Something told me there was probably a connection, and after meeting Knight and his girlfriend, Greer, who turned out to be super sweet, we all did take the party inside. The others headed immediately in with the things Ramses and I had brought, and when they got ahead of Ramses and me, Ramses hooked my elbow.
He held me back at the door, an inquisitive look to his brown eyes. He was searching for something in my direction. Not surprising considering the car ride.
“We can leave when you want,” he said. He pinched my chin. “If you’re uncomfortable.”
Once again, he had no reason to assume anything else.
And I hoped it’d stay that way.
As the night kicked off, Ramses may have called Knight and Greer, December and Royal’s friends, but the way he fit in with them, the way they all fit together in a snug little community of kinship, read nothing but friendship. He was friends with these people.
He fit with them.
From their jokes, to their laughter and exuberant delight. Knight did try to talk shop with Ramses. Ramses did fight him, and Royal fought laughter in the center like the poorest referee. There were finger foods tossed in mocked rivalry. There were smiles exchanged over conversation and video game controllers. There were young people having a good time and living life. There was no drama. There was just fun.
I sat in the middle watching it all, under Ramses’s arm on a couch and in a room that held a similar layout to his own. His duplex basically mirrored December and Royal’s, neighbors from the high brick walls to the wide windows. They all sat around on various couches, constant glee and laughter in the air. It felt so overwhelming.
I engaged when I could, of course. Ramses made sure I felt included and apart of him and this group. And though it should feel good to be around people, be out with him and not hiding what we were, it wasn’t as free of a feeling as it should have been. I was thinking about other things.
When was I not thinking about other things?
At one point, December decided to help clear all the dishes from the living area. To keep myself busy, I decided to help her, and Greer, the little one, joined us as well. The girl was too cute and looked like a doll.
I’d found out she was the youngest, a sophomore at the university where the others were in their final semester. They’d all be moving on soon, to the real world like Ramses after this semester.
“Thanks, Bri,” December said, taking the empty cheesecake bite platter from me. The boys had done well to quickly annihilate that and were currently arguing over business again from Royal and December’s couch.
Their friend Knight was standing up at this point, pleading his case about their friend LJ, who was apparently trying to get into whatever business endeavors the boys had going. It was falling on deaf ears as Ramses really wasn’t trying to talk about any of that. This only proved to frustrate Knight, who was going red in the face. Royal, who’d been trying not to laugh half the night, was laughing, and that just frustrated Knight more. His voice boomed at this point, and even Ramses was laughing now.
I liked his laughter, watching him. It was always so easy for him.
I noticed the other girls looking at me and I slid my smile away to help with putting away the food. “Everything was great tonight, December. Thanks for inviting me over.”
It had been nice, to be with people. I did so well about keeping to myself.
December grinned, Greer helping her refrigerate the rest of the food. After, both girls sat at the kitchen island, the view from there well without view of the boys handling each other. Eventually, when Knight was looking on the cusp of tackling both Royal and Ramses for laughing, Greer slid off her bar stool.
She said she needed to go play referee as she rolled her eyes, and I smiled. She had done that a lot tonight, calm Knight down. She appeared to be his kryptonite.
“She’s the only one who can handle that,” December stated, referencing Knight when she cupped her glass of juice. I noticed she hadn’t been drinking tonight, which surprised me. A lot of the reason the boys were so riled was because they had a few or ten drinks in them. Ramses hadn’t drank as much, but he might have just been holding back for me. He always wanted to make me comfortable. That was just who he was, and he had mentioned December drank like the rest of them.
She wasn’t now, smiling, and I thought it funny about her comment toward Knight and Greer. Royal had been the same way with her. He’d been super attentive, never far away from her. It was like he was an extension of her, which reminded me of someone else tonight.
Someone who currently had his gaze directed back at me from the couch. Funny, in the midst of a fight brewing literally in front of him, Ramses did nothing but look for me in the sea of it.
He found me, of course, always found me. He placed a wink in my direction before facing the guys, and that caused December to tilt her head.
“God, I’ve never seen him like this,” she said, and when my eyes narrowed, she eyed me. “He really likes you. Like completely likes you.”
Completely…
I fingered the wooden grains on the island, looking at Ramses. He faced away now, but his laughter radiated decibels above the others. It never failed to not make me smile.
Completely.
“He certainly seems invested,” I said, nodding. “Intense.”
Ramses was so intense, serious about this because he was. I could feel him falling, all in more and more every day.
“That’s Arizona,” she stated, and when I faced her, she grinned. She shrugged. “We met in Arizona. Just something we call each other. He calls me ‘Zona. Short for that.”
I nodded, their friendship so deep. I got it now with the story he’d told me.
December leaned in. “And I’m so sorry for how we met, Brielle. I can’t help but think what you might think of me. I mean, I looked like a cheating ass ho.”
I couldn’t help it, laughing at that. December, as I quickly found out, didn’t hide how crass she could be. She was fun in that way, fit right in with the rest of them.
Her smile was apologetic. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” And she shouldn’t. People should never apologize for being who they are, and that was her. She should never lose that, a tragedy to lose it. I lifted a shoulder. “And it’s fine. Ramses explained everything.”
“Oh, I’m sure he did.” She chuckled. “But you need to hear it from me. I’m sorry. Sorry, if lines ever looked blurred and I apologized to him, too.”
I frowned, and she opened her hands.
“One thing you’ll quickly find out about Ramses is that he loves to please,” she said. “Because he’s good. Such a good person, and it’s easy to forget that. Easy to run away with that. He’s got a good heart. A good soul.” She swung a glance his way. “And in the wrong hands, a person could take advantage. I’ve seen that. Hell, I’ve done it, too. That’s why I apologized to him. I have overstepped my boundaries when it’s come to him, more than once.”
My lips wet, definitely hearing her, and I saw what she said too. Ramses did like to please, to the point where I’d seen life make him unhappy. That was something he’d told me firsthand he’d been trying to correct.
“Can I ask you something, Bri?”
I looked at December, and for the first time, she wasn’t smiling. She’d gotten intense, too, serious.