"So, Aster tells you that Kai is, allegedly, a no-good lying traitor, and it made you realise that you want to romantically bone down with the guy?"
Cole looked understandably sceptical, perhaps questioning the sequence of events that led me to the conclusion. However, it wasn't actually any more complex than just that. Tommy let me know Kai is a piece of shit, which made me understand just how much Kai was not a piece of shit, and now I wanted to, as Cole had so inelegantly phrased it, romantically bone down so hard with the guy. Flowers and cute dates and holding hands and actual boning down, like we were goddamn Romeo and Juliet with an actual connection and 100% less suicide.
"Yes, exactly that."
Cole was installed in his customary seat again, stirring a glass of less-customary vodka lime soda that Madi had poured him earlier. I wasn't brave enough, or rude enough, to ask who was paying for his alcohol, but Madi had no such qualms. When she made up Cole's drink, she immediately asked where Cole was getting the dough for it, because the restaurant hadn't yet advanced to taking sexual favours as a payment method. Cole had merely laughed and credited his sugar mama and benefactor, which I assumed meant Lena Montez. Apparently, she was giving him an allowance. Even the almost impossible-to-embarrass Cole had the decency to look a little shamefaced that at eighteen, he was getting pocket-money from his seventeen-year-old friend. Cole had assured us it was a line of credit he intended to repay, which I didn't doubt, though I did doubt that a girl like Lena Montez cared either way whether her generosity was repaid. The dress she'd worn for Tommy's benefit would cover at least a hundred of Cole's $10 drinks.
I hadn't seen Cole for weeks now. Lena Montez and her drama with the boy who she hated seemed to have been monopolising his time. Madeleine's reception to his arrival had been frosty at first, until he'd grinned and promised he would have returned sooner if he'd known she'd be such a needy bitch about it. Then she was angry, but at least her temper was fiery, and she treated him with a little more warmth.
But his absence meant he'd missed out on weeks of the Valerie and Kai story, which he was almost single-handedly responsible for setting in motion.
"I have just a few follow-up questions," said Cole, just as Madeleine rounded the bar after serving a rowdy table of post-golf elderlies.
Madeleine snorted. "It's not all that complicated, really. Valerie realised that when she dates someone that I choose, they don't suck major dick. Or her best friends tits, if you want to be pedantic with details."
"Yes, Madi, thank you," I said dryly. "Every guy who you don't personally vet was sure to do exactly that, and my favourite thing about Kai is just he doesn't suck."
Madi sniffed. "I have very good taste."
"Okay, that doesn't answer my question," said Cole. "So, you're ready to take the plunge and enter the good ol'-fashioned world of heteronormative committed dating with your unfairly good-looking paramour."
I nodded. He was unfairly good-looking and I loved heteronormative committed dating if it meant that boy was mine.
"Is he ready for the same thing?"
That was the question. I thought so. I was almost sure. But I was too much of a wuss to do anything about it.
I thought Kai might be ready. I mean, he'd never said he was anti commitment. Everyone else just said it. But everyone else called Kai a bad boy, an incorrigible flirt, all good looks and charm without substance. But the Kai Delaney I knew was hardly a bad boy. He enjoyed drinking with his friends, telling good-looking girls they were pretty and making people love him, sure. But he also spent time with his little sister, took care of his mother despite everything she did, let some crazy girl lying prone on his front lawn pretend to date him so she could feel better about the fact that her boyfriend and best friend didn't love her quite enough to resist the urge to stick it to the other, and never looked at another girl though the whole process.
Kai hated it that everyone reduced him to being just one thing, just one guy. Kai Delaney, charming enough, but hardly the right sort, if you know what I mean. I was not going to reduce him to the same thing. I wasn't going to assume he didn't want me just because everyone else probably did.
But there was always the possibility that he just didn't like me. Romantically.
Then again, he didn't exactly shy away from sticking his tongue down my throat, so I was going to take that as a positive.
