Page 54 of Severed Rivalry
“You should do that.” To me he adds, “This adulting shit is weird.”
Ayla pipes in, “Honey, will you order a pizza to be delivered and maybe some cookies. Liam, ask her what she likes on her pizza.”
“Renée, Ayla says we’re ordering pizza. What do you like? Pepperoni? Don’t say ham and pineapple? Pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza. Meat belongs on pizza.”
“She’s a vegetarian,” I offer.
“You’re a vegetarian?” he queries loudly, as if the thought is unfathomable.
“Meat is murder.”
“Oh, Lord. So cheese or veggie?”
“Cheese.”
“And your favorite cookie flavor?” His voice drops, “If she says oatmeal raisin, I’m out. Seriously. Raisins, but no meat. No way.”
“Oatmeal with extra raisins,” she shouts through the door before a giggle bursts through on its heels. “Kidding. M&M or S’more’s.”
“Ayla,” the man next to me starts. “Did you catch all that?”
“I like her already,” my sister offers.
“On it.” I flip to DoorDash and find Crumbl Cookies. Insomnia’s are better, but Crumbl is closer so they’ll still be warm when they arrive. I grab an assortment and hit go before realizing my brother-in-law has done the same with the pizzas.
“Liam, meat lovers coming your way. Ayla has pepperoni and black olive.”
“Thanks, Honey.”
“And cheese incoming for the lady who has left Liam outside for nearly twenty minutes.”
“I’m not easily thwarted,” my brother replies.
“I’ll remember that,” my sister adds.
“Are you guys always like this?” the voice through the door on Liam’s phone asks.
“No,” comes from me and Liam. At the same time Ayla and Christian say, “Yes.”
“Weird.”
“Hey, Renée, do you have your phone with you?”
“Silly question to ask a girl, Li,” Ayla says.
“Yeah.”
“If you give Cian your number, he can send you a pic of Ayla. And of the three of us. Just so you know you’re safe. I’ll sit out here all night, I’m good with it, but would that make you feel better?”
“I’m not that foolish. If Cian wants to send me something, he can do it through this gaming app. That way I’m not sharing my number with four strangers.”
“Smart girl,” I say before I can think better of it. “What’s the app?”
She tells me, and I download it, giving access to all kinds of personal data when I do. “You just asked me to share my number with a million strangers, Firecracker. My username is cianmurphyco. When you friend me, I’ll send you pics.”
Yeah, that sounded better in my head than when I verbalized it.
I get a friend request from ISayNay720 with a cartoon avatar. “Are you IsayNay720?”
