Milo, still standing behind me, lets out a low moan before pulling me back to his chest—to protect me from Ollie, I assume. “What now?”
Ollie grabs hold of my cheeks, squishing them together. “You’re my little Muenster,” is all he says, like that’s all the explanation we need.
“Dear God,” Dante groans from the counter where he’s dividing the chicken, rice, and beans onto two plates.
Unbothered with Dante’s reaction, Ollie continues, “Don’t you see? The best thing about a sandwich is the cheese, and the best cheese around for a sandwich is Muenster. You’re my Muenster.” He grins at me like he’s waiting for my approval.
I shake my head, but Muenster is way better than a few of the others he’s come up with. “I always thought you were cheesy.” Ollie’s mouth pops open like I’ve shocked him, but he throws his head back and laughs.
Milo and Dante chuckle along with him. “What’s so funny?” Ares questions as he walks into the kitchen. He didn’t follow me into the kitchen because he said he needed something from his office, so he missed the whole sandwich discussion.
“You really don’t want to know,” I tell him, giving Milo’s forearm a squeeze before stepping away to help Dante with our food.
“Muenster?” It’s not the first time Ares has questioned Ollie regarding his new love of the pet name he’s bestowed upon me.
“What, and Cara is better?” Ollie defends. “So original.”
“At least it doesn’t sound like I’m calling her a monster,” Ares bites back, clearly offended that Ollie is calling him out.
Ollie barks out a laugh. “Yeah, it sounds like you’re calling her another woman’s name.”
Ares snaps his neck to look in my direction. My cheeks flare red. That’s exactly what I thought the first time he called me Cara. “It means dear, beloved,” Ares bristles. I frown, both of them are actually getting upset about this.
“Hey, it’s fine, both of you can call me whatever you like.” I look between the two of them. Ares’s brows are pinched, but Ollie has a smug grin on his face, and he mouths to me I win when Ares isn’t looking. I click my tongue at him, looking away.
“You guys want to watch something?” Milo pipes up from beside Ollie. We’re all still in the kitchen, and I’ve been done eating for a while, but Dante is still snacking. We all just kind of ended up at the island.
“We could play a game?” Ollie offers.
“I don’t want to play video games,” Ares interjects.
“No one said it had to be a video game.” Ollie looks up at the ceiling like he’s thinking. “We could play charades, truth or dare, spin the bottle, seven minutes in heaven.”
“Sounds like you just want to take turns kissing Laura.” Ares snorts.
Ollie raises his hands in surrender. “Totally not was I was going for, but your house, your rules.” He claps his hands together once, like it’s been decided.
Ignoring him altogether, Dante asks, “Have you heard from Mom?”
Ares gets a pensive look on his face. “Yeah, Malcolm called. They couldn’t get a flight until sometime today, so I’m guessing they won’t be here until tomorrow.”
Dante nods. “Do you think they’ll stay?”
“For a while, probably,” Ares responds.
“Should we tell Gloria and have her freshen up their rooms?” Dante’s question perks me up. I noticed he said rooms, not room. Do they not all sleep together?
“They might get here before Gloria tomorrow morning. We should do it just in case,” Ares answers.
“I can help,” I offer, interested in what their rooms are like.
As a group we pass Dante’s room and head down a hallway I haven’t been to yet where there’s a double door with a single handle. Ares pauses like he’s gearing himself up to enter the room. My stomach twists with tension from how hesitant they all seem.
“This is weird.” Ollie doesn’t hide the fact that he’s uncomfortable being in Ares and Dante’s parents’ room. They do, in fact, have more than one bedroom. Three to be precise. There’s a large bathroom located off what I would call the master bedroom. The bed in there is almost as big as the one we made in Ares’s room. On either side is a smaller room, each with a king-sized bed of its own. Before the bedrooms is a large sitting room with another smaller bathroom off to the side. Something like this would be nice for us, I catch myself thinking.