“Hi.” I keep it casual, eyes flicking over his ridiculously perfect self before I look back at the screen. Smooth. Cool. Totally unaffected.
My stomach flips anyway. I hate that. I wish I didn’t like my brother’s friends so much.
He disappears into the kitchen. I relax.
Until—crack.
A beer can opens.
Ugh.
I tense. Party-mode activated.
He swaggers back into the room and sits beside me. His heavy, muscled frame makes the old couch shift under me. I always like that — a guy being that close. On the same couch.
Hegestures toward the TV. “What is this shit?”
This shit?
I blink at the screen, offended on Allie and Noah’s behalf. “The Notebook. Only the best romance movie ever made.”
“Gay.”
I scoff. “No, it’s not.”
He chuckles, smug. “Looks gay. Put on the basketball game.”
Normally I would. Because usually I don’t get a say. But not tonight.
“It’s my birthday. I want to watch this. On the big TV. Okay?”
He tilts his head, like he’s sizing me up. “Happy birthday. How old?”
“Twenty-one,” I say proudly, another year further from the hell that was high-school.
His eyes dart to the soda on the coffee table. “And you’re not even drinking?” He shakes his head as he says to himself, “God, what a fucking loser.”
I frown.
“I don’t drink,” I say quietly. “I don’t want to end up like Brax. An alcoholic.”
He leans back against the couch, visibly relaxing. No argument. No teasing. Just quiet.
Okay then.
I side glance at him subtly, observing.
He’s effortlessly hot. Doesn’t even know how lucky he is. Those biceps bulging out of his white tee. His long legs rested apart. His freaking presence.
It’s pretty dark in here, thankfully, so he can’t see how much I’m stealing glances.
We watch together… kind of. He doesn’t protest. Occasionally chuckles. I pretend not to notice how close he is.It’s weird having a guy here without Brax. It’s nice, though.
Then it happens. One of my favorite scenes.
Noah and Allie. Their first time. The way they undress in front of each other, taking turns. The soft light. The nervousness. Excitement. The love.
My heart squeezes. I clutch my chest like a total sap.
