Love, Lust & Friendship

by Elizabeth Stevens

  “God, you smell good,” he muttered as his nose trailed up to my ear.

  I laughed. “We call that soap. You boys should try it sometime.”

  Which wasn’t strictly true. Topher had always smelled good. It was a smell I recognised instantly as belonging to him. And, it was a smell my body was starting to react to in a way it didn’t used to.

  “I might need directions. Do you do guided tours?”

  I snorted. “Wow. Just… Wow.”

  “You like that?”

  “I… No… That was awful.”

  He grinned cheekily. “What time is dinner?”

  “Seven…ish?”

  “So, you’ll be leaving quarter-to…ish?”

  “Little earlier. I think my Sonya-approved outfit is at her place.”

  He smiled. “And, are you going alone?”

  “Persistent, aren’t you?”

  “Just wondering if I needed to go give this shower thing a try.”

  I tried not to smile. “You’d really come with me?”

  “Yeah, if you wanted me to.”

  He wasn’t wrong that my mother loved him, and she’d love everything about him being there to the point she might not even notice my existence. Which would make my life so much easier. Was it bad that I was so blatantly using him?

  “Even though you’ll get nothing out of it?”

  He shrugged. “I’ll be with you,” he said like that would be enough.

  “You sure?”

  He took my face in his hands and his smile was so warm. “I’m sure.”

  “That would be really great, thanks.”

  “Okay, I’ll go shower.”

  “And, waste whatever time you have left to kiss me while you’re brother’s busy?” I teased.

  “Oh, did you want me to kiss you?” he asked.

  “Oh, my God. You two are adorable,” Aunt Jelly giggled, walking into the room.

  I laid my head on Topher’s chest and he laughed. “Yeah, don’t tell Lex, will you?” he said.

  “I thought he was okay with this?”

  I felt Topher shrug. “Actions speak louder than words, Aunt Jel. We’re all getting used to it.”

  Aunt Jelly huffed a laugh. “I’ll say.”

  “Oh, hey…?” Topher started.

  “Hey…yourself…?” Aunt Jelly replied slowly.

  “Addy’s got dinner with her parents tonight. You okay if I go, too?”

  “Sure, hun. Whatever you want.”

  “You’re what?” Ander spat and I spun out of Topher’s arms to face him.

  I hadn’t even heard him come in.

  “He’s going?” Ander asked me, before storming out of the room.

  “Lex!” Aunt Jelly called and I shook my head.

  “I’ll deal with it…” I muttered as I ran after him. “Ander!”

  He was in his room, mightily pissed off, when I got there.

  “Babe–”

  “Don’t ‘babe’ me, Addison!”

  “Whoa! Hormonal, much?” I snapped. “I didn’t realise I was on the rag this week.”

  “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.”

  “Deserving for the highest form of idiot. What is your problem?”

  “He’s going with you to dinner?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah?”

  “I’ve offered for years to go and you haven’t wanted me to go. What makes him so special?”

  “He offered and I accepted.”

  “I thought this was just sort-of dating? Not take him home to meet the family.”

  I sighed. “You know how Sonya feels about him.”

  “Oh, so this is about choosing the Henderson brother your mother approves of? Since when do you care about her opinion?”

  “I don’t. I care about making it through one dinner without her tearing strips off me.”

  “And, Topher’s obviously the guy for that,” Ander said sarcastically.

  “You know what she’s like. Give her a shiny toy and she’ll leave me alone.”

  “So, he’s a toy now?”

  “I don’t even know what you’re annoyed about anymore!”

  “Me either!”

  We were both yelling now, so I took a breath and said more calmly. “It’s got nothing to do with picking one of you over the other. Topher offered and you know what Sonya’s like with him. I thought he’d give me some time to catch up with Dad and the boys without her on my back constantly. I only don’t want you to come because I don’t want her hating on you as much as she hates on me. I’m her daughter, I can’t get away from that. But, you don’t have to endure it.”

  Some of the fight left him. “Ads, we’re in this together. It’s you and me against the world. I’d endure anything if it helped you.”

  I sighed and we hugged. “I know. But, I can protect you from this. So, please let me.”

  He rested his chin on my head. “Okay. I don’t like it. But, okay. You just make sure he behaves himself.”

  I nodded. “He’ll be fine. He has an uncanny ability to suck up to my mother like no other creature.”

  “We can cut him open and study him?”

  I snorted. “Sure. But, best ask Aunt Jelly for some towels to put down first.”

  “True. Don’t want to make a mess.”

  I hugged him tighter and he returned the favour. “We good?”

  I felt him nod. “Yeah. We’re good.”

  “I love you, Ander, to the moon and back.”

  “I love you, too, more than all the stars in the sky.” He gave me one more hug then stepped back. “All right, go and make your plans with the dillweed.”

