“Earth to Addison!” Ander called out ominously and shoved my leg as we were at the traffic lights.
“Hm?” I looked up from my phone.
“Where were you?”
“Messaging the mother,” I answered as I looked back at my half-constructed text.
“Is she expecting you tonight?” he asked, sounding surprised and I didn’t blame him.
I shrugged as I finished my text and sent it. “Dunno. She likes to think we’ll have a family dinner, but…”
“Yeah,” Ander sighed. “Your dad’s back tonight.”
He knew all about it just like he knew about every facet of my life and vice versa.
“What’d she say?” Ander asked as my phone went off again.
I unlocked it and sighed as I read it. “She’s disappointed that none of her children bothered to welcome their father home, especially since she has a prior engagement.”
Ander scoffed. “Yeah, sure she does.”
I took a deep breath, letting it slide off me after years of practising to let it go. “Mac and Linc weren’t going home anyway, and Petey and I decided we didn’t need any more depressing shit this month. And, I’ll bet Dad said he had a ‘meeting’.” Complete with air quotes because everyone knew what sort of meeting it would be. “What else was she going to do? Sit at home by herself?”
“The horror,” Ander breathed, giving my leg a squeeze. “You seeing him before he leaves again?”
I shrugged again. “Probably. He’ll text about a dinner or something.” He usually did and we’d catch up just the two of us.
After a few minutes of silence where I found myself on Pinterest looking at clothes ideas for some God-forsaken reason, Ander finally spoke again.
“So…?” he started.
“So, what?” I answered, saving a couple of pictures in a secret folder, because… Why did I do that?
“Have you thought anymore about driving lessons?”
I rolled my eyes at the Best Friend 101 mind-reading at its height. “No.”
“Okay, then. You know you only have one other option now.”
“Ugh! I don’t wanna…” I whined.
He laughed. “I’ll do you a deal. At least ask and I’ll go shopping with you on the weekend.”
“You were coming shopping with me anyway,” I told him then sat up because we hadn’t made any shopping plans. “Wait, why are we going shopping?”
I watched Ander shrug. “Dunno. Figured it was a reasonable payback.”
I frowned. “I don’t think I need anything.”
“Okay. Pick whatever you want as payback. Just ask.”
I huffed and sunk back down in my seat.
Aunt Jelly had had a car accident when she was younger and we all saw the toll teaching Mr Know-It-All-Topher to drive had taken on her. Which is why Topher had ended up taking driving lessons and then been the one to go out with Learner Ander because he was already eighteen and on his full license by the time Ander got his Ls. I was, so far, a terrible driver, so the idea of asking Aunt Jelly to teach me seemed cruel and unnecessary after all her years of love.
Which only left Topher to help me log more hours because none of my brothers seemed to have time to even pretend to have time for me anymore. Not that I did a very good of pretending back anyway. The MacGuires were a shit show, but we can’t all be functional.
“Ugh. Fine. I’ll ask him and come up with a suitable punishment for you at a later date.”
Ander chuckled as he pulled into his driveway next to Topher’s car. “Excellent.”
We jumped out of the car and jostled each other as we headed for the front door. I got my key in the door before him and we were making a pretty big racket as we practically fell into the entrance hall.
“That you, Lex?” Aunt Jelly called. “Addy?”
“Yeah,” Ander replied, shoving me playfully and I yelled at him.
Topher and Aunt Jelly called Ander ‘Lex’ and they always had. I’d never been able to because it reminded me of Lex Luthor and the idea that Ander could be anything like a super villain was laughable.
“Ask him if they want coffee,” I heard Topher yell from the kitchen.
“Ask him yourself,” Aunt Jelly yelled back as she jogged down the stairs in her usual state of studious frazzle; conglomeration of track suit tops and bottoms, bed socks, hair piled haphazardly, and glasses askew.
“Thanks, Toph!” Ander called, not even waiting for the question.
“Ads?” came Topher’s voice.
“Do you really need to ask that question, Christopher?” Aunt Jelly called to him as she smiled and hugged me. “How was your day, beautiful ones?”
“Good,” I told her.
She pushed me to arm’s length and looked me over with a warm smile.
“Lex!” Aunt Jelly snapped as he headed to the kitchen.
He gave her an innocent look and she just pointed at the bag he’d left in the hall.
“What?” Ander asked.
“Take that up to your room. Addy’s while you’re at it.”
Ander looked at her flabbergasted. “What? Why do I have to take hers?”
“Because I said.”
Ander scrunched his nose at her and held his hand out for my bag. I gave it to him with a saccharine smile and watched him traipse upstairs, muttering to himself about preferential treatment.
“Right, I need to get back to it. I have,” she checked her watch, “something like less than eight hours to get this paper in.”
I nodded. “Good luck!”
“I am so going to need it,” she said as she jogged back up the stairs, then turned the wrong way to her room before righting herself with a wave.
Aunt Jelly was studying online. She always said it was ‘just a Master of Arts’ but I always thought she was pretty amazing to be where she was after bringing up two not-so-tiny tyrants since she was barely old enough to drink or vote.
