Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“Oh, tell them everything, Liv. January, in particular, deserves the truth.” Aunty Jo wore a wicked smile.
“Jo …” Mum snorted. “Don’t.”
Intrigued, I pushed. “Now I want to know.”
“You do?” Jo smirked. “Okay, your mum asked your dad to give her flirting and sex lessons and that’s how they ended up together.”
Despite the ick factor of it being my parents, I kind of loved that. It was like a romance novel. “Really?”
“Don’t.” January glared. “Don’t encourage this line of discussion. It’s yucky.”
“What a mature descriptor.”
She stuck out her tongue at me.
“I think it’s romantic.” I smiled.
“You would.”
“It was and it wasn’t.” Mum gave me an understanding look. “I was attracted to your dad before all of that started. He only saw me as a friend. It could have destroyed our friendship.”
“Except I didn’t only see her as a friend.” Dad’s voice had us turning to look toward the sliding doors. He stepped inside with Uncle Cam and Louis at his back, his eyes on Mum. “I was lying to myself. But you can only lie to yourself for so long before you risk losing the best person you’ve ever known.”
Mum smiled sweetly as Dad reached her and pulled her in for a kiss. He nuzzled her neck, wrapping his arms around her waist before he looked at me. “What prompted the trip down memory lane?”
“Your daughters were trying to traumatize Liv, so I thought I’d try to traumatize them back. Didn’t work out with Lily. January looked faintly green, so that’s a win, I suppose.” Aunty Jo shrugged.
“Traumatize your mum how?” Dad narrowed his eyes behind his glasses.
Jan answered while I smiled up at Uncle Cam as he cuddled into Aunty Jo’s back. September was proving mild this year, so he wore only a T-shirt, showing off his tattoos. Jo’s younger brother, Cole, had a full sleeve (fair, considering he was an award-winning tattoo artist), but Uncle Cam was catching up to him, having added to his collection over the years.
“Hey, Uncle Cam. How are you?”
“I’m good, sweetheart. How are you?”
“Same.”
“Final year. Dissertation?”
I nodded, thinking about the workload awaiting me back at the flat. “I have a ton of interviews to conduct for mine, so I’ve spent the last few nights sending out a bunch of inquiries.”
“You’ve decided on a topic, then?” Dad asked, having overheard.
“I’m starving,” Louis grumbled as he rounded Mum’s side. “Is it ready, Aunt Liv?”
“Louis,” Uncle Cam warned. “That’s rude.”
“I’m getting ready to serve, sweetie. Soup first and then the roast. Sound good?”
“I could eat the entire fridge, so, aye, that’ll do.”
“Where do you put it?” January eyed the thirteen-year-old. He was tall like his dad but thin and wiry.
“In my gob.” Louis shrugged as if to say duh.
“Lily?”
I looked back at Dad. “Oh, sorry. I have.” I told him my plans for the dissertation.
“I’ll be interested to read it,” he said honestly.
“Me too.” Mum smiled proudly at me.
As we all settled down at the kitchen table, Aunty Jo leaned into me. “We’ll get a minute before the end of the day to talk about your royalty problem.”
Sure enough, after a boisterous lunch (any lunch with January was boisterous), Uncle Cam, Dad, and Louis were on cleanup duty, so we shuffled into the front room to pick up where we left off.
“I say yes to giving him another shot,” Mum said. “Just as long as you know where you stand with him.”
“Even though I’m attracted to him?”
“I’ve scrolled through his Instagram—do you know he has thirty-nine thousand followers—and there are photos of him with groups of people that include girls, but no solo one-on-one pics with him with girls. I’m going to ask around. See if he’s a player.” January nodded decidedly.
Thirty-nine thousand followers? He couldn’t be that lesser known, then.
Then what she said registered. “No. No, you’re not. The last thing I need is my wee sister asking around after Sebastian like I’m some kind of lovesick idiot.”
“But—”
“No.” I put my foot down. “I mean it, Jan. I’ll be really pissed off if you do.”
She blinked rapidly. “Okay, I won’t. I promise.”
Aunty Jo caught my eye. “I agree with your mum. Be his friend. You might stay friends, you might not. But you clearly like him. I think it’s worth giving him a shot.”
“And if I get hurt?”
“It’s better to get hurt trying than to ache with regret because you didn’t.”
I let that sink in, feeling better about my decision to meet Sebastian for coffee tomorrow after all.
“That was profound, Aunty Jo,” January said, ruining the moment. “I’m writing it down and using it on the podcast. Do you mind if I take the credit? Great, thanks. Love you.”
CHAPTER TEN
SEBASTIAN
Lily had told me during one of our fake tutorial sessions that she lived on Leven Street, so I’d chosen the coffee shop not just for the good coffee but because I knew it was only a two-minute walk from her flat. I didn’t want to give her any reason not to show. For me, it was a twenty-minute walk from the three-bedroom penthouse on the Royal Mile where Harry, Zac, and I had lived since second year. Harry’s father had insisted his son live somewhere that represented his status and had bought the apartment. But Harry didn’t want to live there alone, so Zac and I moved in with him.