Page 178 of Just for the Cameras
Jesus.
Why is that how he deals with his feelings?
“What happened with Maple?” he asks.
“Are you sure you want to talk about it?” I ask, because chances are, he’s going to be jealous.
“Yeah, I do. Please tell me at least one of us is happy.”
Bennett raises his hand. “I’m pretty happy.”
We glance at him, a small smirk tugging on his lips.
“Why are you happy?” OC asks.
Bennett just shrugs. “You know, patience is paying off.”
OC’s brows shoot up. “The sister’s friend?”
“Maybe, but I don’t want to get into it because I don’t want to jinx it.”
“Understandable.” OC turns back to me. “What’s going on with you and Maple?”
I sip my drink, set it on the table, and then say, “I went to see her at her place and tell her how I felt, like we talked about, but she showed up with Slutty Little Glasses.”
OC’s mouth falls open. “No she fucking didn’t.”
“She did. He took her grocery shopping, which I fucking hated because my goddamn job is to take care of her.”
“Please tell me you didn’t dent his face,” Bennett says.
I shake my head, then explain how it all went down, including my confession and her text telling me to come back. When I’m done reliving the moment of the kiss that nearly brought me to my knees, I look between them, a smirk pulling at my lips.
“Holy shit,” OC says. “He’s smiling.”
“I see it,” Bennett agrees. “Like, actually smiling.”
OC sits a little taller. “Did you two…fuck?”
“Don’t demean it like that,” I say.
“Uh, do you want me to say, ‘make love’?”
“‘Copulate,’ maybe?” Bennett suggests.
“We were…intimate,” I say, not liking the sound of that either.
OC turns to Bennett and takes his hand in his. Wistfully, he says, “They were intimate.”
“That’s…sweet,” Bennett adds.
“And from the way you’re radiating with light and happiness, I’m going to assume it was the kind of night that you will remember for the rest of your life.”
It was, but they don’t need to know that.
“Don’t make it weird,” I say.
“Well…” OC crosses his ankle over his knee and loops his handsbehind his head. “Looks like the Gladdy Daddies did their work.”
