[Dedicated to all my readers, whether they are silent or not. You all make me smile so much every time I upload a chapter, and I am so sincerely grateful for everyone. (And yes, it is a week too early for Thanksgiving here in the U.S.)]
I swore that if anyone wished me happy birthday again, I would throw an entire box of cupcakes at everyone in the vicinity, even if that included Dom, who was watching me with an amused glint in his eyes.
Really, I didn't get how difficult it was to get the damn facts straight: I was not yet eighteen. I was still very much a youthful seventeen-year-old who was so not ready to face the adult world yet, and I needed no reminder of what was to face me in six months when I did turn eighteen. Even though some people didn't quite understand, I still maintained the belief that I had to enjoy what was happening right here, right now.
(One of those people was Cara, whose favorite question to ask seniors was, "In what would you like to major in which university?" Frankly, the very phrasing of that question made my head spin, so I avoided answering it as well as I could.)
Finally, my fuse snapped when Evan, who I thought knew me well enough, ambled by with a little package in his hands and very cheerily said, "Happy birthday, Lottie!"
Even though I gritted my teeth, inhaling very deeply and carefully through my nose, my frustration must have shone through, because Evan's expression wavered, and a little gingerly, he ventured, "You all right there?"
"No!" I snapped, snatching the package out of his hands and setting it a little too forcefully in Dom's hands. "No, I am not okay because I am not eighteen yet, and I don't like how you're reminding me of that." My voice cracked a little at the end, and Dom patted my shoulder. I couldn't see his expression, but if I was right, his expression was probably half amused and half concerned.
Dom was such a butt.
Evan's blue eyes grew wider, and he held up a hand, taking a step back. "Well..." he started slowly, "I didn't know you were so...sensitive about that topic, so I'll just..." His voice trailed off. "I'll just, uh"—a little frantically, he looked around until his eyes landed on the food table—"head over there."
Then, he scrambled away so quickly that I swore he could out-scamper a squirrel if he really, really tried. I found myself wiping a tear out of the corner of my eye—I really was that sensitive about that, was I?—and sniffed. I scanned the vicinity to see if anyone was going to mess up my birthday, and luckily for me, everyone seemed a little too occupied with food to notice me. That was great.
Snickering, Dom slung an arm over my shoulder and put Evan's package back firmly into my hands. Immediately, I was surrounded by his warmth and clean smell, and I smiled weakly, leaning my head into his shoulder. My heartbeat sped up its pace just a little. And that was the effect of Dom—total oblivion.
"You're so dramatic, Lottie," he said in such a low voice into my ear that I didn't quite register exactly what he was saying until a couple seconds later.
I started defensively and sent him my most murderous glare, sniffing once again. That was a mistake because everything I had to say faded into the air, and I was lost in his dark eyes, which were watching me, observing me as sharply as always. I felt so warm inside... When he lifted an eyebrow expectantly, I could only weakly splutter out, "I don't wanna be eighteen."
His dark eyes seemed to soften, and he shrugged. "Does anyone?"
"People who wanna be free from their parents, yes," I responded. Dom shrugged once again, and we stood there for a little.
Eventually, I grabbed Dom's warm, large hand and dragged him toward the punch table, which Dacey was supposed to be operating. Even when I stood on my tiptoes to look over everyone's heads (and I was so short that didn't even make that much of a difference), I caught no glint of her blond hair. How nice...she was probably with my brother.
Dom brought up the topic again once we were at the punch table as I picked up two cups and handed one to him. "But really, why don't you want to be eighteen?" His eyes seemed to shine just a little brighter in that moment, and as I tried to convince myself to keep breathing, I blamed it all on the capricious afternoon sunshine in the middle of the summer. "You can vote then."
I let out a short laugh and sipped from the cup. "Responsibilities," I answered eventually. I frowned a little. "Bills. Life. You know, I'm completely aware that I'm probably super spoiled compared to a lot of kids in the world, and I don't know if, I dunno, I'm ready to operate without my parents behind me."
"Well, they won't always be on top of you now." There was a pause after Dom clamped his mouth shut once he realized what he said.
