“I guess it’s a good thing Dem and I found a house out here then.” Tate says, and my head almost snaps clean off my body at how fast it shoots up to look at her. “We snuck out a few times to ‘run errands’, but we’d actually been meeting with a realtor to find a spot of our own. It’s a rental that won’t be ready until summer, but it’s perfect timing.”
“What about your job? D’s schooling?”
“It took some finagling with my school, but I’m officially transferring to Texas State University at the beginning of the next school year so we’ll have the whole summer to get sorted out here.” Demi cuts in.
“Yeah, and I reached out to a few dental offices in the area and it turns out there’s a high demand for dental hygienists between here and the next five counties. We’re set to pack up and move out here at the start of summer. You think you can handle a couple of months without us?” Tate teases. “God, what if you totally forget about us with the man candy next door?” she says in mock horror with her hands on her face.
“Knock, knock!” Cooper yells, from the doorway. I can hear all three of them shuffling inside.
“Oh my god, shut up!” I whisper-yell, my eyes feel comically big as I beg them telepathically to not say anything else.
“Me?” Tate gasps in dramatic outrage. “Why I never!”
“Yeah, you never shut the fuck up! No more!” I laugh and poke her in the ribs.
“What’s going on in here?” Jace looks at us all like we’re a little crazy, but also like he’s happy about it.
“Nothing! Uh… what isthat?” I ask, pointing at the armful of presents Ethan is holding and the giant sloth that Cooper’s holding. “How did you guys—” the lightbulb clicks on and I turn on my best friends, giving them my most evil eye. “You, you… you duplicitous bitches!” I yell, knowing I sound dumb as hell and not caring in the slightest when they laugh at me. “Why, though? You knew they’d do too much!”
“Exactly!” Demi yells at the same time Tate screams, “Duh!” and I genuinely don’t know if I love them or hate them right now.
“I can’t believe you tried to hide our Sunshine’s birthday! You bet your ass we did too much. Look me in the eye and tell me she doesn’t deserve everything this world has to offer.”
“I can’t do that, but you shouldn’t spoil her. I’m not raising her to think she can have whatever she wants just because she’s sweeter than sugar and cuter than a baby hippo.”
“A baby hippo?” Ethan asks with the funniest look on his face. He almost looks pained trying to figure out what I mean.
“Haven’t you ever seen a baby hippo? They’re the cutest little chubby animals. I love them.” I say, slightly defensive and mostly amused. “Anyway, you guys are going to spoil her rotten and I’m going to end up being the bad guy.”
“We hadn’t thought of that, so we’ll start all of that on the next holiday. Okay? Also, don’t go outside until you’re less mad at us.” Cooper says and then proceeds to give Hadley the sloth stuffie that’s four times her size while singing a rendition of happy birthday all the way off key. She fucking loves it and I think I do too.
“I genuinely don’t even want to know what you’ve all done. I’m sure Hadley will be over the freaking moon about it though.”
“My Coop! My J! My Efan! Happy birfday to Hadley! It’s mine!”
Yep. I’m screwed. Avoidance is key here. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. “Who’s ready to start cooking?”
Thirty-One
Barbecues, beers, best buds, brothers… and delicious alpha males that make hearts skip beats
Aria
November 2020
“Who are these guys?” Niko whispers to me as I start packing away the leftover food.
The guys brought way more meat than any of us could actually eat, saying that they’ll divvy up the leftovers we don’t want and take them in for their work crews. It struck me right in the heart because they never stop thinking of others.
“I don’t have the answers for you little brother.” I say just as quietly.
“They’re saints. Like, literally. They’re so nice. And look at how they are with Hadley. She hasn’t stopped laughing all day. If I didn’t feel so secure in my place of ‘favorite man alive’ to that girl, I’d be worried,” he huffs a small laugh at his own expense.
“It helps that they bought her a goddamn bouncy castle,” I grumble, still annoyed ten hours later. “Why don’t you go over there and hang with our girls and the guys while I wrap all of this up and get the food put away before it sours. I’ll bring s’mores stuff out so we can keep the party going around the bonfire.” I smile, shooing him off.
I grab as much as I can, and head into the house. Right as I drop things onto the kitchen counter a voice sounds from right behind me making me jump slightly.
“I hope it’s okay that I grabbed the rest of the food. You don’t mind a little help, do you?” his gruff voice travels over me and it takes a valiant effort not to shiver in response.
