“I drop my things and head to the kitchen with Camila. She and I will have a talk about my travels. I’ll give her the abbreviated recap of our trip. I’m probably exhausted, so I’ll go to my room soon thereafter.”
“What does your room look like?”
“It’s large. A four-post bed. Dark-wood crown molding. A little depressing and cold, actually.”
“What’s the first thing you do when you get to your room?”
“I take a long, hot shower in my bathroom.”
“And after?”
“I totally crash, tired from the trip, but completely and utterly depressed to have left you. So, I go to my bed and spend the first of many evenings staring at your photo.”
Even though what he’d just said hit me deep in my heart, I made light of things by smacking his chest. “Sap.”
“Maybe.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Curling farther into his arms, I rested my head on his chest, soothed by the rise and fall of his breathing. Then Leo kissed the top of my head.
We ended up talking into the wee hours of the morning—until the sound of Sig’s voice woke us the next day.
* * *
Leo
Track 11: “Jealous Guy” by John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band
“Well, well, well, what’s going on here?”
My cousin’s voice was grating.
“What does it look like?” I said, squinting at the sun shining in through the windows in the living room.
“To me? It looks like someone went from Hello Kitty to Hello Titty last night.”
Felicity’s eyes fluttered open.
“It’s none of your business, in any case,” I said, rubbing her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
She looked up groggily and smiled. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”
I was relieved she seemed happy to still be here. We’d been talking for so long last night that we’d both shut down.
“Where are the Marias?” she asked Sig.
“They’re coming downstairs. I was going to make breakfast. Are you two hungry?”
I didn’t think she’d want to be around Sigmund’s harem, so it surprised me when she said, “Yeah. Breakfast sounds great.”
Felicity stood from the couch, looking adorable with her hair all messed up from sleep. While I’d often fantasized about lying next to her at night, I hadn’t anticipated that our first sleepover would be on the sofa. It wasn’t the most comfortable night’s rest, but I’d do it every night if it meant she’d stay again.
After Sig disappeared into the kitchen, I placed my hand on her cheek. “How did you sleep?”
“Surprisingly good. When I woke up, it took me a second to realize where I was.” She squinted. “What?”
“I want to kiss you,” I admitted.
“Kiss me, then.”
Just when I’d readied myself to plant one on her, we were interrupted by the sound of Sigmund’s girls skipping down the stairs.
Now that our moment was ruined, Felicity and I ventured into the kitchen. The coffee had just finished brewing, so I grabbed two mugs. Sigmund stood at the counter mixing eggs for what I assumed were omelets.
“How do you take your coffee?” I asked.
“Black, like Sigmund’s soul,” she teased.
“I think you meant steaming hot like Sigmund,” my cousin fired back.
Felicity laughed, and Sigmund smiled as he continued cooking. It was nice to see them getting along. I’d worried he might have gotten under her skin, though she’d likely never admit it. But if I didn’t know better, it almost seemed like she enjoyed his company.
I poured four coffees, serving Felicity first and then the Marias.
Sigmund’s girlfriends began talking to each other in Portuguese, and I noticed Felicity blinking rapidly as she listened, like she was trying to decipher what they were saying.
Finally, she blurted, “It’s the way I go down on him.”
Say what?
“That got your attention, didn’t it?” she added.
Both women froze at once.
“I’m lost,” I said. “What’s going on?”
Felicity turned to me. “They aren’t sure what you see in me. I told them it must be the way I go down on you.” She looked back over at them. “Kidding, by the way. I haven’t done that to him…yet. It was just the first thing that came to mind.” She placed her hand on my knee. “They’ve been talking shit about us from the moment they came downstairs.”
I didn’t know what affected me more—the nerve of these girls or the fact that Felicity had implied she planned to go down on me.
“You speak Portuguese?” Maria One asked, looking dumbfounded.
“One of the foster moms I had growing up was from Portugal. Her mother, whom I called Vavo—which, as you know, means grandmother—used to teach me Portuguese. So, while I don’t speak it often, I can understand it really well.”
“Shite,” Sigmund muttered. Even he looked embarrassed at the behavior of his friends.
But I was proud of the way Felicity had handled it.
“If you’re gonna talk shit about someone, you should probably make sure they don’t speak the language,” Felicity added. “Not everyone is unilingual.”
“I’m sorry. We didn’t mean anything by it,” Maria Two said.
“You mean, you didn’t mean for me to understand. You most certainly meant what you said. It’s pretty sad when women decide to talk smack about other women before they get to know them. You’re lucky I’m smart enough to understand what’s really going on when that happens. You do it to feel better about yourselves. I mean, how insecure do you have to be to simultaneously fawn over the same man, right? You’re so wonderful that he needs two of you? Think about it. It’s pathetic.” Felicity took a long sip of her coffee. “Anyway, we’re even. You said a mean thing. I said a mean thing. Now let’s just forget about it and eat some chorizo and eggs. Life’s too short for this bullshit.”
She turned to me before looking back at them. “Incidentally, I’m not entirely sure what he sees in me, either. But I’ve been trying to lose the guy since I first met him and can’t seem to do it.” She winked at me.
God. I wanted to lift her up and kiss her so hard, but I was speechless at the moment. What did I see in her? That wasn’t a short answer. It was more like I couldn’t see anything else whenever she was around.
Remarkably, the rest of breakfast went relatively well. After Felicity put the Marias in their place, she spent a good portion of the morning chatting with them. She even asked them to test her Portuguese, so she could prove just how much she remembered.
By the time Sigmund and I had cleaned up everyone’s plates, you would have thought the three of them were friends from the way they were laughing together. All was apparently forgotten. It takes a special kind of person to befriend people who were trying to kick her down just moments earlier. Felicity undoubtedly had practice proving herself to people who made assumptions about her.