Page 158 of Scandalous


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“It’s a good thing we want you then too, huh?” Santi teases.

“Finders keepers,” I singsong.

We fall silent, all staring off into space.

“You know, eventually we will have to figure out how we come out to everyone,” Santi says carefully.

The idea makes me nauseous. Not in a bad way, more like anticipation.

“I wonder what people will say…” I muse.

“Who cares.” I feel Aurora shrug behind me. “It’s our lives and we can do what we want. I mean, for fuck’s sake, there’s that guy from somewhere around here who has like four wives, a million kids, and a reality TV show. If he can do it, why can’t we?”

“You want a TV show?” I ask, raising my eyebrows.

Aurora rolls her eyes. “Hard pass. It’s hard enough sharing the parts of my life that I do. Speaking of…” She nudges me. “You haven’t posted anything in a while.”

“Are you checking up on me? Nah, I just haven’t felt like it. I’ve been trying to live more in the moment lately than through a camera lens.”

“Most of my content is food and I still have a hard time balancing it all.”

“You do okay though,” Santi points out. “And if you feel like you need to step it back up, let me know. I’ll help you. I don’t want you losing out on opportunities because of us.”

“Same,” I say, squeezing her hands.

“You guys are the best, you know that, right?” She smiles, looking between the two of us. “I should be okay though. Everyone seems happy so far.”

“Do you think you will keep it up after you graduate?”

Aurora hums. “Probably. I haven’t decided yet. I might take some time off from posting and get an office job, or I might just focus on content creation. Depends on how it’s going then.”

“True. You have time,” Santi says.

“Whatever you decide, just know we support you.”

Aurora leans forward and kisses me. All too soon, she pulls away. I watch as she leans over and kisses Santi. The way her face lights up when he tucks a piece of hair behind her ear should make me jealous, but it doesn’t. The only thing I feel right now is love. Romantically for Aurora and platonically for Santi.

A door shutting catches all of our attention and we turn toward the sliding glass door.

“Sounds like someone’s home,” Aurora says softly.

“We should find out what happened,” Santi says as he stands.

He reaches down and helps Aurora up. “Thanks.”

“Anytime, Rora.”

I stand and grab my guitar.

“Hey Liam,” Aurora says, getting my attention.

“Yeah?”

She smiles as she squeezes my arm. “How about you go check on our guy, yeah?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

“I think you two could use a moment.”