Fiftysix - Seven Rue Page 0,113
is Payton. Payton, this is my boyfriend Riggs.”
They shook each other’s hands, and although the kiss between Payton and I didn’t mean anything, Riggs didn’t seem too happy to see her.
“Sorry for what you saw that night. It was her idea,” she said, as if Riggs didn’t know I was the mastermind behind our make out.
“Yeah, figured. It’s all good,” he told her.
“I’ll go find my mother. I’ll see you around.”
I nodded and smiled at her before she left us, and when we were alone, I turned back to Riggs and pointed to the kitchen.
“Wanna go grab something to drink?”
He nodded, and as we walked into the kitchen, Della’s eyes followed us until we couldn’t be seen anymore.
“She’s still not talking,” I told him, but that wasn’t much of a surprise to him.
“Don’t worry about it. If she’s still not gonna make a move tonight, it’s hopeless. What do you wanna drink?”
I pointed to the glasses of champagne on the kitchen island, and he grabbed one to hand it to me. “Thank you. I think Dad’s got a bottle of Gin in the pantry.”
“I do. Let me grab it.”
I turned to see Dad walk into the kitchen, then he went into the pantry and came back with a bottle of Gin in his hands.
“Saved this for tonight. Ever had this one?” Dad asked.
“No, but I’ve heard of it. I’ll have some.”
Dad poured two glasses, and after making a silent toast, we all drank a sip from our drinks.
“You two okay with all these people staring? Must be uncomfortable,” he said.
I shrugged and looked at Riggs who didn’t seem bothered at all. “I’ll get used to it. I don’t care what they think.”
“Good. But I want you to tell me when someone makes rude remarks. I don’t tolerate that, especially not in my house.”
I knew that, so I hoped no one would test Dad’s limits and get kicked out of here.
“They’ll talk behind our backs, but won’t say it to our faces. It’s all good,” Riggs said, looking from my father to me.
I smiled at him and took another sip of the champagne, leaning against the counter.
“Valley told me about what happened with Marcus last night. Sorry to hear. Looks rough,” Dad said.
“Doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m just waiting on an apology.”
“What made him throw that rock?”
I didn’t tell the whole story, because no matter how much I trusted Dad with my secrets, I didn’t want him to know about the camming.
“Some issue we hadn’t cleared yet. Nothing too wild,” Riggs said, covering our lies well.
Dad seemed to believe him, and so they continued to talk about things I had no business in while I absently listened and watched our guests enjoy the party.
*
Della had managed to avoid Riggs and me all evening, not even crossing our paths once.
It was impressive, even in a house this big, but when Riggs was the only guest left, Dad told her to sit down on the couch and not run away for once.
It was my idea to get her to listen, no matter if she wanted to or not.
My relationship with Riggs was important to me, and if it meant urging Della to accept it, I would go through with it until it worked.
She’s been quiet for too long, and I was sure keeping her anger inside was not good for her own mental health.
When Riggs and I walked into the living room, she straightened her back and looked away, silently cursing Dad for making her sit there.
We sat down on the couch opposite of her and Dad, and after being quiet for a little while, I took a deep breath and started talking.
“It doesn’t matter if you sit here and listen or let my words go in one ear and out the other. I hope you’ll try to understand, and maybe things can go back to how they were a few months ago.” I kept my voice calm, not wanting to anger her or make her think I was doing this out of spite. “I know we don’t have the same point of view in many things, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get along, or accept each other’s choices. We can’t always agree with one another, and that’s okay. And I hope you will sometime soon see that me being with Riggs isn’t wrong.”
I needed to take another deep breath. I’ve said what I needed to say, and now it was up to her to make a choice.
Either she would listen, or