Sex Says(80)

“Uh, sure. What do you want?”

I waved her off and smiled at Tony. “He knows.” Lola looked uncertain, but Tony quickly confirmed with a nod.

“Okay, perfect. I wanted to buy anyway.”

I shook my head and flexed my fingers into the fabric at her back. “Just put it on my tab, LoLo.”

“Do you ever actually pay your tab?” she asked sarcastically, and the realization struck me like a spark. I guess we still had a lot to learn about one another. The prospect was exciting—I was always hungry for new experiences and information.

“Of course I do.”

She pursed her lips and examined me closely, and I let her. I’d let her stare at me all day if she did it that closely, like she was trying to really learn something about me.

Alas, she shook it off quicker than I would have liked. “Okay. But I’m treating today. It makes me feel empowered, and I need as much power around you as I can get.”

I laughed at her frankness and leaned in to touch my lips to hers. “Okay.”

That decided, I weaved my way through the crowd to a table in the corner and cleared off the trash that had been left behind. Apparently, not wanting to deal with other people’s messes, customers had left the table vacant for that very reason. But a little garbage didn’t scare me. At least, not nearly as much as my almost-fully-baked pregnant sister.

Lola squeezed through the crowd shortly behind me, two hot cups of coffee in her hands. “Gah. Hot, hot, hot,” she chanted as she set them down on the table in front of me. “I just have to go back for my card.”

“Uh,” I heard from behind her, Tony’s voice hesitant. “Actually, Lola. Your card was decl—”

“Oh, shoot!” she snapped under her breath before he could even finish his sentence. “The Louboutins. I forgot.”

She grabbed her little bag on her wrist and begun rummaging through it, but I stopped her with a hand on top of hers. “Just put it on my tab for now, Tone.”

Lola huffed.

I put my lips to her ear and lowered my voice to one of consolation. “You can treat next time, but this place is mobbed, and letting this be over will be altogether easier for Tony.”

It wasn’t a decision she gave in to lightly, I could tell, but finally, she nodded. Tony looked relieved, smiling and shooting away in a rush.

Left to our twosome in his wake, Lola looked embarrassed. Over the situation or the money or maybe losing the power she spoke of needing around me. Flushed red with wet in her eyes, she looked down to conceal it. But no matter the reason, I wanted to make sure she knew she didn’t need to be.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked softly.

She huffed a surprised breath, then shook her head. “Definitely not.”

“Why?” I asked earnestly.

“Because it’s fucking embarrassing.”

“Things are only embarrassing if they’re going a way you don’t want them to go.”

“Ugh, Reed! Not fucking now with the lectures.”

I put up both hands in surrender. “I’m not. I swear.”

She sighed, and I watched her go silent, her mind spinning its wheels and mulling everything over. She needed a moment, and I had no problem giving it to her.

“You know, you can tell me anything, LoLo,” I said after a good five minutes had passed. “I’ll never judge you.”

“I mean, it’s embarrassing that my card was declined.” She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. “I’m a sad fucking excuse for an adult, aren’t I?” she asked—and then immediately took it back. “Wait…don’t answer that.”

Her eyes searched my face for a reaction, but I didn’t give one. Judgment wasn’t my thing. And when it came to Lola, I was already biased. Hell, I was probably her biggest fucking fan.

“I’m pathetic,” she muttered. “It’s like I’m missing the gene that allows you to become a real live adult. Some things I can manage just fine, but others, like finances, I’m just winging the fuck out of it. No game plan. Just pure, old-fashioned winging it.” She dropped her head to the table with a thud. “I don’t know how to be a grown-up.”

I fought the urge to chuckle at her adorable display and took a more resolute, direct approach instead. “Do you want to live like this?”

Her head popped up off the table, and she narrowed her eyes in my direction. “With my credit cards too maxed out for a cup of coffee?” she asked sarcastically. “I think not.”

I nodded. “Then I’ll help you change it.”

She rolled her eyes, took a sip of her coffee, and then cursed as it scalded her. It sloshed as she pushed it away as though it had offended her. I suspected she was picturing my reflection in the top of her cup. “It’s not that simple. Debt doesn’t just change. You have to pay it off and change your lifestyle, and that stuff, I’m not really willing to do.”