"Stop the car!" Angie shouted at Derek, needing to get back to Will right away to confront him. Normally she'd run away and ignore it but she had to see him, to ask why he had clammed up and hadn't said anything when she watched the slideshow on his laptop.
"What? Why?" he asked.
"Turn the fucking car around and take me home!" she ordered, her body thrumming with adrenaline. What was she supposed to say to him? Angie honestly had no clue and was scared shitless but she had to face this head on.
"Okay, fine. What the hell," Derek muttered under his breath as he located a restaurant. He pulled into the parking lot and turned around to take her back home.
Angie felt sick the whole trip back home but she pulled herself together as she struggled to come up with something to say to Will. "Thank you," she told him.
"No problem. We're over, right? You want to be with the weatherman?" Derek had convinced him to back down but there was obviously no way he could do the same with Angie.
"Yeah. Sorry."
He waved off her concern. "Eh, don't worry about it. I'm going to step up to be Graham's dad, though. Don't worry about that."
"Great." When they got back to her house, she grabbed her shit, kissed Derek on the cheek, told him goodbye, and then fled to her own car so she could make her way to Will's. She'd deal with her hot subletters later. Angie wasn't surprised to find their friends' cars at Will's place but she ignored them as she opened the door, not even bothering to say a word.
Poppy didn't look surprised to see her but she still squealed. "Candle did the trick?" she asked hopefully.
Angie ignored her. "Will! Get your ass in the bedroom - we need to have a talk. Now."
Will visibly gulped but he followed her back to his bedroom. Their friends weren't even trying to be subtle as they followed them into the hallway so they could eavesdrop. "What's going on - why aren't you in Barstow? Where's Derek?" he asked, clearly nervous as hell.
"Derek's headed to Barstow. Stop stalling and answer the fucking question, Will!" She was coming on a little strong and probably scaring the shit out of him but fuck it. Angie was past worrying, even though she was absolutely terrified of ruining their friendship.
"You didn't ask me a question," he gently pointed out, confused.
"Oh, right. My bad. What were you going to tell me after the slideshow? I know you weren't being honest so tell me the truth now. I want to hear it."
Will started sweating. "Why do you think I'm lying?"
"Will!"
He shrunk back, his palms now clammy as well. "Nothing important."
"Tell me right the fuck now, William Cooper."
"Oh, she full named him! Nice!" Poppy murmured from outside the door. They ignored her, along with Douglas and Miggy's responses.
He choked and then teared up. "You want the truth? You're not going to run off to Barstow again, are you?"
"No, I will not run off to Barstow again!" She rolled her eyes and folded her arms, glaring at the man in front of her.
Will's brain cycled through several excuses, each one more ridiculous, and his brain whirred. Finally, he blew out a breath and stared her dead in the eye (Angie refused to back down, however). "Fine. You want the truth? Here is it! I'm head over heels in love with you, Angie D'Amato."
"Fuck yes!" Poppy shouted, the others shushing her.
Angie's brain short-circuited for a second even though she already knew that. To hear those words again was a revelation. "Holy shit," she murmured to herself as she lost her balance and fell onto the bed.
"Yeah." He trailed off, waiting for a rejection before sitting down next to Angie, careful not to touch her.
"How long are we going to have to listen to this?" Emma complained from outside the door.
Angie snorted, slightly amused by the situation even as her hands started shaking. "Fuck."
"That about sums it up," Will agreed. His eyes darted over to her before he looked down at the floor, waiting for the axe to fall.
"You told me last night," she admitted, deciding honesty was the best policy.
He froze. "What?" he asked.
"I finally remembered what went down last night - I was the cuddler, by the way. That damn candle is to blame. Anyway, I cuddled up with you and that's when you told me you thought you were in love with me."
"Oh." Will didn't know how to respond to that. He had apparently told her twice already and the fact that she wasn't saying anything was killing him.
Angie grabbed his chin and forced her to look at him. "I don't know what our next step is," she admitted.
"At least it's not an outright rejection," Will countered.
"Damn well better not be a rejection." Poppy huffed out an angry breath from outside.
"We should probably do something about that but they're already way too involved anyway." Angie chuckled, shaking her head as Will huffed out some laughter of his own.
"Don't get us kicked out," Douglas hissed at his ex-girlfriend.
"We're not getting kicked out. Didn't you just hear what she said?" Poppy shot back.
"Fine but don't ruin this for me. What is wrong with me?" Douglas asked.
"You guys could at least pretend to not be eavesdropping. Do better!" Will yelled at them.
"Sorry." They all shut up, waiting for whatever Angie was finally going to say.
Angie clutched Will's hand, her heart pounding so loud she could feel it in her ears. "So, you're in love with me."
"Yes, we've established that already. You need me to say it again?" Will asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Not yet." She couldn't deny it anymore, had tried to for way too long but Tracy had seen right through her at Thanksgiving. "You know Tracy called it at Thanksgiving? I just ignored it and buried it way deep."
"Buried what?"
"She implied that I was in love with you. And fuck me, she's right."
He stared at her in awe. "You love me?"
"I love you," she confirmed, choking back a sob.
Will made the first move and kissed her. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that," he told her once they were done.
"So we're really doing this?" She had to make sure, didn't want to fuck this up.
"Let's give it a try. We have all summer to figure it out - thank God the kids are away at Lance Bass Space Camp."
"We're going now. Have fun!" Poppy yelled as she, Douglas, Miggy, and the twins finally left.
"We're so kicking their asses later," Angie vowed.
"Totally. But I want to celebrate with the woman I love first."
She blushed. "Sounds great to me," she agreed.
They'd figure out how to make this relationship work rather quickly (would fall into it, really) and go from there.
