Just Between Us

Chapter 24

Stefani's POV

"She's fucking weird, Rachel I swear," I muttered into my phone. I don't know if Lillian can hear through walls and I'm not risking it. Her last known location was the shower room.

"I bet it was her and Kent fighting for the first time and then you swooping in about helping her with her apron. She was blushing like crazy the way you tied it, even pulled her closer to you. Kent is the least affectionate and you're not even aware of the times you are affectionate- mainly because you don't even realize when you're being affectionate," Rachel munches on whatever the hell she's eating.

"I played it off with her this morning. I honestly don't know what to do," I shrugged putting on clothes.

"Oh she was asking for clarification?!" Rachel squealed making me irritated.

"Ugh, stop doing that- and yes to answer your question," I groaned.

"Omgggg okay okay, I know you dodged her but tell me how do you feel about her?" Rachel's voice started getting distorted.

"I- I don't know what to feel. She used to piss me off so much, Rachel, but now- it's like I'm slowly becoming curious??? To understand her?? I don't know how to explain it, she doesn't annoy me as much. I can- tolerate her. I wonder if it's because she stood up for me and understands that no mother figure could compare to my biological mother..." I fumbled ridiculously with my words.

"You like her!" Rachel fought a squeal and started eagerly clapping.

"I guess? I haven't said anything snarky about her engagement with my dad going to end soon," I dropped my shoulders.

"I didn't mean it like that- although that is a good thing.. surprised you haven't said anything like that either in a while... okay but I meant was; you have a little crush on herrr," Rachel enthusiastically claps over the phone.

"Bye, I strongly think you took this out of proportion. I'll see you when you get here," I hung up the phone.

As if my mommy issues weren't already stacked sky high and now this.

It's just a small crush according to Rachel. This shouldn't take long to blow over. Dodging Lillian won't get rid of this, I have to tolerate her presence even more in order to have a considerably normal interaction with her that doesn't give me- weird feelings. And she's reciprocating that she feels those same feelings and that's not really helpful.

Fuck- I guess I do have an attraction towards Lillian..

"Hi, Rachel!" Lillian chirps as she greets Rachel. My brows never scrunched up so hard.

Don't tell me she was in the parking lot this whole time.

"Hey bestieeee, my beautiful precious bestie," Rachel knocks on my door.

"Shut up Rachel and bring your ass in here," i grunted.

Without hesitation the door flies open and shuts closed as my one and my only friend flings across the room landing on my bed all giddy.

"Ready to go joyriding and smoking?" She kicks her feet back and forth. She's such a kid.

"Yes but I think I'm not entirely sure on the smoking part... I'm not sure what the reason is, but I'm not in the mood for it," I stared at my koi fish tank and I groaned.

Even the damn fish makes me think about Lillian because she was the one who took me out that day and got them...

"Ouuuu sober Stef, I bet she's super serious," Rachel play pouts and I shove a pillow in her face.

"Stop it, this is serious. I know I don't want Kent and her getting married, but I didn't expect something like this come about. This is new waters and I honestly don't know how to go about this..." i grumbled and Rachel gets more comfortable.

"What have you been doing to even get this far?" Rachel is still amazed by this possibility.

"Fucking nothing. Absolutely not a damn thing," I flopped back into my bed and stared at my ceiling fan.

"Wait- so Lillian just gets curious about you for you being you?" Rachel comes to her conclusion.

"Exactly, I'm an asshole," I looked at my plants.

"Only a kiss can confirm if there's anything," Rachel gives her two cents.

"Then there's s something if that's what it'll take," I face palmed myself.

"I think we're gonna reschedule our joyriding," she gets up and gathers her things.

"Like hell we are, you swore it," I looked at her like she was foreign.

"Take Lillian joyriding," she teased.

"You're so annoying," I sighed.

"I have phone calls to make, a business to sell and colleges to apply for, summer is literally ending," I shoved her out of my room.

"I will help you look for colleges to apply for so you can focus on doing whatever business marketing thing you're about to do- ONLY," She pauses briefly leaving me anticipating what I already know.

"Fine goddamnit.. I'll talk to Lillian about whatever weird attraction is between us- I'm not kissing her." I handed her my laptop.

"I wonder who'd be the dom, you or Lillian," Rachel types away and I toss another pillow at her face making her squeal.

"Yeah, yeah just find me a college in business law," I brushed her off.

"There's this trading program called the better man's club, I can give you a flyer to get in. It's a gathering of free classes to learn about day trading and which trading style suits you," she digs in her purse to pull out a blue slip of paper.

"Sounds like a male supremacy cult, but I guess," I shrugged and looked at the next meeting and location.

Jesus, Rachel...