Eyes widening, Claudia slapped a hand to her cheek. “I told Tony a sticker book was a bad idea.” Scowling, she peeled the sticker from her skin and wadded it up. “Sorry I’m such a mess.”
“You’re not a mess. You’re a mom.” Did Austin want kids? What would their kids be like? Goofy and fun-loving like him? Or more serious, like her? Would they have his eyes?
“Ah, Earth to Kit.” Giggling like a teenager, Claudia snapped her fingers in front of Kit’s face.
“My turn to apologize. I was daydreaming.”
“Oh, was it a sexy daydream?” With a heavy sigh, Claudia propped her chin on her hand. “I miss sexy daydreams.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. I was actually thinking about having kids. With Austin.”
“Oh! You two would make the prettiest babies! You’re so gorgeous and he’s got those dreamy eyes.”
A familiar unease settled in her chest and Kit shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I’m not gorgeous, but thank you.”
Claudia’s mouth dipped down into a frown. “What are you talking about? You’re stunning.”
“Seriously, you don’t have to say things like that just because we’re friends.”
“Is this because of what those mean girls said at the game?”
“It’s because I own a mirror,” Kit snapped.
“Well, maybe you need to get your eyes checked, then.”
“Look, I don’t need pity compliments from the prom queen, so can we just drop it?”
“Pity compliments? Wait, are we fighting?” The look Claudia sent her was so full of bewildered hurt, Kit instantly felt like a complete asshole.
“Sort of. I guess I’m fighting. I just… I know I’m not the kind of woman a guy like Austin normally goes for. You don’t have to pretend I am.”
“Please. I’d kill for some curves. You have any idea how hard it is to be the skinny girl with no tits in high school? That’s probably why it took Tony so damn long to really see me as a girl. Up until our Junior year, I could have walked around topless and nobody would have noticed I wasn’t a boy.”
“Curves are different than this.” Kit waved a hand up and down her torso.
“Whatever. You’re drop-dead gorgeous. And Austin isn’t blind. It’s not like you’ve tricked him into being attracted to you. So what if you’ve got some extra cushion for the pushin’ as the saying goes.”
“He told me he loves me.” The confession seemed to just jump out of her mouth. She hadn’t meant to tell anyone, not just yet, but suddenly she couldn’t hold it back.
“I told you!” A triumphant grin lit her face and Claudia wiggled her butt against her seat. “I told you that man was crazy about you. How did he tell you? Wait, let me go grab a coffee and something sweet and then you’re going to tell me the whole story.”
She returned to the table with a large mug and a slice of cake nearly as big as her head. “You’re going to have to help me eat this. Otherwise I’ll gorge myself and get sick and Tony will have my ass.”
“Tony doesn’t like you eating sweets?”
Pink colored her friend’s cheeks. “It’s not that. I don’t eat them often but when I do, I have a tendency to go overboard. Tony gets all overprotective if I so much as stub my toe. But this isn’t about me, tell me about Austin. How did he tell you? Was it super romantic?”
Picking up a fork, Kit cut herself a bite of cake. “I was getting him coffee, the morning after he got hurt, and he laughed at something I said and then he was all ‘God, I love you’.”
“He just blurted it out like that? Over coffee?”
“Yup.”
“That’s so sweet.” Claudia’s eyes went soft and dreamy. “Like he just couldn’t wait another moment to tell you. Did you say it back?”
“Eventually.”
“Wait, you didn’t say it back?” The dreamy look vanished, quickly replaced by wide-eyed horror. “Why not?”