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Chapter 17-Meeting Laurel(1)
Emily and Nick visited us for a few days and we were waving them off the morning they were departing. After we said goodbye to Emily and Nick who were going back to New York, Evan and I decided to have an early lunch at a family restaurant. Stepping out of the crowded airport Evan reached for my hand and held it in his, glancing down at me with a smile.
“Figured we try out being an actual couple.”
I squeezed his hand, “Holding hands and going out on dates?”
His lips twitched, “Exactly.”
Entering the restaurant we sat in a booth and ordered our food. We both ordered a lot since we skipped out on breakfast. Sitting across each other we shared our dishes, talking about how amazing Emily and Nick were.
“She is naming him after me.”
“The baby?” I asked surprised.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only
“Yeah.” He grinned, happiness gleaming in his eyes as his whole face lit up, “Said she was grateful I pushed them to be together. I told her I only advised them, they were the one who decided to make a move. But Emily, once she has made up her mind no one can change it.”
“Nick can.”
Reaching for my matcha tea I sipped it, feeling like I was in heaven. It was iced with a dash of whipped cream. I didn’t care if it wasn’t the healthy option, it was freaking delicious.
“Yeah, Nick can.” Evan agreed, still smiling.
“I’m glad things worked out for them.”
Evan leaned closer, “Me too.” He told me quietly and narrowed his eyes on me, “So next thing we need to take care of is your girl, Laurel.” I couldn’t help but to be surprised he remembered her, “Don’t look so surprised, I do listen to you, Zoey.”
“I know that.” I leaned back in my seat and placed my glass back on the table in front of me, “But since we’ve been busy I figured it slipped your mind.” I glanced aside not being able to meet his gaze, “Laurel is not the problem. She’ll like you. I’m more concerned about my parents.”
“That they won’t like me?”
I flickered my eyes back at him, “Is that weird?” I asked him, “We’re not at a good place right now and they’ve seen the pictures of us together. I’ve told them we were just friends because when they saw the pictures and called me for an explanation we were just friends. Things changed.”
He reached for me, running his knuckles lightly down my cheek to comfort me.
“We’ll figure it out together.” He promised me.
He leaned back and finished off his drink, “So what is Laurel like?”
“Very present, always. Loud and cheerful but loyal.”
“So a good friend?”
I nodded, “Yeah, like Nick is to you.”
He seemed to understand what Laurel meant to then, “I understand.”
We planned the days, wanting to give Laurel a tour around and town and doing fun stuff with her. I didn’t have to talk to her about my feelings for Evan anymore. I talked to Evan about it and here we were. Doing the couple thing and it made me fucking happy and I’m sure it was the same for him.
…
We had planned everything for Laurel’s arrival and when she did arrive a few days later we welcomed her together. Evan convinced me it was better to meet her right away, not giving her time to get excited and come up with tons of questions or lots of squealing and jumping up and down because she was happy for me. And I wasn’t going to lie and say she wouldn’t do that, because Laurel was that kind of girl. She loved everything about romance and she believed in finding the one. Since she figured out I had a thing for Evan and she convinced me I was in denial she’d do a lot of squealing and jumping up and down.
When she approached us she stopped and stared for a minute. Her eyes widened as she met Evan’s gaze. He smiled at her and met her halfway to take her suitcase. She wanted to protest but Evan didn’t give her time to.
“I got this, Laurel.” He told her with that charming smile which made many panties drop, “You go say hi to Zoey.”
While she kept staring at Evan, probably not believing her eyes because he looked even hotter, in reality, she approached me and wrapped her arms around me.
“He looks like a wet dream.” She whispered to me, making me laugh.
“He is pretty hot,” I whispered back, meeting Evan’s gaze.
He looked rather smug so he probably heard us.