I smiled at Cole and Madeleine, and it was a little bit shy, bashful and blushing, akin to Seb's smile, which was self-conscious in a way that was so unlike the rest of his friends—Kai's flirty and deliberate, Jamie's cutting and self-aware, Will's slow and untouched by any hardship, Isabelle's completely wide and bright—a smile so unlike my usual smile that was brash and sarcastic. It was the kind of smile that belonged on a princess from some long-forgotten court, her hand outstretched to some handsome paramour. I wanted to reach out my hand. I wanted to be brave enough for that. "Yeah. I don't know, but I think he might be."
Madi rolled her eyes. "Of course he is. Have you seen the way that boy looks at you? It's like you're the very short, very strawberry blonde sun of his universe. A sun that he is very sexually attracted to and won't lose his favourite bits by putting them near, which I'm sure is an additional bonus for him."
My heart went weird for a whole five seconds. I might have to consult a doctor, because I don't know that it's normal for vital organs to perform elaborate dance routines and backflips inside the human chest.
"And for Valerie," Cole pointed out. "She wants all his favourite bits up in her favourite bits. The sword in the stone. The spider in her lady cave."
"Yuck." I made a face. Then I unfurled it. "But a little bit true."
"A lot bit true," Cole challenged. He waved a finger in my face, and I responded in a manner very unprofessional for the workplace by sticking my middle finger up at him. "Don't even try to deny in missy, I can see it written all over your face. You want to get dicked down by Delaney so hard. You are, and spell it with me, H-O-R—"
Madeleine cleared her throat. "Hey, hi, what are you doing here?"
I slowly lowered my arm and the extended middle finger attached to it when I saw who had materialised beside Cole. "Kai?"
"Hey," he said, his face untouched by confusion or amusement, which suggested he thankfully hadn't heard the contents of my conversation with Cole the dipshit idiot.
"We weren't just talking about your dick," the aforementioned dipshit idiot said, sticking out his hand for an extremely confused Kai to shake. "Hey, Delaney. Nice to see you."
Kai shook the proffered hand. "Uh, you as well, Knight. Been a while, man." Then he raised an eyebrow at me. "All good things I hope?"
Madeleine, who was easily the boldest of us all, (you would assume it was Cole, but he wasn't bold, he was just stupid and didn't seem to be embarrassed enough about his behaviour for his loudmouth to be considered bravery), shrugged at Kai. "Sorry, no one here has ever tested out the product to give an accurate review. If you want one that's comprehensive, I would suggest whipping it out for Valerie. I've heard she really takes her time to get to know the product so she can give out some really accurate information for future customers."
I was going to throttle Madeleine.
My cheeks were almost certainly a violent red, blood rushing to my cheeks with the force of a tsunami, and I snatched the full glass of water next Cole's half-drained vodka and drained half of it to hide my deep mortification.
"Valerie knows she's always welcome," said Kai, sagely. "She just has to ask."
I choked on my water, and Cole let out a delighted laugh. When I finally recovered, Cole was still ping-ponging his gaze between me and Kai with bright, mischievous eyes, while Kai just seemed faintly amused at my obvious embarrassment. Madi looked bored; she was very funny, but she always tired of a joke quicker than everyone else.
"So, Kai, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Isabelle wanted me to ask Valerie if she was free to go dress shopping for the wedding tomorrow?" He directed the second half of his sentence as a question to me.
"Someone should have told me that mobile phones no longer exist!" Cole exclaimed. "Shit, Madeleine, tell me this doesn't mean my text chain with a member of the Spice Girls that I cannot disclose for legal reasons is over!"
"I think what Cole was trying to say in the most convoluted manner possible," Madeleine said dryly. "Is that you probably didn't have to hike out to Toorak to deliver that message."
"Other methods are so unreliable these days," said Kai.
I smirked.
Cole mouthed something that I thought was he's so ready for commitment, but could also have been haemorrhoids appointment.
"Well, I am free tomorrow," I said. "Will you be coming as well."
"That's up to you," said Kai. "Isabelle said 'if you must', but she's invited Will, so it seems like blatant favouritism to me. Apparently he has better taste."
Will, I thought, probably just has more money. Not that it was obvious in his clothes the same way it was in Jamie's, or that Lena Montez, where you could see the money practically dripping from the sleeves.
"Come," I said. "I want you there."
Kai's smile was instantaneous. It was a smile that stained my cheeks a faint pink.
