While Nick showed Morgan the matte clip he had found, Adrienne suddenly came running to Archer with her eyes filled with tears and her hair untied and disheveled.
"This — this m-m-mean kid said your braid was ugly, and he — he pulled off my b-barrette and ran off —" she sobbed as Archer pulled the little hysterical girl into a warm hug.
Nick, having heard this, froze in place. Very slowly, his eyes slipped down to the pink plastic barrette in his hand and gulped. Morgan, looking from the barrette in Nick's small hand to the weeping Adrienne and back to Nick's face, gulped as well, a suspicious look on her face.
"Nicky, did you — ?"
But before Morgan could finish asking her question, Nick had tapped Adrienne on the shoulder, swept some golden strands of hair out of her gray eyes, and clipped the barrette neatly back into place.
"I think you look lovely," he told her with a toothy grin. "That meanie doesn't know what he's talkin' about."
Then, as though making a dramatic exit, he bolted, his face a deep shade of scarlet. Morgan watched him run back to Lexi, who appeared to be waiting for him in the sandbox; Lexi was wearing a huge smirk, whereas Nick was so red in the face that he resembled an oddly shaped tomato.
Adrienne, on the other hand, stood there, sniffling, then, slowly, she lifted her hand to touch the barrette in her hair as her gaze moved to a faraway Nick, who looked to be growing redder and redder as he bickered with Lexi. Adrienne seemed to be at a lost for words.
Archer, noticing the familiar look on Adrienne's face, pulled her up to sit on his lap, and she curled her small arms around his neck, burying her blushing face in the crook.
"Pumpkin, you got something you want to tell me?" he asked her gently, and Morgan couldn't help but giggle at the teasing smirk he wore.
Adrienne, now brick red, fervently shook her head. "N-no — it's not like me and that boy will ever become something —"
Morgan, deciding to join in on the fun, leaned over and grinned; Adrienne regarded her curiously. "You know, Adrienne, your daddy and I know a little something about that, don't we, Arch?"
His eyes never leaving Adrienne's, Archer said, smiling, "Yeah. What was it again you always used to tell Addie?"
Morgan didn't even have to think twice. She reached over and tucked some loose strands of hair behind Adrienne's ear; she cautiously moved back, but her eyes were wide with interest and genuine curiosity. Morgan's eyes remained on the barrette her Nick had put in the little girl's hair.
"Honey, you've got a long life ahead of you, but I'll let you in on a little secret your father and I learned all those years ago..." She lowered her voice as though about to pass on classified information, and Adrienne, basking in the attention, was on the edge of her seat.
"There's a weird pleasure in loving someone who doesn't love you."
Fin
YOU ARE READING
Blinded by Limerence
Teen Fiction"You, uh, plan to go out like that?" Furrowing my eyebrows, I cast my gaze downwards, and that's when I remembered I had changed into pajamas after my date. My face heated up - it was embarrassing to unintentionally let Trevor see my pajama set that...