I wandered into the kitchen to find Topher on his phone with three mugs of coffee in front of him. He was still in his uniform, his tie and top button undone, and his shirt half untucked.
“Left,” he said, not looking up.
“Thanks.”
I picked up the mug, leant against the counter opposite him and watched him smirk as his fingers played across the screen. He gave himself a very self-congratulatory nod, then grabbed his mug while he was obviously waiting for a reply. Then, his smirk grew as he typed something else out.
“Is this the unlucky girl you snogged in the quad this afternoon?” I asked and he looked up quickly.
“What?”
I nodded towards his phone. “Whoever’s receiving those undoubtedly witty and sexy one-liners,” I said sarcastically.
“What would you know about my sexy one-liners, Addy?” he asked, giving me one of those looks through his over-hanging hair that made my legs a little wobbly.
“Oi, jackass. Ads wants you to take her out,” Ander said as he came back into the room.
Topher spluttered a little and, even though I knew exactly what Ander had meant, I felt stupidly guilty and weird for some reason.
“Timing, dude!” I said to Ander with a groan. “Timing is everything.”
“She wants me to what?” Topher asked, looking at me like he wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen me before.
I didn’t know if he was trying to work out how to nicely turn me down if it was serious or if he didn’t want to look like a tool for accepting if it was a joke. It wasn’t quite the same way he’d looked at me on Saturday, but I was certainly suddenly thinking far too heavily about Saturday and how to make Saturday happen again.
“I thought I was asking?” I accused Ander.
Topher seemed to choke on his coffee. “Please tell me I’m missing something here?”
“Yes, because the idea of dating me is as heinous to you as it is to all males,” I said, deadpan.
“Hennessy doesn’t
seem to think so.”
“Alas, Tate’s heart belongs to another,” I quipped and rolled my eyes. Why did everyone think that just because you were friendly with guys it meant there was more going on?
“So, I’m your last resort before spinsterhood?” Topher asked with a glint to his eyes and that stupidly hot half-smile. He’d quite obviously recovered from whatever had ailed him.
“Driving. I want you to take me out driving,” I said carefully.
“Ah. So, you’ve finally resigned yourself to the inevitability of spinsterhood, then?” Topher nodded as he brought his mug to his lips. “Good for you, Ads.” He winked as he took a sip.
I groaned. “Be thankful I like coffee more than I’d like to throw my mug at your head.”
He laughed. “Relax, Sonny. I’ll take you out. When do you wanna go?”
I shared a look with Ander. “And that, ladies and gentleman, is why the almighty Hendo is still single,” I said.
Ander sniggered, reaching over to do our secret handshake, as Topher looked between us in confusion and asked, “What?”
“You have clearly never asked a girl out before.”
“I didn’t think that was a secret?”
“You should watch who you’re threatening with spinsterhood there, Christopher,” I warned.
“Unlike you, my bachelorhood is by choice. Why tie myself down when I don’t have to?” He shrugged, that smirk still in place like he thought he was the most magnificent dude in history.
I frowned at him, but I couldn’t really be angry with him. Unlike my dad, at least Topher was honest about being a shithead and never intentionally led girls on. Each and every one of them might have desperately wanted to be the one to tie down Christopher Henderson, but he never promised any of them anything more than a bit of fun. He might have flirted in a way you could heavily infer it and made girls decide they were different this time, but he was always upfront.
“I don’t know. Being a playboy asshole might get old?” I replied.
“Ouch. Woman scorned, much?”
“Shut up, Topher,” I muttered as I pushed myself off the bench and headed for the stairs.
I put my mug down on Ander’s desk and dropped onto his bed with a sigh. I was always like this on days my dad was home. It’s not like I really cared what Topher got up to. He wanted to hook up with different girls all the time? It was his life. Just, hot on the heels of my mother’s great disappointment and the reminder that home was definitely where the heart was – and my heart was firmly wherever Ander was – I didn’t have the energy or inclination to deal with Topher.
I pulled myself off the bed and started getting undressed; a steamy shower always helped me feel less manky. I dropped my pants and shirt in the hamper with my socks and flung my belt over the back of Ander’s desk chair. I was just rifling through my bag for my brush when I heard the door open.
“Sorry, warning and all that,” I said to Ander in accordance with the rules; thou shalt always announce one’s state of undress. Not that we cared much about stripping off in front of each other, it was just polite to give warning so no one saw anything unexpectedly.
Weirdly, Ander didn’t say anything and I stood up to see what he was doing only to find it wasn’t Ander, but Topher.
I was pretty sure my whole body went red. Or, at least all of me that wasn’t covered in my matching black lace panty set. I’d done a lot of stupid shit in my life. Like, a lot. And there was plenty I was justified to be embarrassed about. But, I had never felt quite so embarrassed as I did standing in my best friend’s bedroom in nothing but my sexiest underwear while his older brother stared at me, totally speechless. I didn’t even know if it was a good speechless or a bad speechless.
I cleared my throat as I grabbed the closest piece of clothing I could find – one of Ander’s t-shirts – and held it over me.
