This fucking girl.
Pulling professions of shit I’m not even sure I’m ready for out of me like some kind of sorceress.
The smile that I can taste on her lips is doing things to my heart I didn’t know it could even do anymore.
She sighs, her body melting against mine, all the tension and anxiety dissolving into nothingness. My girl is practically glowing.
She’s my own personal golden ray of sunshine.
“Better?” I ask, leaning away. Louise nods, those green eyes sparkling up at me and causing that damn swooshy sensation thing in my belly. She glances past me and then rolls her lips inbetween her teeth before smiling like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
“So, I have a confession to make… I haven’t really told my family about this, because, well… usually by the time I tell my friends or family that I’m talking to a guy or say that I’ve met someone, a day later these guys disappear, and I have to tell them never mind, so I just stopped telling anyone anything…” she whispers then, laughing hesitantly. “But… They most definitely clocked that kiss… so here they come.”
It’s then that I realize that some part of Louise still expects me to disappear.
And I don’t think it’s a malicious thought or even that she doubtsmespecifically… just men in general. Because she’s been let down so many times before, it’s a conditioned response.
She doesn’t think anyone will stay for her, either.
That someone would activelychoose herand mean it.
My chest aches, deep inside my ribcage.
This fucking girl. Guess we have more in common than I thought.
Before I can process any further though, a hoard of women descends upon us, and I’m in the thick of introductions to the entire Miller Women line.
A woman with short, gray hair wearing a black and white pinstriped suit and a fedora pushes her way to the front, blue-gray eyes on me like a hawk, but a mischievous gleam warms them just a touch. Chloe moves to stand in front of me and I put my hands on her shoulders. Bailey and Abigail both step between me and Lou, peering around the women who have joined us.
“Umm,” Louise starts, just a little hesitantly, looking up at me before turning back toward her family. “Everybody, this is Abigail, Bailey, and Chloe, and their dad, Zach. They’re my neighbors.”
The oldest woman of the group, the one dressed like a mobster, clears her throat, eyeing Louise shrewdly.
She blushes, looking up at me one more time, then adds, her tone lifting at the end, “And… he’s my boyfriend…?”
“Are you asking or telling?” the woman asks, her eyes bouncing from Lou’s face to mine and back.
“Uhh,” Lou stammers, her blond brows rising in uncertainty, and perhaps a touch of panic. It’s adorable.
Reaching out, I clasp her hand in mine and squeeze.
“Telling,” I say, winking at her, and I swear my heart does the Grinch grow-three-sizes thing inside my chest.
She called me her boyfriend.
Reaching around Chloe, I extend my hand first to the matriarch of the Miller family. “It’s very nice to meet you all. Louise talks about you all often.”
“I would love to say that we’ve heard all about you as well, but that would be a lie,” the woman harrumphs, but smiles as she bats my hand aside. She steps forward, pulling me into a hug before stooping down to say hello to Chloe, who still stands in front of me. “And who are you? My name is Judy, but you can call me Grandma Jude.”
“I’m Judy, too!” Chloe exclaims, her mouth going wide in a still-toothless grin. She points to the plastic police officer name badge attached to her chest, which reads ‘Judy Hopps’. “Well, at least I am for today!”
While Grandma Jude introduces herself to Bailey and Abigail, pointing out several different things that even Louise hadn’t shown us yet, I turn to the other women. Rosie the Riveter steps closer, reaching out to pull me into a hug as well. “I’m Rebecca, Lou’s mom. We had no idea Lou was even dating—”
“Yeah, last we knew, she was on a strict no-dating hiatus,” a blond woman with green iridescent fairy wings strapped to her back mutters out of the corner of her mouth, and Lou’s cheeksturn pink again. The fairy extends her hand, saying, “I’m Tessa, one of Lou’s older sisters.” Her eyes narrow on me then, and her eyes flick over to Lou. “Wait… is this the neighbor that you grabbed his ju—”
“I’m going to murder you if you finish that sentence,” Louise warns through her teeth, that blush staining her cheeks a deep red as she glances up at me. “My family is feral, and I apologize in advance.”
I laugh out loud, nodding. “Sounds like my kind of people.”
