Not My Type : Golden Girls 1

by Veronica Adler

  “Go ahead, I’ll wait,” I said. I crossed my arms and leaned against her car. She mimicked my gesture and glared up at me. A couple of nurses walked by on the way to their cars and gave us curious looks. The news that Sienna and I were related had made us curious objects in the eyes of our colleagues. It must have something to do with the fact that we rarely interacted at work. During her six-week tenure in my department, I had treated her like all the other interns.

  “I’m not doing this with you,” Sienna said.

  “Come on, grumpy. It’s either me or Em.”

  I was determined to talk to her. She had been going out of her way to avoid me. Needless to say, it bugged me. I knew she was pissed about Eve and me, so this apathy had to go. When I moved to Chicago, it took her an entire year to forgive me for leaving her. She was my favorite. I might not have been able to control my heart, but the idea chafed me no less.

  “I’m not talking to that traitor,” she said, shaking her head once. “I just have to accept that I can’t trust my siblings. I’ve got a deserter, a traitor, and a spy. Fun times.”

  “Kailin’s the spy, I assume?”

  “Yup. The few times I’ve ever talked to her, she’s told her mother everything I said, and I don’t appreciate that.”

  “Grumpy—”

  “Lick rust, Daniel.”

  I almost snorted at that insult. Our grandmother kept a close eye on us when we were kids and we weren’t allowed to use curse words because they were degenerative and what was the point of giving us an expensive education if we talked like hoodlums. We had come up with other ways to express ourselves.

  “You’re not angry that Eve and I are dating, so what are you angry about?” I asked.

  Sienna tossed her braid over her shoulder.

  “Are you not listening to me? I am not talking about this.”

  “Well, I’m not letting you leave until we do talk about it. I want to clear the air.”

  Sienna smiled, and it wasn’t a happy smile. It didn’t reach her eyes almost as if someone was moving her mouth but the rest of her was still. My stomach twisted unpleasantly. Whatever she was about to say, I wasn’t going to enjoy it.

  “You want to clear the air? Fine. I don’t trust you.”

  It was a gut punch. If she had punched me—and she had a hell of a left hook—it would have hurt less. Here was my baby sister, the little girl I had helped raise, who I read bedtime stories to, who I had stayed up with when she had nightmares. She didn’t trust me. Somewhere along the years since we were those kids, I had done something, maybe a lot of somethings, to make her lose her trust in me. The thought made bile rise in my throat.

  She sighed when she saw the look on my face; I could only imagine how I looked. Sienna fidgeted with her purse, her car keys. A few other people walked out of the hospital and towards their cars, ready to get home and get into bed. I was supposed to be meeting Eve, but she had canceled because she was busy at work. It was the most ridiculous thing, but over the past week, I had become accustomed to sleeping next to her.

  “This is why I didn’t want to say anything,” Sienna said. “This horror-stricken look on your face. Do you think I don’t want to trust my big brother? You’re like the most important person in my life. But your track record when it comes to sticking with things is shoddy at best.”

  “I stuck with med school, my internship, my fellowship. I made a career,” I said dumbly. Even though I knew this was not what she meant.

  “I meant people, Daniel. You can’t stick with people. And I get it, okay? I have a fear of abandonment, so I get it better than most people. But it also makes me not trust you.”

  “I’m sorry I’ve made you feel that way,” I said sincerely.

  Sienna shrugged.

  “Can we please go somewhere and talk about this? Please?” I pleaded.

  Sienna sighed and rolled her eyes.

  “Fine. I am going to get dinner and you can come with me. I will listen to you and determine if you’re worth forgiving.”

  “Thank you.”

  We got in our cars and I followed her to a local pizzeria. When I got there, I noticed a message notification on my phone. It was Eve, wishing me good luck with my conversation with Sienna. She had sent me a kissing emoji with her message and I sent one back to her, even though I’ve never used one before. Eve texted back right away.

  Eve: How’s it going?

  Daniel: It’s…going. Sienna hates me.

