“So you’ve made progress?” Theo asks.
“Getting there. I think my intentions are starting to be understood.”
“Good. Anything we can do to prevent the inevitable?”
A ripple of tension goes around the room. All of us—well, possibly not Calli, as everyone likes to keep her in some kind of protective bubble—know that war with the Italians is imminent.
Thankfully, the conversation turns to football, something I have less than zero interest in. The person beside me, however…
Finishing my food, I push my tray back and turn to Calli, one of my own hands dropping beneath the cover of the table.
“You ready for the holidays, baby C?” I ask, using the guys’ name for her instead of my own.
“Hell yes,” she says with a grin. “Weeks without having to see all you arseholes every day,” she quips.
“Ouch, baby,” Alex complains, clearly listening to every word we say. “I thought we had a good thing going on with our study dates.”
“You sure seem to enj-joy it.” She stutters as my little finger brushes her thigh, dragging her skirt up where no one can see.
“Oh, hell yeah I do,” he smirks.“We’re on again for tonight, right?”
Her breath catches when I get higher.
“Not tonight, playboy. It’s cheer.”
“Damn, Deimos. Even your buddy’s sister is turning you down now. That’s a new low, even for you,” Toby laughs, the last one of our group to appear.
“Tobes,” Theo announces, standing up to welcome him back after the hell he’s just lived through with Jodie.
With everyone’s attention on him, it allows me a little space to tease my girl some more.
“You look a little tired yourself, baby C,” I whisper. “Disrupted sleep?”
Her lips press into a thin line as she glowers at me.
“You need to stop.”
“Aw, but watching your cheeks turn pink is too much fun.”
A growl rips up her throat as my wandering fingers finally make it to the edge of her knickers.
She gasps, jumping back on the bench seat so violently that she almost tumbles off the back.
“Calli?” Stella questions, her brows pulled together at her friend's weird behaviour.
“S-sorry. I… uh… I thought I saw a spider.”
Calli’s face only glows brighter as all eyes turn on her.
“I-it wasn’t,” she confirms.
“Anyway,” Nico says, thankfully brushing his sister’s oddness under the carpet. “What’s the weekend plans? It’s the start of the holidays, someone must have a banging party on the cards for Friday night.”
Theo, Seb, and Toby all glance at each other suspiciously.
“What? What am I missing?” Nico sulks like a child, as if he’s being left out of something exciting.
“We’re going on a triple date Friday night.”