He looked up as Reba walked over, looking much more like herself with her pink hair freed, pink sweatpants, and a grey crop top with a big pink heart in the middle. She was still looking at him as if she didn’t want him here. It was oddly unnerving. He had gotten used to her over-the-top bubbly demeanour; he wasn’t certain how to react to her hard stare.
Of course, she had shown him small glimpses during the times he annoyed her. Nothing compared to this level, though.
She took his arm and led him over to the gallery area, away from her father and sister, who hadn’t joined in the conversation with her mother but had quietly been listening.
“I suppose I should be grateful for you showing up.” Reba dropped his hand and pressed her back to the ledge so she could face him, arms folded. “I get to escape this whole church affair. Even though my mother is going to hassle me about you when I get home.”
“Why would she do that?”
“I told you. You’re perfect boyfriend material in their eyes. Stable and shit.”
“Is that bad? You make it sound terrible.”
“Yes, when they think if I date someone like you, I’ll calm down. Be less this.” She tugged on the ends of her hair. “Be more like my sister, who I love dearly, but I’m not her. Never gonna be her.”
“You sort of looked like her with that black wig,” he said, hoping to lighten the mood. Instead, Reba didn’t even crack a smile.
“You’d like if I was like that, wouldn’t you? Less of the chaos agent that I am.”
“I like you the way you are,” he said.
It had taken him some time to realize that. Her all-over-the-place energy had definitely collided with his subdued nature, and according to his risk analysis, she definitely fell into that red zone. It didn’t matter; he couldn’t deny the crackle between them.
She narrowed her eyes. “No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
She stared at him, saying nothing. The longer it went on, the more uncomfortable it became—simply because he wanted to kiss away that frown—but Devon didn’t shift his gaze. He wanted her to know he was serious.
Yvonne came over to hand him the plate, shattering the tense moment. “Enjoy.” She turned to Reba. “You didn’t have to change. You looked fine.”
“She looks more herself like this.” The words fell from his mouth without much thought.
Reba shot him a look. “Okay, let’s go.” She grabbed onto his t-shirt and literally dragged him outside. Her grip on his shirt turned into her pressing a palm against his chest to stop his forward motion towards his car. “What was all of that back there? ‘I like you the way you are.’” She pitched her voice lower to mimic his words.
“Stating facts is all.” He reached for her wrist, but she pulled her hand away from his chest before he could touch her.
“No, that’s bullshit. Last night was all, ‘I don’t want to want her.’ Now, it’s all, ‘I like you the way you are?’” She scoffed. “I know I play games, but not like this. I don’t care if you think I’m a huge risky inconvenience in your life, but don’t suddenly lie to me now.”
“You didn’t hear everything I said last night, did you? Just that part?”
The part she had heard wasn’t that great. But he hadn’t lied. He didn’t want to want her. Reba had come in like a whirlwind, and he hadn’t known how to deal with that. The sudden appearance of Joya had added to his already confused state.
In spite of that, and before he had talked to Joya, he had told Jeremy one thing he had known was a fact, even though the analysis had revealed that everything about Reba was risk incarnate. He was fascinated by her and found himself thinking about how she would approach a given situation. That had made him uneasy. He had his routines and didn’t like to deviate from them, but Reba had shown him it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Jeremy, being the damn clairvoyant he was, had asked the hard question. “What else? When you see her or think of her randomly?”
“I think my heart tries out for the Olympics or something.” It had been the first thing that had popped into his head, the heart in question doing exactly as he’d said.
Jeremy looked super smug at that. “Well, there you go. There’s your answer, bro. Fuck your lists and red zone risks or whatever.”
He couldn’t just get rid of his lists, but his reliance on them where people were concerned might need some rethinking.
“I heard enough,” Reba said and started walking towards his car. “Let’s just go.”
“I told him I can’t stop thinking about you. About how my heart feels like it wants to jump right out of my fucking chest. I may not want to feel what I do, but it’s there. It feels weird to admit, but there it is.”
She stopped and turned back to face him. “You want the idea of who I could be if you mould me just the way you want. Into the perfect little candidate. I’m not some checkbox on a list.”