“Well, yeah.” She shook her head. “But still, it had been so long.”
“Shit happens.” I shrugged.
“What’s wrong with you?” Mom asked, dropping her bags on the bar top. “You’re in a pissy mood.”
“Was just looking forward to some time to myself,” I grumbled, setting down the cake.
“Well, you came to the wrong place,” she joked. “Maybe it’s time for you to get an actual apartment, huh?”
“Maybe.”
Chapter 8
Lily
“I told her I didn’t want a fucking party,” I muttered to Rose, tossing a pillow on my bed. “I was pretty clear.”
“They’re just excited,” Rose replied, hanging up a shirt.
We were in the middle of cleaning my room, and I was pissed. After the shit with Leo earlier in the day, I wanted to just curl up in my bed and replay the interaction over and over to try and find where the hell it had all gone south. Instead, I was making my bed and putting laundry away before we left for a party that all the moms had planned for me at the clubhouse.
I didn’t want a freaking party. I hated being the center of attention. It made my skin crawl. I hadn’t even had a birthday party with anyone outside my close family since I was six years old. I had no idea why my mother had imagined that some huge celebration would make me happy.
“Well, it’s annoying.”
“What’s got your undies twisted?” Rose asked, flopping down onto my bed.
“I’m just annoyed,” I replied.
At any other time in our lives, I would have told Rose exactly what had been playing on repeat in my mind, but for the first time, I was anxious to keep something to myself. Everyone had always had an opinion about me and Leo. Since I was little, they’d teased and joked about how much I liked him and how maybe one day he’d come around. But that had been all it was, joking. I don’t think anyone, not even Rose, had ever envisioned a scenario where Leo and I actually got together. It was too weird. He was too old for me, at least right now. He’d been with my sister on and off for years. I’d never had a boyfriend and Leo had been whoring around since he realized what his parts were made for.
Twenty-four hours earlier, I would have agreed with everyone’s arguments. The age difference was too big and Leo was way too experienced for me. But then, he’d kissed me, and suddenly everything had made sense. All of the arguments had seemed silly. For the first time since I’d started mooning over Leo, I’d seen an actual future where he and I were together.
Of course, all that had come crashing down around me when he’d pushed me out of his room and slammed the door in my face.
“So what did Leo say when you told him the news?” Rose asked, shoving at one of the pillows under her head until she was comfortable.
“He was excited,” I replied evenly, throwing some shoes into the bottom of my closet.
“Did you see the scar?”
“Yeah, kind of hard to miss.”
“Word.”
“But it’s not as bad as everyone acts like it is. It’s just a line.”
“It used to be a lot worse,” Rose said somberly, rolling to face me. “When it first happened, he looked like Frankenstein. It was scary.”
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” I argued, shaking my head.
“It was, Lil,” Rose replied. “I didn’t see it when it happened because no one would let me, but Will said it looked like half of Leo’s face was gone before they pulled it back together.”
I shuddered and reached for another pair of shoes.
“Well, it’s not that bad now,” I said again.
“Nope, he’s been back to dreamboat status for a while,” Rose joked, lightening the mood. “The guy knows how to work a room, just wait until you see it tonight.”
“I’d rather not,” I griped.
“Oh, come on. You know you want to see Leo acting all broody in the corner, with women flocking to him asking if he needs anything.”
“I thought you said he works a room?”
“He does,” she laughed. “He doesn’t even have to do anything. He just sits there and I swear to God, people go to him. It’s the craziest shit.”
“Oh, goody,” I said under my breath.
* * *
“You don’t have to stay long,” my dad promised as he met me and Rose outside the clubhouse a few hours later. “I know this ain’t your thing.”
“And you couldn’t talk Mom out of it?” I asked, letting him lead me toward the front door.
“Cut your ma some slack,” Dad said, kissing the top of my head. “She’s excited and she wants to celebrate.”
“She could’ve done that without me,” I pointed out.
“She wants to celebrate you, Lilybug. She’s excited for you. Proud of you. She wants to show you off for a bit. Let her, alright?”