  Eve: LOL, I think that’s impossible. You’re her role model

  Daniel: Ouch! After the conversation we had, that hurts. We’re having dinner to talk more.

  Eve: Good luck! Call me after if you want.

  She punctuated that with another kiss emoji. I grinned, powering off my phone and getting out of the car. Sienna waited for me next to hers. She didn’t wait for me to walk up to her, she just turned and led the way into the pizzeria.

  There was a group of college kids sitting in a corner booth with books spread across the table and a box of pizza between them.

  “Remember when that used to be us? I would let you and Emily stay up past your bedtimes knowing I would get in trouble, too?” I asked.

  “Don’t go maudlin on me. I’m angry, and I intend to stay angry.”

  I ordered an extra cheese pizza because Sienna hated toppings and we grabbed a booth. Sienna didn’t say anything and I didn’t either. I wondered when we became the siblings who had a strained relationship. This wasn’t just about Eve. It must have existed before her and I had ever noticed, not in the times when I had visited Sienna or she had visited me. Perhaps she and my family were right and I had abandoned them. I’d chosen a life where I was free of them and I didn’t realize how they would feel about that.

  “So,” I began. “You’re still upset about my leaving.”

  Sienna waved her hand dismissively.

  “I told you, I get it. I left LA as soon as I could, and granted I only moved here but it’s still away from the family. I understand you not wanting to live under the Reid shadow. My issue is that you completely cut us out of your life. If you hadn’t broken up with the Wicked Witch, would you even have moved back here? This is your mid-life crisis. The hero who decides to pack up and move on to greener pastures, hoping to start over.”

  “I’ve been back for six months. Why didn’t you say anything then? Why didn’t you say anything before?”

  “Because I shouldn’t have had to. Which I admit was wrong on my part. Communication is the key to a healthy relationship.”

  I stared at my sister blankly. “What is going on here? Fear of abandonment? Communication is the key to a healthy relationship? Have you been seeing a therapist?”

  Psychology was a soft science and therapy was frowned upon in our family. The family that needed it the most. With therapy, maybe my aunt wouldn’t have felt the need to declare her love publicly and drunkenly to her estranged husband by handcuffing herself to a bicycle rack in front of his building because there would have been someone to make her see sense.

  “I’m…considering it,” Sienna admitted bashfully. “You can’t tell anyone. I don’t want shit for trying to make myself better. Clarissa recommended one.”

  I raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.

  “I would never tell anyone.” I didn’t want to incur her wrath any more than I already had.

  Sienna sat up and crossed her arms, pinning me with her death stare.

  “Talk to me about Eve,” she said. She sounded like a mafia don and I was the lackey who was going to die if I didn’t give the right answer. Problem was, I didn’t know the right answer and most likely, any answer would get me killed.

  “I think you know her better than I do,” I said.

  “Sure, yes. Then you came along and decided she’s the woman you wanted to date out of all the women in this city. Why?”

  “It’s for purely selfish reasons,” I replied honestly.

  Sienna narrowed her eyes at me. “Explain
yourself.”

  I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. I didn’t think I would have to explain myself, not about this. Why did I think that? I couldn’t simply fall in love with a woman and not know why I loved her. I picked up my water and twisted off the cap, drinking down half the bottle in one gulp.

  “It’s the way she looks at you like she sees everything and forgives all she finds lacking. I don’t want to leave her, Grumpy. I feel like I have found my place and for the first time, I am happy and content. Eve is the most amazing woman I have ever met, and I have met a lot of amazing women. I’m related to a lot of amazing women. She’s nice, she’s friendly, she goes out of her way to help people, she makes me feel like a despicable human being because I’m none of those things. I can’t give her up. I probably would if she never wanted to see me again, but as long as she does, I will try damn hard to make her happy.”

  Sienna slow-blinked.

  “So, you’ve lulled her into a false sense of security.”

