Page 98 of Would You Rather
He nods, gesturing to his room. “You want me to go?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, stay, please.”
He wraps his arms around me and kisses my forehead. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave.”
It mimics the time I was sick, and I wanted him there, even when I was battling my feelings for him. It’s insane how far we’ve come and how important he’s become in my life.
I take a seat on his couch and hit the green button. “Hi, Mom.”
“Darling.” Her sweet voice always makes me smile whenever I hear it. “When were you going to tell us?”
“Tell you what?”
“That you’re dating?” My eyes widen, and I turn to Lucas who’s also hearing the conversation. How did she find out? “Not to mention, he’s famous and very attractive.”
Lucas presses his lips together in an attempt to stifle his laughter.
“Excuse me,” I hear my dad say. “Your husband is sitting right here.”
“Your dad thinks so, too,” my mom says. “Don’t you?”
I hear my dad scoff. “I just said there’s a reason why he’s a model.”
I turn to look at Lucas and see his cheeks have turned the slightest shade of pink.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” my mom asks again.
My mood sobers, and I let out a breath. “I didn’t know how,” I admit. “I guess we never talked about that sort of thing before. Nia was always the one with the boyfriends.”
The silence between us rings like a fire alarm. “I guess so,” my mom says, her tone hushed. “So, this is your first boyfriend?” she asks me.
I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, turning to face Lucas. His hand settles on my thigh, rubbing back and forth, but I just sigh and hum in agreement. Daniel doesn’t count. What I had with him is nothing compared to what I have with Lucas. “Yeah,” I tell them. “We met a few months ago.”
“Oh I saw the pictures,” she says in an accusatory tone. “I nearly had a heart attack when I saw your face on a magazine. I went down a rabbit hole and saw all of the articles. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.” She sounds upset, and guilt coils around my stomach. “I know I haven’t been checking in as often because I know how you like your independence, but I thought you’d tell me about this.”
I always thought I liked independence as well. For the longest time, I thought I worked better alone; I was better off on my own, but that wasn’t the truth, not even close to it. “I’m sorry, mom. I promise I’ll tell you from now on.”
“You promise?” she asks.
“Yeah.” My lips curve in a smile. “I promise.”
“So then tell me about Daniel.”
My eyes widen and I freeze, staring down at the phone in my hand. “What about Daniel?” I ask her, my heart racing. She knows?
“Baby,” she coos. “You think we didn’t see how shaken up you were when you came home that day?” I turn my head to look at Lucas, and his expression is tight, listening to my parents. “Your father and I didn’t buy the story that you were staying over at someone’s house and just forgot. You had never done that before. You were always so good, so easy.” I let my eyes drift closed. That’s what I wanted, right? I wanted to be easy for them to want, to be able to love, but hearing that just solidifies that the only reason they did was because I didn’t give them any trouble.
But they loved Nia, adored her, and she was always getting herself in trouble. Would they feel the same if I was like that?
“We followed you to school, and we saw you talking to him,” she admits. “At first, I was upset you didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend, but when I saw him talking to you, getting in your face like that…” I hear her shaky breath, and I press my lips together to stop from crying. “I knew there was more to the story.”
She’d be right to think that. All this time. All this time, I thought they didn’t know. I thought I had kept it to myself, dealing with everything that happened on my own, and this whole time, they knew?
“I don’t know if it was because Nia has just died,” she continues, “and you felt like you couldn’t talk to us anymore, but it made me a little sad that we stopped having the relationship we once had.”
“I… I didn’t think you’d care,” I tell her.
“Why wouldn’t I care, darling?” she asks me. “You’re my daughter, and after I heard about him going to prison for hurting his girlfriend, all I could think of was you.” She breathes hard. “Did he ever…”
