mary queen of thots
Witch
D’Anna knew that reality TV shows like this one could get dirty, but she never expected she’d be picking up trash on one. Chewing on her lower lip nervously, Dee frantically tried to get rid of the evidence from the second mess she’d made, inwardly cursing herself for being such a jumpy little b***h. Good God, who did she think she was, jumping at Noel’s voice? She’d tackled drug lords and taken down serial killers, for Chrissakes. She should’ve had more composure than this, but then again, things never went as planned when Angelo was involved in the equation. The very thought of him had her praying that wherever he was, he wouldn’t wander into the living room and catch her in the act of shoveling garbage. She’d pictured a more—well—refined way of them meeting again.
As if someone upstairs had answered her prayers, suddenly Tango bulldozed his way into the living room, caught sight of her, and immediately began to snicker at her. Dee just shot him a scowl, but before she could say anything he was gone. He returned a minute later with a trash bag in his hand and then settled down beside her to help her pick up the mess. At first, his kindness surprised her, and D’Anna—being the skeptical person she was—began to think of ulterior motives why he might be helping her. One immediately came to mind, and that was the fact that D’Anna was unfortunate enough to witness Tango and Noel going at it shortly after they’d all come to live together. She’d practically walked in on them, and though she’d remained quiet about it (and would continue to do so since it wasn’t her place to say anything), she still got the occasional “don’t-say-anything” glance from Noel.
So Tango was probably trying to play on her good side. Well, whatever. Dee needed help cleaning up this trash, and if he was the only one who’d help her, she’d happily accept.
“Thanks,” she muttered under her breath to him, and then—like always—she chose to work in silence as the two of them scooped up the trash. He looked decidedly uncomfortable and worried, and though D’Anna felt compelled to ask him what was wrong, she reasoned that it probably had to do with his ex arriving. Hell, she wasn’t about to blame him for being nervous over that, especially from the way the kitchen was getting louder and louder by the minute. Chances were that was where the exes were gathering, but D’Anna had no desire to go and investigate her theory. Luckily she didn’t need to, because Noel walked into the living room, with (surprise, surprise) a wine glass in one hand. She motioned for D’Anna to be quiet, and before Dee could figure out what the hell Noel was doing, she’d swiped a cigarette from Tango’s back pocket.
“Afternoon, Dee. I see the chaos is already beginning.”
D’Anna arched an eyebrow at Noel and eyed the wine glass in her hand. “So has your drinking. Isn’t it a bit early for that?” Noel drinking at 2 PM did nothing to help Dee’s secret mission of getting her to believe she was a lovely person when she was sober.
But Noel just ignored Dee’s quip. “I think there’s someone waiting for you in the kitchen,” she said instead, lifting her eyebrows and giving Dee a look.
Oh, s**t. That could only mean one thing: Angelo was in the kitchen. D’Anna’s breath hitched in her throat and for a moment she looked like she was going to pass out. Then she regained control of herself and bent over the trash, rapidly shoveling it away. s**t s**t s**t, she didn’t have time for this. She didn’t look up when Tango rose to his feet; for one thing she had no desire to get into the middle of whatever it is he and Noe had going on, and for another she was much too busy trying to get rid of the trash. For a brief moment, D’Anna actually thought she’d be able to pick up the trash in time and then prepare for a rather elegant entrance into the kitchen to take Angelo by surprise, but a familiar voice brought all of her plans crashing to a halt.
“You always knew how to catch unwanted attention in the strangest ways, Deedee.”
At the mention of her nickname that only one person was allowed to use, D’Anna’s cheeks immediately grew hot, and it was all she could do not to jump to her feet. In fact, it took all of her self-restraint (of which she had quite a lot) to keep her head down and avoid looking over at Angelo, who stood a few scant feet away from her. Forcing herself to breathe, D’Anna shakily shoved the last piece of trash away and then drew herself to her feet, clasping her hands in front of her and finally allowing her gaze to meet Angelo’s. Whatever she’d been expecting—whatever she’d been hoping—paled in comparison to the wild burst of emotions she felt. He looked fantastic as ever, every single detail about his appearance absolutely flawless. She’d never been able to get over how handsome he was, even after years of being with him. Though D’Anna had his features memorized, she still couldn’t help but stare at him for several seconds with the shamelessness of a child. It was only when he began to take a slow step towards her that she broke out of her trance. “Um. I can—I can explain. I was—there was this punching bag, see, and I—and I broke it—”
Angelo’s telltale smile didn’t waver. “You look good.”
At that, D’Anna let out a nervous laugh and glanced down at herself, still in sweaty workout clothes peppered in sand. “You can’t mean that,” she protested, though she was grinning as she spoke. She couldn’t help it; something about Angelo was just infectious. “I just gone done working out and I’m covered in sweat and sand and garbage.” She knew she should be feeling angry at seeing him, or hurt, or betrayed, or all of those various other pesky feelings that you were supposed to feel when you saw your ex. But if she was being honest with herself, the only thing she felt right now was happiness. Angelo had always had that effect on her; no matter what, he managed to turn whatever she was feeling into contentment and bliss. Which was why, with her characteristic tactlessness, D’Anna couldn’t help herself from blurting out, “I’m glad you came.”
Oh God, she didn’t realize just how much she’d missed him until now.
Embarrassed at her forwardness, D’Anna let out a cough and averted her eyes, glancing over in the direction of Tango, who was paralyzed while looking at a brown-haired girl standing in the doorway. Dee could spot a private moment when she saw one, and she took a step back away from Tango and the one who could only be his ex. Doing her best to give them the privacy they deserved, Dee bent over to pick up the now-cleaned-up trash can as quietly as she could, moving it to its rightful place on the other side of the room. After that was done, she caught Angelo’s eyes and tilted her head towards the hallway, indicating that they should probably leave the room. To emphasize her statement, she gave Tango what she hoped was an encouraging smile and then she grabbed Angelo’s hand, tugging him from the room. She didn’t even realize what she’d done until the two of them were in the hallway; only then did D’Anna notice her fingers intertwined with Angelo’s. Her face immediately turned red again and she dropped his hand like he’d burned her, shooting him an apologetic look.
“Sorry. I just—wanted to give Tango some privacy.” She let out a heavy sigh and then ran a hand through her mass of curls, looking around as she did so. She wanted to see how Noel was holding up since Tango had now found his ex. Not to mention, Dee clearly recalled Noe’s wine glass, and like hell if D’Anna was going to allow one of her few friends in this household to be drunk when finally reuniting with her ex. The only problem was that Noe was now MIA and in her place was the one man who could turn Dee’s world upside-down with the merest hint of a smile.
