Bookish by Olivia Hawthorne, Olivia Long Page A

already gone cold, “this is really bad.”
    “I told you,” Chloe crowed, “he was just looking for a quickie at the event.”
    “That’s not true though,” I replied, “we didn’t hook up. We never had sex. In fact, we’re going on a date tonight.”
    Chloe’s face dropped, then she clamped her lips together and narrowed her eyes. “Well that’s sweet,” she said, “I’m really happy for you. You’ve waited so long for anybody to notice you, I guess it’s about time.”
    That was the nicest thing I would get out of Chloe today so I took it as a compliment. We spent the rest of lunch going over her new duties as co-blogger, first and foremost doing damage control for the blog.
    I can’t say that I trusted her, but I was feeling a little bruised and beaten down at that point. Being thrust into the public eye as the slut who banged Isaac James would do that to a person.
     
    **
     
    He picked me up as promised. At exactly six o’clock on the nose, Isaac James knocked on Auntie Abby’s front door wearing a tailored suit jacket over a white dress shirt and form fitting pants. He was delicious, sex on a stick as so many books say. I could have devoured him right then and there.
    If Auntie Abby and seven or so of her closest cats hadn’t been watching.
    “What did you say your name was again?” she asked Isaac and looked him up and down.
    “Isaac,” he replied, “Isaac James.”
    “Well, Isaac Isaac James,” she said, “you take good care of Aubrey tonight or I’ll be forced to break open a can of whoop ass.” She cackled as she pulled a dollar store gag gift from behind her back. It was a can with, ‘Whoop Ass’ scrolled across the front in comic book letters.
    I could have crawled into a hole just then, and made a mental note to meet Isaac at the restaurant next time.
    “I will keep that in mind,” he replied with a serious look on his face, but humour was dancing around the edges of his eyes, “so what’s her curfew?”
    She leaned in and looked up at him. Waaaaay up. Auntie Abby was only about five five, she always said my mother was supposed to be twins, that’s why she was double the height of a normal person. She wasn’t, of course, but she had been about six feet. Fashion model and all that.
    She appeared to not know if he was pulling her leg or not, gave him the once over and broke out into a laugh. “Bring her home by ten,” she said and gave me as stern a look as she could muster, “in the morning that is. I need a ride to my physio appointment and Lynette is too busy with her hot young yoga instructor to pay attention to me.”
    Lynette was her oldest and dearest friend, but she did have a short attention span when hot young men were in play. Reminded me of an older version of the same dynamic between Chloe and I.
    “Will do,” Isaac said and reached for her hand, “it’s been a pleasure meeting you.” He gave it a small shake, but she pulled him in and threw her arms around him for a bear hug. He leaned down and accepted it, a crooked smile on his face.
    “Seriously,” I said, “it’s not like you’re sending me off to get married. Get a grip, I’ll see you later.”
    “Have fun,” she replied and winked at me knowingly. The ground could open up at any time, really, and I’d be fine with it.
    “Take care,” Isaac said and we finally escaped her scrutiny. Halfway down the walk to his car, she poked her head out the front door.
    “I like him, Aubrey,” Auntie Abby. yelled after us, “don’t mess it up!”
    Isaac chuckled and took my hand, gave it a squeeze and said, “She’s awesome, quite a character.”
    Character is what polite people call bat shit crazy loved ones of people they don’t want to offend. But hey, I’d take it.
    “Thanks,” I replied, “she can be a bit much at times, but she’s my only family so I’m stuck with her.” I grinned to let him know I was kidding. I couldn’t even pretend to not care for her, she really was my only