“What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “I just don’t think Tina is going to beat Ryan to it. You might as well do some of the things you’re planning for Ryan instead. I could?—”
I laugh, cutting him off. “Seriously? Let me get this straight. You volunteer to help him, and now you want me to help you? You do realize that Tina is paying me to arrange this for her, right? Why on earth would I help Ryan beat her to itandlet him use her ideas?”
He does this annoying thing with his face where he smiles and frowns at the same time, like this is the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard—as if he didn’t just hear the words coming out of his own mouth. “Who cares?” he says. “She’ll still be getting all the things she wants. They’ll just be coming from Ryan instead.”
“That’s not the point.” I can’t believe I have to explain this to him. “Her mom?—”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” he interrupts dismissively. “I think you might be a little obsessed, though.” He pauses, and his eyes wander over me. He smirks. “You tend to get that way sometimes.”
My mouth hangs open. I can’t believe he’s bringing up what I said a year ago. The conversation I just had with my dad yesterday doesn’t help either. I can feel my blood boiling. The longer I stand here in front of him, the closer I come to losing my sanity. I picture what it might be like to wrap my fingers around his neck and squeeze.
“Whatever, though,” he says with a shrug. “Good luck planning something that will never have the chance to happen.”
He steps past me and heads down the stairs. I take a moment to breathe, cooling myself down before I follow him.
I find Tina and Ryan in the kitchen. Tina has both doors of her refrigerator wide open while she rummages through the freezer. Oliver stops at the far side of the island counter while I stay on this side. I turn my attention to Tina and Ryan to avoid looking at him. I force a smile so that Tina won’t notice how angry I am.
“Sounded like you two had a hell of a workout up there,” Ryan says.
“Just a little crash course on treadmill safety,” Tina says, still facing the freezer.
“Something tells me there wasn’t anything safe about what the two of you were doing,” Oliver says.
My eyes slide to him involuntarily. He’s watching me. I frown and turn away from him, returning my attention to Tina and Ryan. There’s a prickle at the side of my head. I can feel Oliver’s stare pulling me back, but I fight it.
Tina finally turns around and sets two tubs of ice-cream on the island. “Do you want any?” she asks.
“Of course.” Ice-cream might be just the thing I need to help me cool down. “What kind?”
“Chocolate and strawberry,” she says, sliding them in front of me.
I grab the strawberry tub and open it. “You can never go wrong with strawberry,” I say, licking my lips.
“Boys?” she says, looking at Ryan and Oliver. “Want some?”
They’re still on the opposite end of the island, talking quietly now. Oliver looks up at Tina and shakes his head. “No thanks.”
“I’m lactose intolerant,” Ryan reminds her.
Tina rolls her eyes. “As if that’s ever stopped you before.” Then she shrugs. “More for us, then.” She hands me a spoon, then opens the chocolate tub and digs in without putting it in a separate bowl first. I stare at my spoon, then shrug and follow suit.
“Mmm,” Tina moans. “This is so good.”
“So good,” I agree. I don’t realize that I’m moaning too until I open my eyes in time to catch a weird look on Oliver’s face. My cheeks flush. I clear my throat.
“You girls really seem to be enjoying that ice-cream,” Ryan remarks with a smirk.
“I’m having a mouth-gasm,” Tina says. I almost choke on my ice-cream. “It’s almost as good as getting eaten out. Maybe even better.”
It takes a second for her meaning to hit. “Tina! Gross!” I scold, shocked.
She laughs. “What? It’s true.”
“I wouldn’t kno—” I cut myself off, realizing that I’m about to admit to never having experienced what she’s talking about. I pivot, saying, “I wouldn’t compare it to that.”
Nothing gets past Tina, though. “Oh, no. Priss. Please don’t tell me you’ve never had a guy go down on you before.”