He cleared his throat. "What time do you finish work?"
I eyed the clock. "20 minutes or so?"
"Cool. I'll drive you home."
"You don't have to wait for me."
"I know," said Kai.
"It's not about you, Valerie," Cole said snottily. "Maybe Kai just wants to catch up with the coolest person he's ever met."
Kai looked around the restaurant. "Kevin Jonas is here?"
Madeleine looked vaguely impressed. "You've met Kevin Jonas?"
"I've met all the Jonas brothers. Kevin was just the coolest; man had rizz, I don't know what to tell you."
"Obviously I was not talking about Kevin Jonas!" Cole interrupted. "Me, I meant me."
"Shit, sorry man," said Kai, winking as I went to attend one of my waiting tables.
After I'd taken the couple's order, which was far too convoluted and included far too many elaborate changes—now, I like the cheese on the top of the eggplant spaghetti but only if you have Cracker Barrel, cheese makes me shit myself, and Cracker Barrel is the only one that tastes good enough to be worth it. Also, can I have the spaghetti bolognese with rice instead?—and my notepad was a scrawl scribbled out and rewritten about a hundred times. The chef was going to hate me.
When I returned, Cole was in the thick of his life story, recalling it to an interested Kai. "Yeah, so Lena isn't my roommate exactly, it's more like I am whoring myself out for a place to stay, except I don't offer any sexual services and she is really mean to me. So not really like whoring myself out at all."
"Huh, that name sounds really familiar. I think Jamie must know her. I've heard of her before."
"Lena? Oh, you probably have. She's one of those terrifying but hot people who is scary because you know she's cooler than you, but she likes almost everyone and is very friendly, and you can't even tell why you're scared of her but you just know you are." Cole smiled with self-satisfaction. "I'm her best friend, you know. She's never said it, explicitly, but I know it's true. And she's like, probably pushing my top 10. She's just a bit clingy, you know?"
"You live in her house."
Cole made a face. "I know right? It's like, give me some space."
Madeleine whacked Cole across the head with her tea towel. Then turned to Kai. "I like her. Except that she's about as pretty as me, so we could never be friends."
"Hey!" Cole and I said in unison.
Madeleine didn't bother to respond, but she winked at me when Cole was distracted by protesting his outrage to the back of Madi's head.
Kai just grinned. "Oh yeah, I remember some things about her now. Jamie also said that about her. Scary-hot, he said. Like, you would want to go there, but you're not sure you'd survive the journey. Apparently some kid called Reece Moore hooked up with her and told some people about it, and he's been avoiding her for a year in case she seeks retribution."
That brought a fond smile to Cole's lips. "Yeah, she's terrifying when she hates you."
"I don't know, our girl isn't a puppy dog when it comes to revenge either," Kai said, and the smile he directed at me was just as loving as the one Lena Montez's name elicited from Cole. My heart fluttered.
Coke conceded this point. "True. Valerie is vengeful bitch, and I love her for it. Lena might chop off a few limbs or make you feel really, really bad about yourself via verbal slander, but Valerie will play the long con."
Kai nudged my elbow with his. "I like the long con." Then his brow cleared. "Hang on, Montez. Zach's best mate is marrying an Elena Montez, and he mentioned that there was money in the family."
"You're going to the Jack and Elena wedding?" Cole asked.
"Yeah, you know them?"
"Sure. I was invited, except my parents are going and I hate them. Lena will be there; Elena is her cousin."
"Huh. We'll have to say hi," I said. "At least I'll know someone else there, even if it is the girl who went on a date with my ex-boyfriend."
"It's something," said Madeleine. "Valerie, you can clock off if you like."
"Thanks, boss."
Kai stood up from his stool opposite Cole. "I'll just use the bathroom and then we can go?"
I nodded, and as Kai walked toward the restroom at the back of the restaurant, Cole chuckled and shook his head.
"What?" I demanded.
"No man in his right mind takes a girl to a wedding, elaborate ruse or not, if he's not thinking about commitment. Nothing says commitment like a white gown and 'I do'."
I thought about Kai, my Kai, who came to my workplace just so he could see me.
"Well," I muttered. "Sign me the fuck up."