Chapter 6

Celestine's POV

I cook when I'm stressed out. Dealing with Lorenzo stresses me out, hence why I'm raiding the kitchen cabinets and looking for ingredients in the refrigerator.

"What are you making?" Eve's voice comes through the speaker of my setup iPhone. I leaned it on a pepper and salt spice container. Eve and I have been friends since kindergarten. She had been the only one to share her snack with the new girl in class. We sort of hit off since then and have become inseparable, even choosing the same university and sharing an apartment off campus together.

"I'm thinking pasta." Something simple and that won't take up much of my time.

"So why are you cooking?" Eve was the person I ran to when Lorenzo and I first separated. She was the one who held my hair away from my face while I was bowed over the toilet seat, throwing up the contents of my stomach because I had drank too much. She was the one who joined me to print out photos of Lorenzo and then burn them while cursing his soul to the abyss.

"Nothing. Just felt like making something for dinner."

"Is it because of Lorenzo?" Who did I think I was fooling?

I had filled Eve in on the disaster that has become my life. She is well-informed about the fact that the boy who dumped me and disappeared without any explanation is now about to become my step-brother.

"No. Why would I be stressed out about him? He isn't worth a second of my time." I totally have not been replaying what happened in his room, over and over in my mind. I definitely haven't been fixated on that god damn piercing. "He hasn't even crossed my mind since the dinner we last had at the restaurant. I have just made sure to avoid his path."

"Where is he right now? Did he really beef up?" Eve's eyes are twinkling at the prospect of eye fucking Lorenzo's body.

"You do realize that you are my friend and therefore my enemy is yours too. You are not meant to consider him to be eye candy," I reprimand, going back to my task of taking out the ingredients needed for the meal, setting the egg, spices, vegetables, and pasta on the counter.

She pouts, her bottom lip rolling out. "In that case, fuck our friendship then. I want to see some pecs, abs, and tight ass."

I fake a gasp, clenching my chest and using the counter as a support system for extra effect. "You would throw away our fifteen years of friendship for some ass?"

"If it looks anything like Michael B. Jordan's then I'm sorry sis because I'm crawling after him without even throwing a glance your way."

Putting a pot on the gas, I load it up with lots of water before turning back to see my shameless friend with a dreamy, far-away look on her face. "You look creepy right now." I snap my fingers in from of my screen to pull her out of her daydreaming, well night dreaming actually. A look at the clock mounted over the refrigerator tells me that it is a quarter past seven.

She cuddles her pillow to her chest, rocking it with a stupid grin on her face. "Just dreaming about me and Michael's kids. I'm thinking of naming the first girl Celestine," she winks at me. "after her Godmother."

I'm crazy because I don't point out the obvious fact that the chances of her and Michael having a child together are as slim as the chances of my ass ever getting a driver's license. No. Instead, I squeal and jump up and down on my foot, my palm cupped over my mouth. "Really? You would name her after me?"

"Of course." She sets her pillow to the side and inches closer to the screen, her face filling up the frame. "I will also introduce his brother and cousins to you," she whispers, her hands cupping her lips like she is letting me in a secret meant just for my ears.

Fanning my face, "oh my God. Oh my God. What if I snatched his brother?" My eyes widen dramatically. "Then we would be sisters-in-law."

It's Eve's turn to squeal as she bounces on her bed. "Our kids would be cousins."

All movement stops as we both stare at each our faces, we maintain the stare for a full minute before we burst out laughing, Eve falling backward on her bed and me doubling over while holding my stomach.

Eve, still slightly laughing, wipes away a teardrop that had rolled down her cheek. "We may need some medical attention."

Chuckling, I put the pasta into the boiling water, stirring it to prevent it from sticking together. "What are you going to do for summer?" I ask, changing the subject from our insane fantasies.

"I'm going to stay at my dad's place." Eve's parents were divorced and have joined custody, so she has been shuffled between both parents for every holiday. She hates it.

"Look on the bright side. We will be in the same city, and we can hang out together sometimes."

My words put a smile on her face.

She keeps me company while I make the pasta, and we end the call once I'm done. I dish the pasta onto a plate and decide to just eat it at the counter instead of at the dining table. No use dining there when I'm the only one.

Halfway through my meal, the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs catches my attention. Lorenzo comes into view and pauses in the doorway at the sight of me.

He recovers quickly, saunters over to my front, and rests his palm on the counter. "I and a group of friends are going to throw a party here."

I may not be acquainted with Cade, but he doesn't strike me as the type of person that allows his son to have a party while he is away. "Are you permitted to do that?"

"Dear God, you don't ever stop, do you?" He leaves the counters and opens the refrigerator, taking out a beer. "Listen here, the only reason I'm telling you about it is so you can lock yourself away in your room."

I watch him open the bottle with his teeth and take a swing of it, not uttering a word.

"I know it's not your type of scene and frankly, I don't need your conservative nose all up in my business. So stay in your room and out of my way." He walks out of the room with his beer.

He is right, a party isn't my type of scene. I would much rather be wrapped up in a blanket and binge-watching a series than be in a room filled with horny and intoxicated humans.

Although, the fact that Lorenzo has told me not to make an appearance at his party has me wanting to do the opposite, if only to see him get worked up and bent out of shape.