Dom really was so cute sometimes...even when he made unintentional innuendos.
Even my face was blazing, I couldn't help but laugh at his stupefied eyes, which were now on his cup of punch. To see Dom Amaro speechless was a one-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, and I laughed even harder, the punch in my hand splashing around. I slipped my arm through his, feeling his familiar warmth all over again.
"Well, I'm feeling just great about eighteen now, all thanks to you," I said, completely incapable of keeping the amusement (and sarcasm—actually, I wasn't really sure if I was being completely sarcastic about that) out of my voice. "My parents won't...be on top of me anymore."
Just from repeating that, I broke down again, and I had to put my punch cup back on the table, chortling until my stomach hurt so much that Dom had to physically support me. I hung onto his shoulder (which was still so way above my chin) and gasped for air. My chin hurt—how was I supposed to talk now?
"Shut up," muttered Dom sulkily. He took a sip from his punch cup, which he'd been holding in his other hand the entire time. "It's getting old."
I managed to gasp out, "Your...expression though!"
Dom kept his face so straight that after a couple minutes, all the humor faded out of me, and I stood upright, daintily drinking from my own punch cup with a pout. He was a killjoy sometimes, like Cara...who was sending the two of us a suspicious glance from the food table. I tilted my head up and met Dom's dark eyes.
"Hey," he murmured, lips twitching.
His lips were pink and full, and I was so ready to stand up on my tiptoes and just... Dom must have seen the intent in my eyes, and he leaned down slowly. I caught my breath—because his eyes were too much, and I could only get lost in them now...
But he stopped right when our noses touched. I could barely keep myself from swooning right then and there—then Dom would have to set his cup down down completely and hold me (the image was hot). What was taking him so long? Couldn't he tell that my body temperature was soaring, not only because of the heat but also because of him? And my heartbeat kept running away with the gentle breeze that blew...and I didn't know how long I'd be able to stay like this...
"I was never a fan of PDA," he whispered, and with that, he settled me on my feet with a little more stability and stepped away.
I could only take in a shallow breath and watch as he smirked at me.
"What?" he said defensively in a voice that was a little huskier than usual. Was it me, or were his eyes just a little darker? I brushed it off immediately—I didn't know if Dom's eyes could get any darker since they were already so impenetrable and gorgeous the way they were.
And of course, I was rambling again.
"Tease," I said breathily, and avoiding his eyes, I downed my cup of punch.
At that moment, Dacey, who'd somehow appeared next to Cara at the food table with ruddy cheeks and unusually bright eyes while I wasn't paying attention, picked up a glass and clinked it with a spoon. (Did she think she was at a wedding or something?) It was a little scary how the conversation died down immediately, and everyone turned toward them. I could tell that Cara was working hard to hide the little smirk appearing on her face—she would never admit it, but she really did like being the center of attention.
Oh, Cara.
Dacey cleared her throat ceremoniously, and I knew I wasn't the only person who snickered at that. The other girls we knew—who were all completely chill and hilarious—and I exchanged a glance. Cara shook her head at me.
(She wasn't my mother though, so I really had no idea what was going through her head.)
"So, guys," she started, her voice cracking a little on the word "guys". A couple more giggles fluttered through the air, and this time, Dacey was the one who was sending all of us murderous glares.
God. I didn't know that she'd somehow metamorphosed into the scary-as-fuck Latin teacher at school, where we all suspected he liked to beat unsuspecting Latin I students with his cane for fucking up the declensions for aquila (the Latin word for "eagle", which Cara informed me was a very basic word to decline).
"Guys," she repeated once she'd regained her composure. She bit her lip, hampering her smile as much as she could, but failed miserably, bursting out into a little giggle. "I really do suck at this, don't I?"
"You do!" I called out to her. A bunch of our friends whooped and snickered, and Dom couldn't help but smirk at me.
"Shut the fuck up, Lottie," Dacey hollered back. "I'm trying to make a speech; don't you see?"
Dacey was hilarious.