  I laughed. “Isn’t that what it sounds like? It sounds bad when I say it out loud. I can’t articulate it any better than that. You should know; you’re a Reid too. We’re not any good at relationships, but Eve. Eve makes me want to try. I want to be good to her. I want to be her person. The first person she turns to when she’s upset, happy, delirious for joy or so angry at the world she can’t express it with words. I want to be that person for her because she’s already that person for me.”

  Sienna started to say something when the kid behind the counter called out my name, letting us know the pizza was ready. I went to get the box and the paper plates, grabbed a ton of napkins and brought everything back to the table. Sienna opened the lid, releasing steam and the scent of pizza sauce and cheese. We each picked up a slice and placed it on our plates.

  “What were you going to say?” I asked while I waited for my slice to cool.

  “Just that I should have warned you not to fall in love with her, instead of the other way around. But I guess it’s too late for warnings.”

  It was too late. I’d felt the inkling of it, but just the other day, I woke up to an empty bed. It was barely four in the morning and I knew Eve would be awake, having her first of many coffees for the day. I found Eve sitting on a barstool, the only light provided by the overhead lamps. Her hands were wrapped around the coffee cup, she was wearing only my t-shirt and her underwear, the same thing she had worn to bed, her hair pulled up into a messy bun. Her eyes had barely opened and she gave me the biggest smile. She had looked beautiful, and she had smelled like warmth and the uniqueness of our scents combined which still lingered on her skin. I knew then I had to marry this woman, that she was who I wanted to wake up to for the rest of my life.

  “Just don’t fuck it up, Daniel,” Sienna said firmly. “I’m saying this because I care about both of you.”

  Then she picked up her slice and bit into it.

  Chapter 25 – Eve

  “What is wrong with you?” Sheila demanded, when I dropped a whisk at her entrance.

  “Nothing,” I said breezily. I just felt jumpy for some reason. I must have had too much coffee.

  “Right, that’s not suspicious at all.”

  I shooed her away. “I’m very busy.”

  “You’ve been here since 5:00 am, no doubt. How can you still be busy?” She asked. She picked an orange crème puff and popped it into her mouth.

  “Don’t eat the fruits of my labor,” I reprimanded. I moved the tray away from her and handed it to Priya so she could start boxing them.

  “Please don’t use the word labor,” Sheila said.

  I straightened from where I was piping buttercream roses, preparing them to go on the cake for the Mayor’s daughter’s wedding, to be delivered tomorrow. Holy shit, did a month go by fast. I had piped so many flowers my hand was starting to cramp. Every time I thought I was close to being done, there were more!

  “Did you need something or are you just wasting my time? Do not put that there!”

  The last part, I shouted to Marcus because he was about to put the vanilla cupcakes next to the chocolate cupcakes. They were for different clients and I had a system going and I was keeping everything on different sides of the kitchen with two teams working on them. I didn’t have the time or patience for a basic mix-up that could be avoided.

  “Watching you freak out is vastly entertaining,” Sheila said, gleefully. “But your boyfriend is here.”

  I almost dropped the piping bag, too.

  “Daniel is here?! Why?”

  “To tell you that he and I are in love and he’s leaving you,” she said in all seriousness.

  I knew she was joking. I knew it. Still, my heart sunk like a brick and resituated to my stomach.

  “Don’t even joke about that,” I said quietly.

  Sheila grew serious, the smile dropping from her face. “I would never do something so heinous.”

  I gave her arm a quick squeeze. Putting the piping bag down, I slipped out of my apron and handed it to Sheila. I stopped in front of the mirror and smoothed the frizz out of my hair, or tried to at least. Whatever. Daniel had seen me in the mornings many times and I didn’t look worse than that. I woke up to pillow creases on my face and Daniel still told me I looked beautiful.

  “He’s outside,” Sheila said as I walked out of the kitchen.

