That's How it Happens

27. Closet Case

The Drake women circled the breakfast table, chattering about the wedding and the upcoming Lemonade Ball. Ainsley sat quietly, nudging scrambled eggs around her plate. She wasn't hungry. She wasn't festive. She wasn't anything but tired – and tangled.

Peter wanted to talk about either about "us" or the pitch – she couldn't be sure. Frankly, didn't want to know right now.

Leo had kissed her.

She had kissed him back.

And now they weren't speaking.

No... she wasn't speaking.

What had he been thinking?

What had she been thinking?

Because part of her wanted to find him and do it again – just to see if it felt the same. Which was exactly why she was avoiding him like the plague – not that she had managed to avoid him... much. This trip had tested their friendship beyond normal limits, and she wasn't sure they'd survive it. Honestly, she was too scared to try.

Also: if you pretend it didn't happen... did it?

"Stop playing with your food, Annabelle," her mother's voice cut through her thoughts. "And sit up straight. You're slouching – do you want a humpback?"

Ainsley sighed, dropped her fork, and straightened her spine.

"Give her a break, Viki," Aunt Kate chimed in. "She's exhausted. Look at her face – it's all puffy."

Liv snorted. Ainsley shot her a glare. Rather than faze her, Liv leaned forward.

"Did you see Leo this morning?" she asked, grinning. "He looks like he hasn't slept in weeks. He didn't do all of his pushups this morning either." Ainsley looked at her like the stalker she was. "You know what that means."

Ainsley didn't and was pretty sure she didn't want to know. Liv put her hand up, blocking her mouth and whispered something.

"Olivia!" Victoria snapped, scandalized.

Kate didn't notice – or didn't care. She was too busy scrolling through her phone.

"We don't talk about such things at the table," Victoria added, primly.

Liv gave her mother a side-eye. Kate leaned toward her with a smirk.

"If it had been me, I'd still be in that room," she said, not even bothering to whisper. Or caring that Ainsley was sitting right there.

"Katherine!"

"Oh, shut up, you old prude. A few days locked in a room with a man might do you some good."

Ainsley rested her chin in her hand and watched the chaos unfold. This was a typical Drake breakfast – no guests, no filters, just three women she loved arguing over propriety and innuendo. Oddly, she missed it.

Victoria stood abruptly. "Dorothea arrives today. Please, for the love of God, behave. All of you."

It was how she ended every argument: a warning and an exit.

"So," Liv said, batting her lashes.

Ainsley turned to Liv, raising her eyebrows before lowering them again, remembering what Leo had said the other night. She'd stared at them in the mirror for hours afterward, wondering if she should do something about them. April said she didn't need to. She still didn't understand why he'd called them hairy. Or creepy. Raegan had done a phenomenal job, if she did say so herself.

"Are you going to tell us what happened?"

"Don't bother, Livi," Aunt Kate said. "She's like your mother. You can't get a thing out of her – even though we all know they do them."