I shrugged off-handedly, completely aware of everyone's eyes on me. "Well, nothing's a real speech unless it's praising me and my amazingness." I paused. "Also, it has to include at least one quote from Guys and Dolls." I caught a stifled groan from Dom, to whom I rolled my eyes. Everyone was still watching expectantly, and I shrugged. "You know, because that musical is basically the Kama Sutra to life?"
There was a stunned silence in which no one spoke, probably because they were too dazzled by my fantastic references, and after a long, long time, Cara cleared her throat. "Don't listen to her; she's full of bull."
"Hey!" I protested.
Dacey, sensing that everyone's attention was off me for a moment, continued hurriedly. "Well," she said pointedly, "I just wanted to remind everyone that today is, in fact, not Lottie's birthday. She still has six months to go, and if you mention the magic age that ends in eight"—I sent her a flat look—"she'll have a mental breakdown and it'll all be your fault."
Evan, who was leaning on his little brother Levi (who was having just a little too much fun looking at me—what a cute kid) was the first one to respond. "Oh."
Dacey pushed on. "Anyway, I wanted to make a speech because my brains will be too dead to squish in sentimental shit in February." She paused, looking around. "No laughs? Damn." This time, Cara snickered. "Anyway," Dacey continued, "I just wanted to say that Lottie is a hell of a friend who likes to give monologues about her stupid musical and is very helpful in setting up...relationships."
I winked at an unknowing Carter, who only gave me a half-hearted glare. He didn't know what was going on—and he would stay that way because he would give me hell for the rest of my life for actually helping to set him up (even though he was the one who now showed interest in my best friend)—so he really shouldn't have tried to give me sass.
"Guys and Dolls is not stupid!" I protested loudly. Only Evan nodded with me—he was such a wonderful person who appreciated culture. We seniors needed to have more of those people in our school.
Dom shook his head at me.
"But I love Lottie all the same," said Dacey, shooting me a smile. She swiveled over to Dom now, winking at him. (I really didn't know what was going on in her head half the time.) "And also, I'd like to remind everyone that we're also here to celebrate Dom's almost half birthday. And yeah. I think you all forgot about him."
"We didn't!" shouted someone from the huge cluster of soccer geeks—otherwise known as Dom's teammates. (Maybe his friends included the junior varsity players as well. I wasn't really sure about that since there were so many of them.)
"Ha!" I elbowed Dom in the side, and he doubled over, sending me a horrified glance. Sometime during Dacey's "speech", Dom had sidled over to me, and now, we were standing so close that our elbows touched. Only my messed up sense of humor stifled the heat that was threatening to rise to my cheeks because of his proximity. "That's because you're four days younger!"
"Shut up," Dom groaned. Painfully, he pushed himself back up—I felt a sort of sadistic pleasure in watching that—and sent me another glare. "The days don't matter."
I could feel myself lighting up as I realized something else. "And if my birthday is on February tenth...then your birthday is on Valentine's Day!"
Secretly, I thought that was adorable, but Dom didn't have to know that. Teasing him had become one of my pastimes, and I wasn't about to give this opportunity up. Dom played right into my hands with this one as he pouted at me. "Please shut up," he moaned, closing his gorgeous dark eyes. He ran both of his hands through his hair. "You're relentless."
I hooked my arm up on his shoulder and stood on my tiptoes to pop a kiss on his cheek. "Don't worry," I said softly once he opened his eyes again and turned his head to meet mine. "You're still hot though."
Then, I realized that everyone was probably watching the lot of us argue, and I slowly lowered myself back to my normal height. I gave Dacey my best sugary sweet smile. "Go on."
Dacey blinked a couple times. "And yeah," she said, raising an eyebrow at me. "Yeah, basically, Dom is four days younger than Lottie."
There was an awkward pause.
Cara broke it, waving her hands dismissively at the lot of us. "Now go away," she said, rolling her eyes. "I have to eat food, and I basically spent the entirety of yesterday setting this damn thing up with this energizer bunny"—she pointed at a smirking Dacey—"and I need a break from y'all."
Everyone just stood there.
"Hey, go eat," I said. "You're all a bunch of weirdos."
And with that, everyone turned back to whatever they had been doing, completely proving the power of my words. I raised my eyebrows at Dom. "So how was that?"