  Daniel was standing at the street corner talking on his phone I walked out of the bakery. I smiled, seeing him standing there. All I could remember was last night when I had slipped into bed next to him. He had wrapped his arm around my waist, pulled me close into his warm body. Our clothes slipped off like water and the feel of his body over mine had made me gasp into his mouth. I had almost told him I loved him then; something had made me hold my tongue. We’d gone to sleep with his arm wrapped around me, as we had for the last week. And I loved the way he was always a little reluctant to let me go in the mornings.

  Daniel was frowning down at the sidewalk, looking distressed, and running a hand through his hair. Whoever he was talking to, and whatever they were talking about, the conversation was not going in his favor. When he finally saw me, he grabbed my hand and pulled me close, kissing my forehead. His entire body relaxed under my touch and I warmed at the effect I had on him.

  “This is none of your business, Mother. Stay out of it,” he said in a hard voice before hanging up. I looked up at him in surprise.

  “That was your mother?”

  “She’s a delightful woman. If you can call a demoness delightful,” Daniel replied.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t be dating someone who’s part demon.”

  “Too late. I’m not letting you go,” he said, right before planting his lips on mine. He wound his hand through my hair, gripping it tight. The kiss was rough and hard, his hold on me harder. The call must have upset him more than he was letting on.

  “Is everything okay? With your mother, I mean,” I said, when we pulled apart.

  “She’s being her normal, insufferable self,” Daniel said, grinding his jaw hard. “For her, we’re puppets, more people she can control. She doesn’t have a maternal instinct in her body.”

  I kissed his jaw. Based on what little he and Sienna had said about their mother, I knew he wasn’t just exaggerating her personality.

  “What does she want you to do?” I asked.

  Daniel hesitated, his eyes moving between mine. “She wants me to move back to Chicago.”

  I blinked, waiting to see if he was joking. “What?”

  “I’m not moving. This is just what she does. It’s fine. Let’s talk at lunch.”

  “Lunch?”

  “We’re supposed to have lunch?”

  “We are?”

  “I asked you this morning and you said yes,” Daniel said. I stepped out of his embrace, wrapping my arms around myself and raising my shoulders to my ears. He sounded upset, and whether that was the after-effects of the phone call with his mother or something else, it made me immediately want to distance my
self from him.

  “Okay, I don’t think you should believe anything I said before coffee,” I said.

  “It was after coffee.”

  “Daniel!” I groaned.

  He chuckled lightly, wrapping his arms around me and peppering kisses on my cheek.

  “You forgot, it’s okay. Do you have time to get coffee, at least?” Daniel asked.

  I took a deep breath. I was tired, my lids heavy and he was warm and the sun felt so nice on my skin. I wanted to sink into him, close my eyes, and go to sleep.

  “I would love to get coffee. It’s about the only thing keeping me standing right now,” I said. Even though coffee was the last thing I should be drinking.

  Daniel frowned down at me, gently rubbing circles on my back.

  “Don’t you think you should take a day, maybe two off?” Daniel hedged carefully.

  We’d already had this conversation before, many, many times. The thing was, I knew he wanted me to take a day off because he was concerned about my working hours. Everyone I knew was concerned about my working hours.

  “I can’t.”

  Daniel opened his mouth to protest and I placed a finger over his lips.

  “Let me explain, this is a good thing. I told you I was going to yoga class with Clarissa?” I said. Daniel nodded.

  “My mom suggested I try it to clear my mind,” I explained. “Then I remembered how you do all these crazy adventurous things to clear your mind and focus better because it’s like meditation. That’s it. That’s the key to my problem, to get out of my head. An hour of completely focusing on something other than work.”

  My hand was in Daniel’s as we walked the two blocks to my favorite coffee shop. How easy it felt to hold hands with him. I didn’t even give it a second thought; it was the most natural thing in the world. This was strange for me because normally I was not the hand-holding sort.

  “Did yoga work?” Daniel asked, completely immersed in the story. I loved that he didn’t find it boring. Sometimes when I was talking about my baking stuff, I thought he was bored because it wasn’t as exciting as his work, though I knew it was my insecurities again and not him.