Page 73 of Searching for Sadie
"But for real, what do you want?"
"I'm good with any toppings, but can we get cheesy breadsticks?"
"Okay," he said as he ordered pizza. "I got a pepperoni, a supreme, and a buffalo chicken pizza, and some breadsticks. Oh, and some garlic cheesy bread."
She sat up and looked at him grinning. "Are like eight more people coming over?" she chuckled.
"Hey, you're the one who wouldn't tell me what you wanted. I need to make sure all my bases are covered."
"I thought we already covered all the bases," she said with a smirk. And with that he relaxed a bit more. She was going to be okay.
"All the bases," he confirmed and bent his head to kiss her.
They went back to paying attention to the show, but he had to ask, "How are you doing?"
"Shitty... but better."
"That guy is a blind douchebag. You know that right?"
"I know..."
She nodded as her expression dimmed. He would let it go, but he just had to let her know he didn't think that way. He cupped her chin and held her gaze. "I think you're incredible. Inside and out... don't let some finance bro make you feel bad."
"He's in marketing."
"And I could still kick his ass," he said in his deep voice.
"I know you could," she said with a smile that scrunched her nose in the cutest way possible. "And I'm not upset that he found me unattractive. I mean it sucks that he was an asshole, but I could have moved on from it. It’s just now it's playing out in front of millions of viewers, and I think that's that part that is the most upsetting. Talking to Liam helped though."
"Good, I'm glad," he said as she snuggled back into him, and they got back to the show.
It would appear they were watching some home and garden shows. He could get behind that, he'd renovated his house almost completely since he moved in. Working in construction gave him a little behind the scenes in these shows, so he was able to see when it was more Hollywood than reality, but they were still fun, nonetheless.
"Getting ideas for you house?" he asked.
Sadie just shrugged. "I don't know. I haven’t gotten around to it yet."
"I noticed you hadn't changed much... I just thought an overabundance of flowers was your aesthetic."
"Very funny," she said, raising an eyebrow at his snark. He couldn't seem to stop himself when he was around her, giving her shit was becoming one of his favorite things. "It just feels wrong to change anything."
"Is that why you’re sleeping in one of the smaller rooms?"
Sadie raised her head peering up at him with her plump lip trapped between her teeth and nodded. "It's weird. I just kind of feel like I'm a visitor, even though technically it's my house."
Her gaze left his and fell to the blanket covering them, her fingers traced over the soft gray fabric as she continued. "When I came here, I didn't know what I was doing, just that I was doing it far away from Nashville. I didn't plan on staying here. I didn't really have any plans."
Lucas furrowed his brow as he pulled her closer. The idea that she was only here temporarily settled like a bolder in his stomach. He didn’t want her to leave. Ever.
"But the more time I spend here, the more I think maybe I could actually stay here. I mean, Liam James just asked me over to hear some songs I've been working on. Nothing that amazing to my career has ever happened in Nashville and I was there for years. Plus, I've made friends with the girls, and you."
The way his heart nearly soared right out of his chest at the mention of him was laughable. He really did have it bad. "Me, huh?" he said with a wag of his eyebrows.
"Don't make it weird, but yes, Lucas, I like you if you haven't figured it out yet."
She liked him. He fought the urge to pump his fist into the air and whoop with joy, because that would definitely be weird, but the urge was for sure there.
After a moment she turned her head over so slightly as looked at him out of the corner of her eye before scrunching up her brow and turning back to the tv. Even though she was so fucking cute with her brow scrunched like that, he didn't want her to doubt how he felt for a second.
