Just a few minutes ago, Francesca asked if I believed in love at first sight and I told her no.
Love at third date, though. There might be something to that.
Chapter Six
“This is cruel and unusual punishment.”
Mark shakes his head, passing a bag of chips to Maddie and leaning forward to respond to Francesca. “You’re going to love it. It’s hilarious.”
Maddie rolls her eyes, looking beside her at Francesca. “He’s lying to you. It’s not hilarious. It’s stupid, indulgent douchebaggery.”
Francesca grins. “I hate it already.”
“You’ve only seen the opening sequence,” I tell her, lightly elbowing her in the side. “You swore you’d give it a chance.”
Maddie sighs dramatically. “I’m losing so many brain cells right now. When you invited me over for dinner, you should’ve added that I’d have to watch Entourage.”
“Whatever, this show is a blast,” Mark tells her.
“A blast to my brain cells, yes.”
Mark rolls his eyes. “You can pick the next thing we watch.”
“No,” I interrupt quickly. “He’s joking, that’s not a real offer.”
Maddie grins. “Too late, he already said it.”
I sigh dramatically. “Mark… what have you done?”
“Does she have terrible taste?” Mark asks.
“You’ve met Isaac.”
“Hey,” Maddie objects, scowling at me. “He used to be less of a douche than he turned out to be. And don’t even get me started on your vapid, bullshit exes. We can talk about them if you want to, I’m sure Francesca would love to hear all about them.”
“I would,” Francesca chirps.
Mark snickers and grabs the chip bag back from Maddie. “Give me those, thief.”
“You gave them to me,” she points out.
“I offered them. I was being polite. I didn’t think you’d keep them.”
Francesca adds, “I don’t understand why you guys are eating chips when there’s a pizza in the oven anyway.”
“Um, we’re pre-gaming,” Mark says.
“Obviously,” Maddie adds.
Shaking his head, Mark looks at Maddie and shakes his head. “Can you believe her? She doesn’t know about pre-dinner snacks.”
Maddie nods with mock sympathy. “What kind of tragic life do you lead, Francesca?”
Francesca smiles. “Well, we have formal dinners every night. I’ve literally never done this before. Usually the maids bring out all the courses, and we sit at a formal dining table at the same seats each night, even if not everyone shows up; it’s a whole thing. Deciding literally today on pizza and salads, sitting on the couch eating potato chips before dinner—this would never happen in my house.”
“Jesus,” Mark says, shaking his head.
“They dress up, too,” I add.
“Dressing up could be fun sometimes,” Maddie offers. “I love to get all dolled up.”
“Yeah, but it’s every night,” Francesca says. “Like, without exception.”
“I’m pretty sure she was ready to marry me when she showed up at my house last time and I was wearing jeans for dinner,” I tell them.
Francesca rolls her eyes. “Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration.”
“You were ready to attack me. I saw visions of babies dancing in your eyes.”
“Remember how we talked about you making me injure my optic nerves? This is the kind of thing I was talking about.”
“You should wear jeans to dinner at your house one night, just to see what happens,” Maddie advises Francesca.
This idea seems to amuse her. “Mateo would probably make me go change.”
Maddie shakes her head. “That’s nuts. Your brother’s crazy hot though; I’d dress up to have dinner with him.”
With a snort of disbelief, I tell her, “Over my dead body.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Isaac you were okay with, but Mateo Morelli’s a dealbreaker?”
“You know he killed his last girlfriend, right?”
Shrugging, Maddie says, “She turned snitch, what was he supposed to do?”
“This conversation is over. I know you’re joking, but it makes me sweat just thinking about it.”
“Whatever. This show’s horrible,” Maddie announces. “Let’s turn it off.”
“Maybe you think it’s horrible because you haven’t shut up since it started,” Mark suggests.
“Maybe I think it’s horrible because it’s horrible,” Maddie responds.
“You’re horrible.”
In what I can only assume is a bad impression of Mark’s voice, Maddie says, “You’re horrible.”
Leaning forward to look over at me, Mark says, “Do something about your sister.”
“Please, you love when I come over,” she states, stealing the bag of potato chips again.
“Love is a strong, strong word.”
Francesca pushes up off the couch. “I’m going to go check on the pizza.”
I’m so damn tempted to offer to come help, it’s ridiculous. Mostly I just want a minute alone with her, so as soon as she leaves the living room I suddenly realize I need a new drink, and I head in the kitchen.
She’s bent over the oven, peeking inside, when I come in.
“Nice view,” I tell her.
Smiling at me over her shoulder, she says, “You missed me that much, huh?”
Hardly even joking, I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. “I always miss you. I didn’t come in here for you, though. I was just really, really thirsty.”