Page 108 of On My Side
With her right arm extended, I can see the Ghostface tattoo in question. It’s around two inches big and below the dimple of her inner elbow.
“Um. You’re welcome?” I answer, oddly touched and confused by the interaction.
“So, that’s like… what, half of my siblings?” Ren says, wrapping an arm around my waist and gently directing me away from Poppy and Millie. I hear them whisper when my back’s to them, and my instinct is to worry if it’s about me.
“But you, like… were careful?” One of them whispers to the other.
“I mean, it broke, but we took care of it. So it shouldn’t matter… but I think it might,” the other responds, voice tense.
I want to eavesdrop more, but I'm distracted when someone says my name.
My old name.
“Audrey Price.”
This time, I recognize the voice without looking. It’s a voice I used to know better than my own.
“Hi, Meow,” Ren says, turning us to face her.
Kat Quinn—Holt now, I guess—looks pretty much the same. Long, wavy chocolate brown hair and menacing brown eyes. Full lips, and the lightest scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Now, there are faint wrinkles at the corner of her eyes, and I’m suddenly filled with a grief I didn’t expect at the years I’ve missed in her life. At the years she’s missed in mine.
Kat ignores Ren, crossing her arms over her chest and giving me a judgmental once over. “Had to see it to believe it. You’re dating my brother?” She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Really? Couldn’t find anyone else?”
“Shut up, Kat,” Millie yells from her spot on the couch. “Just because you’re miserable doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be.”
Kat shoots a death glare at her sister. “I’m sorry, was I talking to you?”
“No, you were talking to my partner,” Ren says coolly. In a stark contrast to his icy tone of voice, my body fills with a warmth I’ve rarely experienced. Everything about him makes me feel new.
Kat’s face softens when she looks at Ren, and I can tell she has a soft spot for her brother. Even when we were younger, Kat was the one Ren would go to when he had a homework question. He’d always knock on her door and stick his little bespectacled face into her room to ask for help with a word problem, or how to spell something.
Maybe it was less about his admiration for Kat, and more about his big-ass crush on me, but it’s still evident Ren is important to Kat.
“Your brother is the most incredible man I’ve ever met,” I say quietly, appealing to her love for Ren. “I can’t believe he wants me…”
Kat scoffs. “Neither can I.”
“That’s enough, Kat,” Ren says, raising his voice enough to show he’s not fucking around. “I love you, but you need to back off if you want any sort of relationship with me.”
Kat opens and closes her mouth like a fish. “I just want to protect you,” she says feebly.
“For what it’s worth, she was like this with me, too,” a blond bearded man says, stepping next to us. He grins at me and sticks his hand out for me to shake. “I’m Josh, Nic’s boyfriend. You’re Audrey, right?”
I smile as I shake his hand, grateful for an interaction that isn’t an interrogation. Maybe knowing Kat was like this with him should make me feel better, but it doesn’t. The reason Kat’sacting this way towards me goes beyond the fact I’m dating her brother.
It’s because I’m me.
“Ren!” Another voice says. This family has too many people.
“Hi, Ma,” Ren says as Mrs. Quinn approaches. She wraps him in a big mom hug, and even though I see him trying to remain stiff, part of him still melts into her.
“And Audrey!” Mrs. Quinn breaks away from Ren and suddenly she’s hugging me, too. I look with panic at Ren, taken aback by the physical contact, and he places his hand on her shoulder and gently pushes her back.
“Ma, give her some space,” he says softly, and I’m impressed by his ability to remain cool, despite his face clearly showing his annoyance.
“Right, right. I’m sorry, dear.” Mrs. Quinn steps back and appraises me as I shift nervously on my feet. “I just met your precious daughter. She’s a spitting image of you at that age, but she did ask me if I was nuts when I tried to hug her.”
“Piper’s autistic,” I explain, forcing a smile onto my face. “She’s particular about physical touch.”
