average human’s Reviews > So This Is Love > Status Update

I love Mac. Scratch that I love all of the main cast.

Then there was a scream. Reid moved out of the way and suddenly the girl was on the floor with Mac on top of her, smacking her and ripping out her hair. Lemon watched wide-eyed. Reid rushed over to them and pulled Mac off her.
“You came into the wrong fucking bar to pull that shit, bitch!” Mac screamed at her as she fought Reid to get free.

65%

“What about MIT or Stanford?” I asked.
He shrugged. “If I get into them, great. If I don’t, there are other colleges. There is more than one way to do things in life. The end goal is to be happy, and I’d be happy with just being your assistant.”
I tried not to smile. “You just want me to sit on your face.”
“Sounds like a fulfilling career to me,” Wyatt said, lightening the mood.
I rolled my eyes, smiling.
Reid ran his hands down his face. “I do want to leave. All we’ve known is the club and I want to experience life away from it.”
“I do, too,” Wyatt said. “Plus, I prefer cars.”
“We know,” Roe and Reid said at the same time.
“And I wasn’t asking you to not protect Charlotte,” Reid said. “I just wanted you to be aware of what you might be giving up because I thought it was your dream to go to Kendry and get into a fancy college. I asked because I want you to be happy, too.”
“Sounds like you three were butting heads for the same reason,” I pointed out.
“I wasn’t butting heads with anyone,” Wyatt said. “I was just waiting for them to figure out what the fuck we were doing and tell me.”
Roe and Reid both flipped Wyatt off.
“May I express my wants and don’t-wants, since it’s the topic of discussion?” I asked.
“You never have to wait for it to be the topic of discussion to tell us things, Lottie,” Roe said.
“After last night, I don’t want any of you to join the club. You three, shockingly even Reid, are too polite when turning down other women for my liking. Although I am proud of you two—” I glanced from Roe to Wyatt. “—for accidentally implying that you were in a relationship together to keep those ladies away, I still would have preferred a more direct, or if the lady is persistent, a downright asshole-ish approach. Like walking away. Bash did it. That makes me seem awful, I know, but I’d prefer not to punch anyone else.”
Reid turned a confused look on his best friends. “You did what?”
Roe just shook his head, smiling, and Wyatt just shrugged.
“Despite what Roe just said, I don’t want him to jeopardize all the hard work he put into Kendry. I know it’s my hang-up. I’m just pissed off at that shit you went through. Maybe it would be best that I deal with Brandon if anything happens,” I said.
“No,” all three of them said at the same time.
I knew it’d be a waste of time arguing with them, so I just said, “Fine.”
“That was all don’t-wants. Are there any wants?” Wyatt asked.
I thought about it for a moment. I had given them a desperate list of wants once. Since then, I had fulfilled nearly everything on it. There was one item on that list, though, that I would never get: a mother who didn’t hurt me. I supposed I’d gained a father who would protect me instead. Thinking of that father, I figured I probably should get home soon. “For right now, I want to focus on us. Take me on a date or something. I don’t want anything fancy. We could go see a movie and I can actually eat the candy and buttery popcorn. Or go to a restaurant and I can eat the food instead of pushing it around pretending to eat it the entire time. Or do something cheesy that you see in all the romantic movies.” I stood, unable to eat anymore. “While you three think on that, I need to get dressed and go home before Bram comes looking for me.”
As I walked toward Roe’s room, Noble came out of the farthest door down the hall. He froze when he saw me, then closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose after seeing what I was wearing. “Does your dad know you’re here or am I going to need to hide my boys?”
“Yes, he knows.”
He sighed with heavy relief as he opened his eyes. “Okay. That’s good.” He continued down the hall, and I went into Roe’s room to get dressed.

