insisted. “We aren’t together. We’re not exclusive. You don’t owe me anything, not even her name.”
It was hurt that came first in a flash of pain, then a sinking sadness. “Maybe not,” I said, tucking her hair behind her ear, “but I’m gonna tell you all the same.” A flicker of a smile and a warming of her eyes told me all I needed to know. “That was Ali, a girl I used to date.”
“An ex-girlfriend?” She frowned, confused. “I didn’t know you had any of those.”
“I don’t. Not many at least. Ali always calls when she comes to town.”
She drew a slow, resolute breath that drew her straighter. “I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do. She came to ask me to dinner, and I declined.”
Bravely, she said, “Kash, you don’t have to do that.”
“Didn’t think you’d ask me to. I declined because I’d rather be with you.”
“But … I don’t want to stop you from seeing who you want.”
It was a lie—I saw it as plainly as she’d offered it.
On a chuckle, I said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted me to go out with Ali.”
The color rose in her cheeks again. “No, I can’t say that I do.”
I tilted her face so I could look her square in the eye. “I’m not seeing anyone else, and I don’t want to. Do you?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“Good.”
When she smiled, it was with genuine relief. But the expression shifted to uncertainty.
“Don’t worry,” I started, heading off whatever she was about to say. “Nothing’s changed. I know just where we stand, what we are. It’s just that I’m having too much fun distracting you to be interested in distracting anyone else.”
I was rewarded with a laugh, a laugh that I kissed away until she was pliant in my arms.
The click of the light was succeeded by a noise from my mother that landed somewhere between a gasp and a squeal. Lila and I shot apart like polar magnets.
“Aha! I knew it! I knew you had a girlfriend, Kassius Bennet, and I cannot believe you didn’t tell me!” she scolded with a smile. “But Lila Parker? Of all the wonderful surprises.”
Lila and I exchanged a mortified look, hers notably more mortified than mine.
“Mom, hang on—”
She waved me off, beelining for Lila with her hands outstretched. “My dear, I am just so thrilled. Kassius is such a good boy. Even if he doesn’t tell his mother important things like who he’s given his heart to—”
“Mom—”
“Which seems to be a popular Bennet trait that’s cropped up of late. My darling girl, do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to find a suitable match for Kassius? Years,” she answered herself. “Years and years but to no avail. And to think, I thought he was seeing Verdant.” Another wave of her hand in my direction, this time coupled with a roll of her eyes.
“Mom!”
Studiously, she ignored me, taking Lila’s hands. “But Lila? This is just so wonderful. I always have liked her, haven’t I, Kassius?” Again, she didn’t require an answer, likely guessing—correctly, I might add—that I’d rat her out. My mother most certainly had not been a fan of Lila’s when she was making a habit of marching in here to tell me off. “Come, come. You’ll have dinner with us tonight.”
I stepped in, knowing the only way to stop her was to physically intercede. “Maybe Lila has plans tonight.”
Mom’s bottom lip slipped out. “Do you?”
“I, um—”
Mom clapped. “Good then. You will come to dinner, and we’ll all get to know each other better.”
Before I could pry my mother’s hands from Lila’s, she was off, dragging Lila behind her like a carnival toy I’d won her, prattling on about how happy she was. Lila cast a pitiful look in my direction, but underneath it was a shimmer of pride as she let herself be towed up the stairs.
I followed, smiling up behind them, hoping Mom didn’t ruin this for me. If her brazen campaign scared Lila off, I swore I’d never forgive her. But Lila seemed more amused than anything, willing to go along with it all for the sake of appeasing my mother.
That alone should have had me proposing on the spot.
We aren’t together, she’d said, a statement that was as true as it was false.
I’d promised her I wouldn’t see anyone else and she’d done the same, but it was only an incremental step toward something bigger, something that loomed inevitably, impossibly, over us.