Chapter 65

Arrick has boyish, cute sort of gorgeousness; always clean shaven. He’s still manly and would still be called handsome, but there is a softness to his face that I always preferred. Square-jawed with man brows and a steely glare when he wants it, but something sweet, almost a gentleness when he’s relaxed. Eternally young.

“Food fit for a queen.” He laughs jokingly, dishing out my fries and burger and hands me my banana shake. Everything I always order.

McDonald’s used to be a place we hung out on a Saturday morning for our junk food fix and for something to do. My mom would have had a fit if she knew how many times Arrick drove me to burger joints and ‘unhealthy’ eating places to pig out, but that was the nature of being kids. We didn’t care if it was bad for us; we just liked it and we had no pre-conceived notion that because we came from rich families, we couldn’t enjoy normal places like everyone else. That is one of the things I have always loved about Arry. He’s normal.

He doesn’t do the whole overly flashy lifestyle; he doesn’t have a million housekeepers or assistants or acts inaccessible because he’s rich and becoming famous. He cooks, he sometimes does his own laundry, drives himself places, and he does things for himself. He hangs out at fast-food joints and goes to movies and theme parks. He has normal friends, with normal incomes, and likes bars that are downtown and unknown, with no flashy price tags. I came from poverty and when I was adjusting to the grand lifestyle of my new family, Arrick reminded me that it was okay to not fit in with the expected grandeur. He was the link between two worlds.

I dig into my food heartily, never shy about making a pig of myself in front of him, even now. I’ve always been an eater; food is like my second weakness, after shoes.

“What did you get?” I eye up his burger with a greedy eye, always wanting my favorite to eat, but always looking at trying something else. Arrick never orders the same thing. He is one of those weird people who always tries the new releases everywhere at every food joint. He shakes his head at me and holds out his burger for me to take a bite without question. It looks laden with an array of meats, bacon, and cheese and has a fancy crusted roll. I lean in and take a big one, chewing on the barbeque flavored concoction with a smile. Arrick always lets me taste his food, even when we get things that are practically the same.

“Didn’t realize how hungry I was.” He adds as he watches me eat, picking up a handful of my fries in retaliation to the massive bite of his burger I took and stuffing his own mouth. He’s not an ugly eater; he eats like a guy who has zero cares about looking sexy while doing it, yet strangely, he does. Chewing enhances that muscular jaw and crazily handsome bone structure of his. I pick up my milkshake to wash it down and gaze out at rain that seems to have calmed down already. The noise in the restaurant has died down too, with the exit of a large party of hyper kids and chatty adults and it seems a little less invasive now.

“You reckon we will get there before dark?” I ask, lost in staring out at the way the rain hits the puddles and sends little ripples in the temporary pools being created all around. The rain is fierce today and it’s already getting late in the day. We spent a few hours in his apartment after seeing Jake; Arrick stuck in his study making calls to his fight promoter, and I know Natasha called him too. He closed his door to take that call and I tried not to listen in, creeping around his apartment amusing myself, and trying hard to focus on anything but that.

“We should be okay for time and it looks like it’s getting lighter. Just a passing storm probably. My car can handle moderate rain but when it’s this bad, it’s worse than useless, with zero traction. All the powers at the back.” He frowns out at the rain too, looking up at the dark sky, seeing some gaps in the distance where the sun is peeking through. “We’ll get there when we get there, I guess.” He sits back, still eating letting his focus wander around us at the people and I watch him for a moment.

“Thank you for doing this.... Despite everything. You always come through for me. I’ve never said thank you for all the times you came and rescued me in the city, or for just being there in my life when I needed you.” I gaze at him wistfully, catching the frown that crosses his face, not in anger or confusion, but that tiny hint of emotion. He shakes his head softly.

“You don’t need to thank me … for any of that. I did it because I wanted to, because I care about you. This...Us … Sophs if we don’t …” He pauses for a second, putting down his shake and sits forward to rest his arms on the table, hesitant for a second as he thinks. “No matter how things work out between us, I will always be here for you. I’ll always care about you.” He says it more forcefully. Looking me dead in the eye, and I gaze right back, fixing my focus on his.

“I don’t know where I would be now if it wasn’t for you. I owe you as much as I owe Jake and Emma for bringing me to my family, and my mom and Dad for taking me on. I know I’m not easy to handle sometimes …” I trail off, emotions getting the better of me as tears fill my eyes, and I can’t continue. Arrick reaches out across the gap in our food and takes my fingers in his. Cradling and running a thumb over the outside of my hand softly. Igniting more sparks inside of me that I try to dismiss.

“You don’t have to say any of this.... You gave me something too, Sophs. I grew up for you, I became a better person so that I could take care of you. I stopped being a dumb teen who was partying his life away, because I knew I had to be responsible and show you the way. You’re hard to handle, you always have been, but that’s what I love about you the most. You’re fight, your spark and your fire.” Arrick tugs my hand to the middle of the table, so he can rest his arm down and keep a hold on me. “Just be happy; that’s all I want for you. To see you happy is the only thing that ever mattered to me.” With a genuine look, and his tone full of conviction, I sigh inwardly.

“I’m working on it.” I smile up at him again, tears back under wraps and heartache firmly pulled back in place. We ponder each other silently for a few seconds before he breaks the spell and lets go of my hand.

“We better eat and get going. Rains’ easing off, and we still have a couple hours left to go.”

I glance down at my half-eaten burger and smile as I pick it up; despite everything going on with us, I’m happier, more hopeful about how my life is going and unwilling to let tomorrow, or the next day, and what is coming, interfere. Right now, here, with him like this, I can honestly say I have my first moment of real contentment in such a long time. I catch him still watching me with a distant, faraway expression as though lost in thought. His eyes focus on mine and it breaks the spell; he smiles and looks down at his own food before going back to eating. The moment passed.

Somehow though, I can’t help that tiny little glimmer of hope that tingles through my stomach at the way he’s been looking at me.

Arry of old never looked at me like that.