  I reached up to kiss his cheek and hurried out. Topher’s door was closed so I knocked on it.

  “Yeah?” he called and I took that as an invitation to walk in.

  Which, I should not have done. I spun around. “Sorry!”

  He laughed. “It’s fine, Ads. It’s just a towel.”

  I slowly turned back and saw it was indeed just a towel. Literally, just a towel.

  “You want something?” he asked.

  “Uh…” I looked around – anything to stop me staring at his half-naked body like I’d never seen it before. “You showered already?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. You taking me up on that offer after all?” He winked.

  God, it was tempting. I actually looked back to the door as if that was going to tell me that no one would notice me showering with my best friend’s older brother.

  “Oh, you’re thinking about it,” he chuckled.

  I glared at him. “Of course I’m thinking about it,” I grumbled. “You can’t just stand there half-naked and expect me to not be thinking about it.”

  He walked towards me. “Just how often do you think about it, Ads?” he asked.

  My breath hitched. “Showering with you? Less than you’d expect.”

  He stopped in front of me, but didn’t touch me. “Uh huh. And, the rest of it?”

  “More than you’d expect.”

  His eyebrow rose in interest. “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you thinking about it now?” He leant towards me.

  I rolled my eyes at him and put a hand on his chest to make a show of pushing him away, even if I didn’t really want to. “Yes.”

  He put his hand over mine and stepped closer. “I like that.” Then he kissed me hard and I liked that.

  But, “I’m not having sex with you, shower or not,” I told him, breathless after that kiss.

  He gave me that crooked grin. “I didn’t think you were.”

  “Oh, okay…”

  His grin widened. “I need to shower, yeah?”

  “I’m busy,” I threw back at him.

  “Pity.” He winked. “Invitation stands.” He pressed another quick kiss to my lips and disappeared into his bathroom while I was left swooning a little in his room.

 
****

  “Addison, you’re earl… Christopher! You’re here!” Sonya trilled, scathing surprise replaced with genuine pleasure as she hurried down the stairs, still somehow elegant.

  Which put me in a worse mood after encountering Ander’s returned bad mood as we were leaving; for all his talk of everything being fine, he sure was in a grump when Topher and I had left. In hindsight, he had seemed oddly stilted when he’d told me to make plans with the dillweed and I wondered if I was the only one who’d walked out of that talk feeling better.

  But, Topher was in overly-charming mode, so he could deal with the mother. “I am.”

  “What a lovely surprise,” she went on as they embraced and she kissed his cheek.

  “Well, you did say come to dinner. So, I thought why not tonight?”

  Good God, Christopher. Really? I thought as I watched him.

  “Oh, I’m so pleased. Come through. Can I get you a drink of something? I have a lovely d’Arenberg Shiraz breathing.”

  “No, thanks. Addy’s driving.”

  Sonya looked at me, confusion on her elegant face.

  “He has to be sober if he’s the responsible driver,” I explained.

  Sonya just smiled at him winningly. “Suit yourself, dear. I’d best go and make sure another place is set for dinner.”

  She swanned off and I frowned at Topher before heading up the stairs.

  “What?” he asked innocently as he followed.

  “Just whose pants are you trying to worm your way into anyway?”

  “Pants are not my target, Addy.”

  “Really?” I asked sceptically as he kept following me right into my room.

  “Really.”

  “What is your target, then?” I asked, closing the door behind him.

  He pulled me close, giving me the smile I did like. “If I say, I’ll be accused of cheese.” He winked.

  I laughed. “Yeah. Okay. We’ll leave it at that, then, I think.”

  I reached up to kiss him and I was obviously still thinking about him in his towel because it heated up fast. We toppled onto my bed and somewhere in there I was reaching for his belt buckle.

  “Is now really the time?” he asked, then, “Oh, my God. What am I saying?”

  I laughed and pulled away from him a little. “No, I guess not.”

  “Feel free to ignore the idiot from a moment ago. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Topher said with a grin.

  I ran my hand over his pants and smiled. “I might just do that.”

  But, Topher groaned and not in a satisfied way. “Ugh. No, don’t do that.”

  “What? Why?”

  He kissed me firmly. “Mess, Addy. Mess is why.”

  I sank back into the bed. “Oh.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’d be more than happy. But, I’ve learnt the hard way that you don’t want to have to explain to your mum why she needs to wash the sheets when you haven’t slept in them for weeks, and walking around with it in my pants is no better.”

  I bit my lip to try to stop the laughter escaping.

  “Oh, you laugh now,” he said with a smile and I nodded.

  He leant down and kissed me again, his hand running over my hip. I was totally lost to him that I jumped when I felt his hand between my legs.

  “Sorry…” he pulled away slightly.

  I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. Just surprised me.”

  “You sure?”

  Uh, definitely. I nodded and smiled. “I’m sure.”

  His kiss was slower and deeper this time as he undid my jeans.

