Wildfire (Maple Hills, #2)(111)
All the pieces of our lives are fitting together like a jigsaw and I finally have the inner pieces.
Bobby finishes telling a story about an away game that left him locked outside the hotel naked getting screamed at by their hockey coach, which gives me the opportunity to ask a question I’ve been wanting an answer to for weeks.
“Guys, why do you all call Russ ‘Muffin’?”
Robbie opens his mouth to answer me immediately, but then closes it and frowns, looking to Kris. Kris has the same confused look on his face as Mattie and, one by one, they look to each other with the same look of uncertainty before JJ finally answers. “I literally have no idea.”
I turn in his arms to look up at him and he’s hiding a grin. “Do you know?”
“Yeah. Long story short, I used to work in a bar and Stassie was there one day on her own. These horrible customers were harassing her and I didn’t really know her at this point, so I pretended to be her boyfriend. Basically I fake dated Stassie for an hour and that’s the nickname she gave me.”
“I love fake dating.”
“Fake dating? That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Henry says.
“It was cute. Very creative under pressure, I’d say,” Stassie adds.
“One night I picked Stassie and Lola up from a bar and she was super drunk. She called me Muffin in front of everyone and it, uhm, stuck I guess.”
The groups goes quiet at the same time and I watch all their faces still sporting the same look of confusion. Mattie clears his throat and reaches for his beer. “Yeah, that is not why I thought it was. I thought you just liked muffins a lot, I don’t know.”
“Rory, did Jenna ask about me after we visited?” Bobby asks giving me a wink.
When the guys visited Honey Acres for Russ’s birthday, we realized that Bobby and Kris would have been at camp at the same time as me. We didn’t remember each other thankfully, which I’m extra grateful for because I was probably being annoying and dramatic. Character traits I’d like to not reveal to them until they already like me.
“Would you like me to lie to you so your feelings don’t get hurt?” I ask carefully.
“Yes. If that’s an option, I’d like you to always take it,” Bobby says.
Before I even have a chance to answer, Henry beat me to it. “You’re really good at hockey.”
The guys play fight and while everyone’s distracted, Russ kisses my neck and whispers into my ear. “You’re doing so well. They love you.”
Calm quickly resumes and Bobby looks back to me for confirmation. I nod enthusiastically. “She absolutely asked about you.”
When I told Jenna about Bobby’s long-lived crush on her response was less than happy. “Fantastic. I love it when people return as adults and want to fuck me like I didn’t literally look after them as children.” She made a loud and dramatic retching noise. “I hate men.”
“Maybe I really will work there next year,” he says, much to the disapproval of his friends.
“I hope you’re better at fixing toilets than Russ,” I laugh.
Learning how much Russ likes to touch me when there aren’t any rules prohibiting it has been my favorite discovery of coming back to Maple Hills.
My brain is frazzled trying to suppress my natural instinct to overshare and, despite being a somewhat confident person, the pressure to make sure the people Russ loves so much like me is a lot.
The homewarming—or housecoming, whichever one it is—party is less of a party and more of a chilled day hanging out together. It’s needed after a dramatic couple of days and I love seeing Russ ease me into it all.
I take a break from the action to video call Emilia and Poppy in the backyard. They’re both big fans of my tent and can’t believe I convinced Russ to sleep in it with me. I’m pretty sure Russ would sew a tent from scratch if he thought it’d make me happy.
The back door opens and JJ appears, spotting me on a deck chair on my own. He ambles over, hands in his pockets and sits down beside across from me. “Pops and Emilia send their love,” I say as he sits.
“I saw Emilia’s story. They look like they’re having fun.”
“This feels very formal,” I say awkwardly, shuffling on my seat. Shielding my eyes from the sunlight, I try hard to focus on JJ’s very serious face. “Are you about to give me a lecture? A pep talk? Life advice?” Oh God, the rambling is back.
“A thank you. This is the happiest I’ve seen Russ in the two years I’ve known him.”
The butterflies that live in my stomach dance around happily. “He makes me happy too. Thank you for teaching him to fake being confident long enough for him to talk to me that night.”
“Thank you for letting him see himself the way we see him.”
“This got really fucking deep,” I say. “I think I prefer you making me do Jenga dares.”
“Yeah, it was a bit unnecessarily emotional wasn’t it. I’m trying this mature thing out, don’t think it’s going to stick.” He stands, holding out his hand to me to stand too. “Are you interested in being introduced to drunk Hungry Hippos?”
Walking back into the house, JJ announces he wants to play the new game and disappears to find what he needs. Walking into the kitchen, I spot Russ getting two glasses out of the cupboard. “Stop, thief.” He puts the glasses on the counter, turning to lean against it with his arms folded across his chest.