Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes #1)(51)
“Do you want us to talk to them?” Cam suggested.
“If it looks like they’re trying to actually come between us then yeah, otherwise just leave it be,” a brittle smile was plastered on her face. She clearly was unhappy, but if she did not want us to intervene, there was not much we could do.
“Is anything else bothering you?” Cam asked his head tilted slightly as he looked down at her. The darker than usual circles under her eyes and her slouched posture made it seem as though something was weighing on her. Lucie gathered her hair over her right shoulder and began twirling the ends around her fingers, glancing between Cam and myself a few times as if deciding something.
“Have you ever considered being in a relationship with multiple partners? I was told that isn’t necessarily uncommon in the supe community.” Her voice unsure and soft, avoiding eye contact. I could feel my jaw drop. Well, that was random. Cam took the lead in answering.
“Obviously, it would depend on who the other ‘hypothetical’ partners were. If it were us,” he gestured between him and me, “or any of our family then I wouldn’t be opposed to considering it. Although, we’ve never really discussed it,” his face was thoughtful as he answered. “Now that I think about it, dating has always been a pain. We’re constantly together, or at least talking at any given time, so whoever any of us are with has had to be accepting of that. Which usually leads to a strain on the relationship. Maybe this is something we should bring up to the guys.” The last statement was directed at me. Cam and I had discussed this idea between ourselves a couple times before, but never with the entire group. Considering the distance Khloe and Brittney had put between Dante, Hudson, and the rest of us, it might be our best option if we wanted to keep our little group together. “However, whoever the woman was would have to accept…” He trailed off looking over at me hesitantly, his face looking for my approval to admit to Lucie the extent of our relationship.
“Accept what?” She finally looked at us, her face held both curiosity, worry, and hope.
“Us,” I tilted my head towards Cam.
“Not all the time, but she would have to be comfortable with us being together.” Our focus was on Lucie, the view Grigori allowed me showed her brows were furrowed, trying to decipher the meaning behind our words.
“Wait a minute,” she finally seemed to put two and two together because her face relaxed with understanding, “you two are together?” There was no hint of disgust, only open understanding. The tightness that had been growing in my chest eased.
“Yes and no, we aren’t exclusive or anything. We basically grew up in the same house and were curious teens, it just kind of happened. So if she accepted that, I don’t think we would have a problem with it.” Cam’s voice was thoughtful as he looked over at me, “to be honest, I don’t know why we haven’t talked about it. I don’t foresee any of us really making it work with different people.” I nodded silently agreeing with his assessment.
“Well that explains the conversation in debate,” she murmured to herself, a small chuckle bubbled out of her at the end, making us smile. I had not considered that she would be confused at the time. The guys are all aware of what Cam and I share, and none of them had an issue with it. “Wait, so does Dante...never mind.” Her arms were waving in front of her face now. “Anyway…”
“Is there a reason you are asking?” Pain radiated in my throat as I asked. Even with how little I had been talking during our exchange, the strain on my vocal cords was making itself known. I focused on Lucie’s heart rate while Grigori concentrated on her body language. Give me a hint babe, please. Her heart rate soared as she blushed brightly. Fiddling with her hair, she went back to avoiding our eyes.
“Uh, no real reason. I just didn’t know that was a thing until Sadie told me. Just curious I guess.” Lies, but I was not going to press her. We nodded and spent the next thirty minutes or so helping her return books to their proper homes. The topic of bimbos and multiple partners did not come up again.
September 21st
Friday Evening
Lucienne
The crowd of the students pouring into the Kohl stadium was large and loud. Conversation filtered throughout the concrete stands, blending together in a deafening roar of excitement. I was sandwiched between Cam and Nik, Sadie was trailing right behind me with Benji. Hudson had plans to join us after his dinner with Brittney. Not sure how he didn’t get bitched at for not sitting with her for the game, but whatever.
We made our way slowly down the stairs and choose a couple of benches off to the side and about half way up, away from most of the crowd. Cam was on my left with Nik situated next to him, Sadie and Benji sat to my right. I was glad to have had multiple layers on, my beanie keeping my ears warm in the chilly evening air. Feet propped on the bench in front of us, I cuddled into myself in an attempt to preserve what little heat I had.
“Lucie, you’re going to absolutely love this! Kohl is one of my favorite things to watch. Though, I am sad Austin couldn’t make it with us,” Benji was uncharacteristically expressive this evening. If his frantic arm movements and the blindingly bright smile he was sporting was any indication, even Austin’s absence wasn’t going to ruin his good mood. Usually quiet and reserved, tonight he was decked out in a burgundy jersey, matching hat, and shiny black stripes under his eyes.