Rowan: You have that look
Natalia: What look?
Rowan: Like you might like me back
Natalia: I never said I didn’t
I blush.Hard.My face is onfire. She might not say it out loud, but she’ll say it here. Where she feels safe. Comfortable. That’s all I want.
Rowan: Oh Nat…
Natalia: Oh blondie…
I huff a laugh and slip my phone back into my pocket, taking a sip of my drink.
“So you guys are hooking up, right?” Luca asks, sipping his soda beside me.
I sniff him, and he reeks. He’s hiding it but he’s drinking, and he shouldn’t be while we’re all here. “How did you?—”
“You’ve been obsessed with her for years, RoRo.” I groan at the annoying nickname. “It’s obvious the way you look at her.”
“LuLu—”
“Also, I saw you kiss her on Halloween.” Luca chuckles against the rim of his soda. “You weren’t as quiet as you think.”
“Dick,” I mutter under my breath.
“What’s the gossip?” Julian asks, holding a glass of lemonade.
“RoRo here was telling me about Natalia,” Luca says with a mischievous grin.
“AndLuLuwas getting all sappy and dickish about it.” I grunt. “And you,JuJu, are now in the know.”
I watch Julian subtly sniff Luca. He shoots me a look and I just barely shake my head to say,Not now.Luca’s recent drinking will be a topic of conversation for later.
After a quiet growl, Julian asks, “Everyone knows. Were you planning to keep it a secret?”
I shrug and take a gulp of my wine down. “No.”
“Christian knows,” Nico says, appearing out of thin air.
I groan. “I assumed as much. Lana tells him everything.”
“NiNi!” Luca sings, clearly a tad inebriated, and throws his arm around Nico’s shoulders. When Christian joins us, he yells, “Coco!”
“Still with those nicknames then,” Christian groans.
“Uncle CoCo!” Grace appears at our legs, reaching up for one of us to grab her, but Coco gets there first. “Thank you.”
“Uncle CoCo.” Julian laughs.
“Shut up,Juju,” Christian snarls.
“Daddy is letting me learn ballet,” Grace tells us.
“Heis?” Nico asks, eyes wide and mouth open. He’s a miracle worker with kids. “Oh my god!”
Gracie giggles and points at Nico. “Uncle NiNi.”
