“Luca, you really should see a doctor about removing whatever crawled up your asshole and died. It’s been there too long and has turned toxic,” Lil calls after me. Ariana giggles. Thank god I have my back to them, and neither one sees the smile that I can’t keep off my stupid fucking face when I hear that giggle.
I’m screwed. Really screwed. Because I’m totally head over heels in love.
Chapter 20
Cheese
Ariana
“Are you awake yet?” Lil asks, pulling her long blonde hair up into a ponytail.
“Yes,” I grumble from the cocoon of blankets.
“Liar. Get up!”
I drag my ass out of bed and get dressed, yawning the entire time. I was awake half the night, but not because I finished that energy drink at midnight. Caffeine doesn’t keep me up.
No, I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about Luca. We almost kissed. I wanted him to kiss me. Fuck, I really wanted him to kiss me, and that moment replayed in my head over and over. Reading smut all day didn’t help, either. I finally took a shower at three in the morning, fantasizing about Luca while rubbing my clit until I came. I bit my lip so hard it bled to stop myself from calling out his name.
It can’t just be a crush. From that first moment our eyes met, and he stormed over to me like he would burn everything down to the ground if I asked him to, I knew this was something.
I started falling for him when he was all thunder and lightning.Now, he shows glimpses of blue skies. And when he smiles, it’s like stepping out into the sunshine. I don’t understand it. I just know I’m falling deeper and deeper. It feels like I’m standing in the eye of his storm, his wind raging all around me, keeping me safe.
And it scares me. He might be strong enough to take on my baggage and help me fight my demons. He might even be willing to do so. But he deserves someone without that shit. I’m teetering on the edge of wanting to push him away for his own good and wanting to pull him close. Either way, I’m determined to see him crack through his armor and drop his mask, even if I get hurt in the process.
“Do we have any plans tonight?” Lil asks as we get in the car after her last class.
“It’s Monday. What kind of plans could we possibly have besides sitting around and being bored to death?”
“Could you imagine if we actually died of boredom?”
“Lil, of all the ways I figure we could die, that’s not one of them.”
Lil’s eyes light up. “We should make?—”
I interrupt her before she can finish, holding my hand up and shaking my head.
“Do not say ‘a list of ways we could die.’ Last time we did that, Mom found it, and she cried and Dad got mad because we made Mom cry but also because we made the list in the first place. Then we got grounded for two weeks.”
“Wait, wait, wait. You made a list of possible ways to die? What the hell?” Luca’s blue eyes flash. He’s been pretty quiet allday, shocker of shockers, other than to make it clear that he once again disapproved of our lunch choices. Who the fuck disapproves of nachos?
“Lil likes lists.” I shrug.
“Sure, lists. Like ‘Best Movies of the 80s’ or ‘Shit to Buy at the Grocery Store.’ Not ‘Ways We Could Die.’ That’s… morbid.” Luca shakes his head and then shudders.
“Jeez. I guess it’s a good thing he doesn’t know about the ‘List of Ways We’ve Almost Died…” Lil says in a stage whisper.
Luca’s eyes are filled with horror when they jump to meet mine in the rearview mirror, but that makes way to anger before I break contact to look back at the road. Shit. Time for damage control.
“That would mostly be ‘Car Accidents Caused By Lilith May DeVille,’ plus that one time you choked on a cherry stem trying to tie it into a knot with your tongue to impress some chick.” I try to lighten the mood because I really don’t want to have this conversation right now. I don’t think Luca knows about the big thing on that list, and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible. I like the way he looks at me now. Will it change when he finds out what happened?
Lil picks up on my mood and the slight change in topic. “It did impress her, thank you very much. Then she impressed me, if you know what I mean. And speaking of cars, I miss riding in cars that aren’t black,” she says with a sigh.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have totaled the others then.”
“Just how many cars have you totaled, Lil?” Luca asks.
“I don’t know,” Lil lies, crossing her arms over her chest and huffing.
