sorry for her. I think she loves him.”
I nodded, trying to process what she was saying while being stuck on one word. “Yet?”
Scarlett dropped her straw and looked at me blankly. “Yet what?”
“You said Victoria asked if we had gotten together yet, then you said not yet. Not yet implies that you think we will.”