67%

“I really like this,” I said before taking another bite.
He smiled at me and used his thumb to wipe the corner of my mouth. “I used strawberry jam because I know how much you love strawberries.”
I smiled before taking another bite. “I overheard something interesting today.”
“Oh yeah?”
I nodded. “I heard that MIT sent out acceptances a little over two weeks ago. A few days prior to the club’s barbecue.” I leaned against the chain-link fence as I stared at him for his reaction.
He went still, but then slowly brought his sandwich up to take a bite.
“You got in, didn’t you?”
His lack of response was answer enough.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Stanford will send out acceptances next week. I wanted to see what they said first before I made a decision or told anyone anything.”
“Why wait on Stanford to tell us?” I asked.
He finished off his sandwich and as he chewed, I saw his wheels turning. “You already know the answer to that.”
“What if I don’t want to go to that art school anymore? What if I changed my mind? After all, I decided to be with you—leave with you—knowing that you might go to Massachusetts.”
He put his hands on the chain-link fence on either side of my head as he stared down at me. “I want you to listen to me when I say this: My dream, what I work hard for, is to be happy. For the four of us to be happy. I know what my friends need to be happy. Right now, I want you to tell me what you need to be happy.”
“You can’t just make other people happy⁠—”
“Tell me what would make you happy, Lottie. What are your dreams? If you tell me, then I will tell you what will make me happy—what I want out of this life.”
I couldn’t move my eyes from his. “I want to draw.”
“What else?”
“I don’t care where we move. As long as I can continue to draw and do something with it.”
“Okay. What else?”
“I…” I had been so focused on the immediate future with this new life I had been given that I hadn’t looked further. “I want a house. Our house. Just big enough for the four of us, or maybe a little bigger to fit a few more people.”
He smiled. “Who are the few more people?”
“So people can come visit. Like Bram, Vivian, Noble, or Mac. Our families.”
“Is that what the extra room is for? Just our visiting friends and families?” His smile never wavered as he pushed me to say it.
“Isn’t it too soon to talk about such things?” I asked.
“Why? You’re going to move away with us in a few months. If you can do that, you can tell me what you want from me and our relationship.”
Fine. “I want it all. I want to be an artist. I want you three, I want the house, the yard, maybe even a pet. And yes, I want to have children. One day. When we’re ready. In like ten years. I want to have a family and a home that is full of love.”
His hand went to my cheek. “When I look ahead, I want a house that is warm and feels safe for you. Your drawings are hanging in every room. Wyatt’s working on an old, ugly car in the garage or he’s drawing a new comic. Reid has finally decided what he wants to do, be it go back to school or find full-time work somewhere. I want to find you in a room we’ve designated as your studio. I want to see your hands covered in charcoal and you’re so locked in on your current drawing that you don’t even notice me watching you. I want that. I want that peace. It might be simple to some, but it’s what my dream is. Everything else is extra. MIT or Stanford just add to it. They were my top picks, but not the only places I applied. You are part of the main dream. You, Wyatt, and Reid.”
“There isn’t a career you want to pursue?” I asked him.
His hands went to my waist. “Data science has always interested me.”
My brows rose. No wonder MIT was one of his top picks. “And you would have settled for being my assistant?”
He leaned down and kissed my jaw, then my neck. “Before, I would have done it just to be near you.”
“And now?”
He pulled away smirking. “Now you don’t have to pay me to let you sit on my face.”
I rolled my eyes.
“We can do it anytime you want.” His mouth went back to my neck, kissing it, as his hands at my waist pulled me against him.
“I can’t sit on your face right now,” I said, even though the thought was very appealing.
“Why not? I could lay down in that storage shed, pull your panties down, and have you take a seat.”
I clenched my thighs together and I gave him a little push away. “We can’t. We should be keeping an eye out.”
He leaned back. “He’s not here. I heard that he and the rest of the baseball team are all at a tournament. So we don’t have to worry about him today.”
That was a relief. “I’m still not sitting on your face in a dark and no doubt spider-infested shed.”
He dramatically sighed in a way Wyatt would have. “Fine.”
I grabbed one of the lapels of his blazer. “Would you settle for a kiss?”
He smiled as his lips descended onto mine.

73%

I stared out at the water, which had turned black as night took over. “Leading up to that day you saved me, I would have sworn I was risking death just to hang out with you three. Part of me was terrified by that, but another part felt like it was worth it. It was better to die after having a handful of moments of freedom and happiness than to live and continue suffering. When I came home after the club’s barbecue, she was there and she caught me. I thought it was over. She was going to kill me this time, and I was ready to die. I was ready for the pain to end. I didn’t fight. Even when Clay’s hands were around my neck, I just lay there slipping away, at peace with it.
“Then I opened my eyes and there you were. I was so disappointed.” I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye with a small smile briefly before looking back out at the water. “Everything went so fast after that. You got me out. You brought me to Bram’s. Meanwhile, I was still grappling with still being alive. You all were insisting on taking me to a hospital, which was a stupid idea, because she would have had you all arrested for what she’d had Clay do to me and I would have been taken back home. I told you all no and you wouldn’t listen, so I was going to leave before I dragged you all down with me. If Roe hadn’t stopped me, I would have walked out that door. It didn’t matter how much pain I was in, I was going to come here, even if I had to drag my broken body all the way. I probably would have come to this spot, climbed onto the railing, and not hesitated to jump.” I looked at him. “So yes, this was my bottle of pills. But Roe stopped me from leaving. He threatened to follow me wherever I go. It frustrated the hell out of me, but it made me fight myself for my fucking life.
“I drew this bridge over and over because it was how I appeased the hopeless part of me that still wanted to come here. It bought me more time so I could find my reasons for staying, because back then, l didn’t trust that Bram would protect me and there was still this impending doom that my mother would drag me back.”
“Then he protected you from Clay,” he said.
I nodded. “I didn’t need to draw a bridge again after that and still haven’t. I’m good. It’s strange saying that without it being a lie, but I really am. Or at least, better than I’ve ever been,” I assured. “I’m more than likely going to need a fuck-ton of therapy later on.”
He huffed a humorless laugh. “I should probably get some, too. One of these days.”
I turned around and faced the road. “The food was good, but you’ll need to do better on our next date.”
“Oh, really?” The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he stared at me.
“Where to now?” I asked.
He reached down and picked up our food bag. “I’m taking you to my place.” It wasn’t a suggestion or question. It was an answer. He took my hand again and we walked back to his bike. After stuffing our trash into one of the saddlebags, he pulled out his leather jacket and put it on my shoulders. “It will get cold during the ride now that the sun is down.”
I slid my arms through the sleeves. I was drowning in it, but it smelled like him.
Once I got the helmet on, we got on his bike and headed to his place.