He didn't respond, instead heading off toward Dacey's house (the party was held in Dacey's humongous backyard). I scampered along, feeling a little inadequate—why were my legs so short? But then, I remembered, out of nowhere, that I was, in fact, a cross country runner, and increased my pacing.
Once we were behind one of the columns holding up Dacey's house, Dom grabbed my arm and, with a teasing smile, held me to the column. I was hit with a major sense of déja vu—wasn't this how we had our first make-out session, but instead against a tree? I laughed and looped my arms around his neck. "You're so stupid," I said.
"You're such a...senior citizen," he shot back, smirking as he left little kisses down my neck. Oh. My toes curled in my open-toed sandals, and I couldn't help but tangle my fingers in his hair.
"Show some—oh God—respect," I gasped as he planted a kiss on the spot where he'd placed the hickey, which had faded away after a week. Wearing a scarf during that time had been so annoying.
Dom moved his head back up so now that his nose was touching mine, and his dark eyes laughed. I felt a surge of heat go through my entire body. "Well," he whispered, "out of consideration for you, I'm gonna ask you a question."
With his face so close to mine, I didn't know how I managed to pressure my brain to come up with something that wasn't gibberish. "Well," I repeated, laughing as he rolled his eyes at me, "just go with the flow." I blinked a couple times. "Hey—that was basically what Nicely-Nicely Johnson was saying in his solo. What a nice connection—"
Dom touched my lips with his, effectively shutting me up on that (ever-so-despised) topic for at least a while. I inhaled sharply through my nose, shamelessly sighing a little as he caressed my waist with his fingers. Why was he so good? I enjoyed the way his lips molded with mine so easily, how soft they felt against mine, how his tongue teased me... I couldn't help but tighten my arms around his head, and he responded in kind, turning his head to better accommodate us.
And just as I parted my lips a little, practically begging him to take the next step, two sets of footsteps resounded around us on the ground, and Dom removed my arms from around his head. He looked magnificent like that with completely disheveled hair, lips redder than usual, and glinting eyes...
Evan's blue eyes were what I saw first. He jumped a little, pushing someone behind him. That wasn't effective—a couple seconds later, Levi, his little brother, popped his head out from behind Evan's arm.
And if I wasn't so flustered, the astonishment in both of their sets of baby blues would have sent me into a fit of laughter.
"Good God," Evan breathed. "You two really are..."
Meanwhile, Levi gaped. "You have a boyfriend?" he accused me.
It so wasn't my fault that Levi had a crush on me.
And it so wasn't my fault that Dom's best friend had decided to go looking for him now.
So I just exchanged a glance with Dom, who was biting his lower lip awkwardly (and it so wasn't good for my hormones because all of the heat from the previous moment rushed back into me), and looked back at the brothers.
"You didn't get food?" I said loudly. "Go get yourselves nice and fat!"
It wasn't my fault that sounded a lot less stupid in my head. Evan and Levi gaped at each other, and for a moment, we four just stood there with each other, avoiding each other's eyes.
Then, Levi broke the silence. "You have a boyfriend?" he repeated.
→
We're so close to the end, guys! This book only has two chapters left after this one, and then we'll have to say goodbye to Dom and Lottie for a bit. The thing is that this book and Excuse my French were meant to be part of a trilogy so that you'll see Dottie again toward the end of that third book ;) What are your thoughts on this? Should I keep writing a third book?
But anyway, this chapter was honestly super fun to write. Dom is just the sweetest, and so is Evan's little brother, for that matter. And really, I'm starting to feel nostalgic already. It's been a while since #Dottie fought over Guys and Dolls...
The namesake of this chapter is the person who sang "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" from last chapter. He's so funny, don't you think? A fun fact is that the actor who played this character in the original musical also reprised his role in the movie (as did Vivian Blaine, who was Adelaide). A picture of Stubby Kaye (the actor) is attached above.
It's almost Thanksgiving break for me, and I'm super excited to do some more writing, especially for Chamomile. (Speaking of that, if you haven't already seen it, it would be awesome if you could do that! I honestly love everyone who even just reads the blurb.)
See you guys next week!
Anne xo