“Fine,” Ashton says and stops walking.
Is he finally backing off?
“I’ll see you tonight,” he shouts at me as I keep hurrying toward the dorms.
“Sure, fine, whatever!” I shout back at him.
He’s right, though, at least about the part regarding my parents. I do need to reach out to them, and not just to have a friendly little chat.
But how am I going to break the news of my engagement when they don’t even know about Luca?
They’re going to be so pissed and so disappointed.
Maybe I wait to tell them about the upcoming wedding and stick to the basics, at least as long as possible. If I can make them realize that Luca is a great guy, assuming he’s willing to go along with it, we can have a nice family dinner with both of our families.
Who am I kidding?
A nice family dinner wouldn’t involve the mafia.
Kensley and I wander up to Luca and Ashton’s place for game night. Kensley has a bag slung over her shoulder with a bunch of games.
I’m feeling less than prepared, since I didn’t bring anything with me. It’s not like I have a stack of board games in my dorm room, which, apparently, Kensley keeps housed under her bed.
I knock on the front door, waiting for Ashton to let us in.
Shivering, I shove my hands back into my pockets to keep warm.
Luca tosses open the front door, glares at us, and then slams it in our faces.
“Jerk!” Kensley shouts.
There’s a rumbling of voices on the other end. Clearly, Ashton and Luca are fighting, probably about me.
A few seconds later, Ashton yanks open the door and steps aside. “Sorry about that. My roommate got up on the wrong side of the bed this week.”
Luca’s glaring at me and then at Ashton. “What’s going on?” Luca asks, noticing that it’s not just me showing up, but Kensley too.
“Game night!” Kensley says, grinning. She holds up her bag of assorted board games. I swear she’s trying to help break the tension. She’s a good friend, I’ll give her that. And she doesn’t even know why things are so tense right now with Luca and me.
“You invited her over?” Luca groans, gesturing at me.
Ashton waves us into the living room, and the entire time, Luca is glaring at Ashton, not even hiding his disapproval. “I’m going to kill you,” he mutters under his breath.
“Doubtful.” Ashton smirks a little too boldly, and Luca lunges at him, grabbing him by the lapels.
“I’m going to fucking end you, Ash,” Luca growls.
Ashton doesn’t fight back. They’re wrestling around, no punches being flung, at least not yet, but Ashton knocks Luca onto the ground and Luca takes him down with him.
“Enough!” I shout at the two of them on the floor.
Luca grumbles and releases his grip on Ashton, getting up and taking a step back. He runs a hand through his hair, and I can see the fog of confusion in his gaze, like he’s not sure what just made him attack his friend.
“Kensley, can you and Ashton set up a game?” I ask while I grab Luca’s arm, dragging him down the hallway.
“Get off me,” Luca grumbles, shaking my arm off him, but he obliges, leading me into his bedroom.
I step in first, him quickly behind, and then he slams the door and the walls shake.
