Page 10 of The Loathing

“Ahem,” Connie crosses her arms across her chest, “So you can fondle my best friend, but my boyfriend can’t put his arm around me? How is that fair Killian?” her thick brows raise high in her head, her dark brown eyes burning into Killian and Kaleb sits looking at his menu with a boyish grin on his face.

“It’s dad to you.”

“It’s Killian when you’re being a douche.”

“A douche?” Killian snorts, his head snapping up.

I roll my head back, groaning loudly.

“Seriously!” I slam my hand down on the table, “Please, I am hungover, extremely hangry… I just want some food,” my voice stammers as I put on a forced cry as I finish my sentence. “If I wanted to watch a daughter and dad bicker, I would just stay home.”

“Touché” Kaleb nods as his eyes continue to scan the menu as the rest of the table falls silent.

“Hi, welcome to Sarabeth’s, what can I get ya’ll?” the waitress pings her eyes to me, her chest rising and falling a little heavier as I watch the crimson dance across her cheeks.

“I’ll have the sirloin burger and a Bloody Mary,” I hand her the menu, “Actually, make that two Bloody Marys.” I sit back, pulling my phone out and checking my messages. Nothing from Xavier but it had only been a day.

Everyone else orders the lobster rolls and cocktails. I am so hungry I could eat my own arm.

“I can’t believe you’re married,” Connie gushes at her best friend, reaching over for her hand and smiling at her wedding rings.

“I know, it feels like we’ve been waiting a lifetime,” she sighs happily, turning to face Killian she places her hand on his cheek and he leans into it.

“Should have just stayed married the first time.”

“What?” Connie’s eyes widen and she chokes on her water, spluttering it out over the table. I scrunch my nose, turning it up as I reach for a table napkin and hand it to her.

“You were married?!” her eyes bug even more as she begins wiping her mouth and I smirk, shuffling back in my seat and turning my body as I am about to watch this unfold.

“Did we not tell her?” Reese gets flustered, running her hand up round the back of her neck, her finger twiddling with the thin gold chain that sits round her neck.

“Obviously not,” Killian breathes out under his breath, pulling at his loose crew neck sweater and readjusting himself in the seat.

“You were married!?” she asks again, her eyes pinned on her dad and I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, my smile growing.

“Yeah,” Reese nods, her hand now clasped over her other one, her fingers spinning her wedding band and engagement ring round her finger.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Connie is fuming, her cheeks are red, her eyes are glued to her dad and I can see the rage seeping out of her.

“We did tell you, I am sure of it,” Killian leans forward, reaching for her hand but Connie slips it off the table before he even has a chance.

“I think I would remember, you know, like when I found out Reese was pregnant with your baby but I only found out the baby was yours because you burst through the door like a mad man telling her you wouldn’t be cut out of your baby’s life,” and I’m sure Connie’s flustered voice was growing higher and higher as the seconds went on.

“Shit, Connie, I was sure we told you…” Reese reaches for her hand this time but Connie doesn’t let her near her either.

“Well you didn’t,” she sits back in her seat, crossing her arms back across her chest and my eyes are volleying round the table.

Silence falls suddenly and I can feel the tension brewing. Shit. We don’t need this. Connie has only just got them back in her life, things were going so well for her.

Kaleb looks at me for some words of wisdom but all I do is shrug my shoulders up slightly.

He presses his fingers across his lips as the waitress comes back with everyone’s drinks. She passes me my two first, I mean, of course she does. I smirk at her, taking them and begin drinking as she dishes out the rest of the drinks to the hostile table.

She turns away, and scampers off.

“Look…” I say softly, my eyes scanning the four of them as I take a sip of my Bloody Mary. “Fuck, that hits the spot,” I groan in appreciation, then pull out the celery and take a bite, causing a loud crunch to fill the awkward silence. “You have just got everything sorted, are you really going to let this little misunderstanding, or more so, miscommunication really set you back? I mean… so what if you didn’t know that they were married. Is it really going to change anything? They’re married, what happened between you all before is nothing but a distant memory. Don’t push them away again, come on Connie… after everything.”

She blinks a few times, drinking her mimosa. I wait on bated breath but she doesn’t speak yet, it’s as if she is trying to process everything. I reach my hand across and cover hers. “You’ve been through a lot; this…” I move my index finger between her and Killian, “it’s a lot to digest, but it’s just a small blip. Keep it as a blip,” I give her a small smile, her eyes meet mine as she smiles back at me and I sit back, happy as a pig in shit that the little conflict was rectified quickly.

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