“No, believe me, it happened, keeps happening, and I’m sick of it! I thought if maybe you saw what your stubbornness was doing to me you’d reconsider. It’d be a piece of paper. It wouldn’t even have to be a real marriage. Just, please, I’m begging you, change your mind!”
“I can’t, Shel. Things are different for me now.”
Her eyes narrowed. “It’s because of her, isn’t it?”
“Who?” I answered, feigning confusion.
“Molly!” I could see the disbelief on her face and she snapped, “Whatever, Rome. The sooner you get over your little obsession with that nerdy horror show, the better it’ll all be. We all see how you watch her. It’s friggin’ weird if you ask me. People have been talking, and just so you know, I’m going to tell your folks, and we both know they won’t be happy.”
Fuck! I never wanted Mol to have to deal with my parents, but Shelly was playing hardball, and by threatening to tell my folks, she’d just started a f**king dangerous game. One thing made me feel better, though, and that was the knowledge that apparently everyone already saw my interest in Mol, knew I was gone over the girl. Perfect. No need to keep it a secret anymore, then.
Leaning down to Shelly, I warned quietly, “You stay the f**k away from me, you hear? Molly too, for that matter.”
“You’re choosing wrong, Rome.”
“The hell I am! You know, Shel, you weren’t always such a bitch. What happened to the happy-go-lucky girl I knew when we were kids?”
She seemed to choke on a bitter laugh. “The same thing that happened to the kind little boy you once were… life! We’re both pawns, Rome, and we both have our parts to play.”
Hell, that hit home. I suppose, in a way, we were the same, both jaded. But it didn’t change anything.
I abruptly turned as fast as possible before things got out of hand, hearing the click of Shelly’s heels as she stalked angrily away. The sooner she saw Mol on my arm, where she belonged, the better. My girl would hate me for it, making us so public, but by end of classes today, the whole damn campus would know she was mine. No more hiding, no more pretending we didn’t belong to each other.
Just as I was about to enter my business class, a text came through on my cell. I braced, expecting it to be from my daddy over Shelly, maybe over Molly, but it was Ally.
Al: Make a habit of climbing down balconies???
Closing my eyes, I sighed. My cousin knew.
Oh well. One person less to tell…
“You want to go out for food? I have a hankering for Mexican,” Reece asked, as I met him and Austin outside the Business building at lunch.
“Nah, let’s head to the cafeteria,” I answered and set off walking, slipping on my shades.
“Why we eating there again?” he whined. Austin rolled his eyes at Reece and his pissy attitude before slapping him upside the head.
“Something I need to do,” I replied.
“In the cafeteria?” Reece asked once more, a confused scowl on his face as he rubbed his head.
“Yeah! Or the quad. Quit bitchin’ and come on!”
Austin stepped beside me, leaving Reece trailing behind us, sulking like a toddler, and hushed, “What the f**k you up to? I know that look on your face, Rome. You’re planning something.”
“Yeah. Something I should’ve done a while ago.” Austin eyed me curiously but stayed quiet as he kept pace beside me.
We strode through the quad; the place was teeming with people. The weather was still pretty damn hot, and everyone was taking advantage of it before winter set in.
Halfway down the path, I spotted Jimmy-Don, Cass, Ally, and Lexi on the grass. Cass momentarily leaned away from Jimmy-Don and that’s when I saw Molly, sitting opposite them, smiling at something they were saying. She was stunning, and a bolt of happiness hit me as I watched her all relaxed, hanging with her friends.
I was vaguely aware that people were watching the three of us walk by. They always gawked at the football team, but I didn’t pay any attention to them, too busy looking at my girl.
The moment she lifted her eyes from her friends, our gazes met. A tiny smile set on her face. I knew what I was about to do would embarrass the f**k out of her. For a moment I questioned if it was the right thing to do, but I decided to stick to the plan… It needed to be done.
“What you doing over here with us?” Jimmy-Don asked as we approached.
No one expected the answer I was going to give, but, honing in on Molly’s gaze, I could see that she’d realized what I was about to do. “Just seeing my girl.”
Molly’s mouth dropped in shock. I sat down, pulled her onto my lap, and moved in for a kiss. I f**king owned her with that kiss, showing the world that we were together.
Pulling back, both of us breathless, I asked, “How are you today, baby?”
I braced myself for her to be pissed, but when she beamed and answered, “I’m good. Great, actually,” I knew I’d done the right thing. She was happy for everyone to know about us, and it was the best damn feeling in the world.
“Well, I guess that answers my question of whether he likes you!” Cass let her loud mouth go, but I couldn’t be pissed as my girl relaxed back into my arms.
I met Ally’s gaze for a spilt second, and she winked. I knew she’d be pissed that I didn’t tell her about us, but I could see she was happy for me regardless. She loved Mol to pieces; they’d quickly become best friends. She was the one girl Ally wouldn’t give me shit over being with.
“Yesterday at the cafeteria, I thought something wasn’t quite adding up. We all know Bullet don’t do relationships, so I thought he was just being weirdly nice. But the contact lenses, Molls going missing for hours… totally makes sense now!” Cass went on, her voice getting more animated with every word she spilled. I knew my reputation, knew Molly’s friends would probably worry I wasn’t going to do right by her. I needed to show how much she meant to me.
“This is different. We’re together, a couple, right, Shakespeare?” I said to Molly, laying kisses all over her face.
Blushing and lowering her long lashes, she agreed, “Yeah. We’re together.”
I pressed a kiss on the side of her neck, and she lay back against my chest. I could see the students around staring, completely shocked, but I loved it, loved people knowing I was actually in a relationship.