“Ha,” just exploded out of me and I tried again. “That was…not what it looked like…” I stammered, my voice sounding all weird.
Topher blinked and looked at my face. “What?” At least I wasn’t the only one whose voice sounded a little weird.
I pointed at my body. “That was not… Uh, I needed new bras and, you know, Ander joked that I needed sexy stuff if I was ever going to get laid. And, bras are damned expensive, man. So, I was like, I’m not buying twice as many and…” I cleared my throat again, feeling like my whole body was sunburned. “Here we are.”
Topher’s expression of disbelief had slowly turned to amusement as I’d blithered like an idiot. If I hadn’t already been flushing from embarrassment, my whole body would have heated for a completely different reason at the way he was looking at me. Then, as per usual, he had to go and ruin it by opening his mouth.
“Why am I not surprised you’re a virgin?” he chuckled, giving me that half-smirk.
I rolled my eyes. “Quite frankly, it’s surprising I’ve ever been kissed.”
“Ah, but we both know you have been,” he said with an impossibly slow wink and my body heated further.
So, he hadn’t forgotten?
I’d spent all week just assuming he’d forgotten like Ander had said. I’d spent all week just acting like normal and pretending my heart wasn’t going to explode because I didn’t know if he did remember or if he’d say something about it or what. Monday and Wednesday alone in the car with him had been hell, but I was pretty sure I played it cool enough.
I cleared my throat again and decided that I was going to forget. “So…” I pointed towards the direction of Ander’s bathroom. “I’m going to shower…”
He was all cocky arrogance and humour. “Thanks, but I’ve got plans.”
My embarrassment turned to annoyance. “I wasn’t inviting you, dillweed.”
He flashed me a grin. “Shame.”
“Did you want something?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“I’ll take you out when you’re done if you want?”
Driving. He was talking about driving.
Right.
I did not want to be stuck in a car with him after all that. So, no.
“Thanks, I’ve got a ton of homework to do.”
“Ads, you’re going to have to at some point. Do you want to rely on my stupid little brother forever?”
I gave him a sassy smirk. “Yes.”
He chuckled. “Should have guessed.” He made to leave.
“But…” I started and he paused. “It would be good to be able to drive by myself…”
He gave me that grin that turned my brain to mush. “How about I find the plates and you can drive in the morning?”
I nodded. “Sure. Sounds good. Thanks, Topher.”
“Anytime, Addy.” He looked at me sort of weirdly but in a nice kind of way somehow, then gave me a nod and walked out.
Ander was back in the room by the time I was out of the shower.
“Feel better?” he asked as I rifled through my drawer for some clean clothes.
“Much yes.”
“Did Topher come past?”
I felt my cheeks heat and Ander laughed, obviously noticing.
“What?”
“I thought it was you, so I was just in my underwear when he walked in. Does he not know how to knock? Maybe we can get him lessons for his birthday.”
Ander sniggered. “Which ones?”
I knew what he was asking. I opened the towel to show him. “These ones.”
Ander’s sniggering turned into full-on guffawing. “Oh!” he cried. “The worst of the lot.”
I nodded, hoping he was going to get it all out of his system. I smacked him upside the head as I passed to the wardrobe then threw the towel on him. He was laughing so hard, he fell over and rolled off the bed with a thud.
“Can we keep killing to a minimum in the house, please?” Aunt Jelly yelled from her room. “At least until this essay’s in.”
“He’s fine!” I called back as I got dressed.
“You’re a total asshat,” I told him.
“Oh, but you love me,” he protested through giggles.
“Unfortunately,” I retorted and he just laughed harder.
I threw a pillow at him and he fell out of view again.
Chapter Seven
I stuck my finger to my ear and Tate grinned as he followed suit and we turned to the others. Will’s grin mirrored Tate’s and his finger went to his ear. Derek looked at us and his smile was about to split is face in two.
He touched his ear briefly then screamed, “Get down, Mr President!”
“Oh, shit,” Ander mumbled as he turned to look at us all, hotdog halfway to his mouth, his eyes going wide just before Derek’s shoulder rammed into his side and he was tackled to the ground.
“Stacks on!” I yelled as the rest of us jumped on Ander.
“Oh,” he groaned as we laughed. “I hate Reddit…”
I chuckled. “No you don’t. You just hate that you always lose.”
The boys pulled themselves up and dragged Ander to his feet as he moaned woefully, sparing an extra moan when he saw what was left of his hotdog down his front and on the grass. I rolled over onto my back, propped up on my elbows and laughed.
There was a post we’d seen doing the rounds on social media about the stupidest games you played with your friends. And, someone explained ‘Get down, Mr President’. Needless to say, our lives had never been the same since and Ander lost nine times out of ten.
“Oh, babe… You’ve got a little…” I pointed to my hair and Ander frowned.
“I’ll show you a little…” he muttered as he ran his hand through his hair and tried to get the grass out of it. Of course, it just made his hair stick up all over the place and there was still a leaf in it.
Love, Lust & Friendship Page 7