  So, of course, there was a knock on my door.

  “Yeah?” I called.

  “Dad’s just in, Ads. Wants to say hi,” I heard second-eldest brother Linc say and I sighed.

  “Yeah, all right. Let me find something appropriate for her majesty.”

  “Good luck with that,” he chuckled.

  Topher’s laugh brushed against my neck. “To be continued,” he murmured, then rolled off me.

  I sat up and looked at my undone jeans. “Well, at least you kicked off the changing.”

  He laughed as I pulled myself off the bed and hunted around for the outfit least likely to attract Sonya’s complaint.

  “You may as well head down. Petey’ll probably want to say hi.”

  “Yeah, all right. But, I will come back for you if you take too long.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I waved a dismissive hand at him and heard him leave.

  I finally found a nice enough top to throw on with my jeans and traded my Vans for some mary-jane flat things that weren’t the worst thing in the world.

  By the time I got down to the formal living room – because who actually used a casual living room? – Topher was talking to Petey and Sonya, Linc and eldest brother Mac were guffawing about something, and Dad gave me a wide smile as he walked over to hug me.

  “If I’d known I was giving you advice about Christopher Henderson, I might not have given it so freely,” he murmured as he bent his head to mine, his arms tight and warm around me.

  I felt myself smile stupidly. “It’s not official or anything, Dad. Okay. He just offered to deal with Mum tonight.”

  Dad turned to look at them, his arm still around me. “She does have a soft spot for him.”

  I nodded. “She does.”

  “I know better than to suggest that’s something the two of you have in common.”

  I elbowed him playfully as I groaned, “Ew, don’t ruin it.”

  He laughed until Sonya called out, “Sean!” and all humour left him.

  “Yes?” he asked, pulling away from me like he’d been scalded.

  Sonya looked me over next to him and I actually saw the moment she forced herself to not look at me with hatred. “You look…nice, Addison.”

  The whole room went silent. Mac, Linc and Petey all looked at me like they’d never seen me before. And, Topher didn’t seem to know if I needed him to sympathise with me at my mother’s stupidity or if I suddenly needed a sweet tea to get over the shock. I didn’t know either. I self-consciously fluffed my hair because I suddenly realised I’d been rolling around on my bed with Topher and not done anything with it.

  “Doesn’t she?” Dad asked, covering the silence. “I was just saying so myself.”

  There was no way I looked nice enough for Sonya to think it, let alone say it. But, I wasn’t going to create an unnecessary argument. “Uh… Thanks, Mum.”

  She nodded and turned back to her conversation with Petey and Topher.

  After another look at me, Mac and Linc went back to their conversation, and Dad touched a hand to my elbow.

  “Don’t look now, but I think your mother’s had a stroke.”

  I snorted, and tried to cover it with a cough as her eyes roved back over to me.

  “Do you want to get me in trouble?” I asked him.

  “Kiddo, you brought her favourite person to dinner. I think you’re good for tonight.”

  I scoffed, “Topher is not her favourite person…” I paused. “Is he?”

  Dad shrugged. “Well, he makes the list of people she likes…”

  I nodded. “Yeah, and we both know how short that is.”

  “Yep.”

  The rest of dinner went surprisingly smoothly with Topher there to keep Sonya entertained. He did a stunning job, even though I wanted to throw up most of the time. But, at least there wasn’t any fighting from anyone.

  When we left, I was in a surprisingly good mood for once. Until we got back to the Hendersons’ and Ander’s door was closed and there was no sign of life.

  “You going in?” Topher asked me after I’d been staring at it for I didn’t know how long.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Do you think you should?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He huffed a laugh and put his arms around my waist. “What do you want to do?”

 
I sighed. “I don’t know that either.”

  “Okay. Why don’t you let him sleep on it, talk to him in the morning?”

  “Where would I sleep then?” I asked him.

  He kissed my neck slowly. “My room.”

  I mock-gasped and turned in his arms. “Sleep in your room? In your bed? With you?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Yes, Addy.”

  “You sure?”

  He looked at me like I should know the answer to that. “No,” he said sarcastically. “I couldn’t possibly deal with sleeping with you.”

  “Hey, no one said anything about sleeping with me,” I told him.

  Topher sighed dramatically. “God, Ads. You’ve got such a dirty mind. Seriously, can’t a guy go one night without you trying to get in his pants?”

  I smiled at him. “No such luck, I’m afraid.”

  He kissed me quickly. “Do what you gotta do and I’ll meet you in there.”

  I nodded and we went our separate ways. I did all the necessary pre-bed rituals (which, no, didn’t include washing off my makeup because the laziness is strong with this one) and awkwardly shuffled into Topher’s room.

  He was sitting against his pillows, shirtless, one arm behind his head and looking at something on his phone. And, he’d obviously heard me close the door behind me.

  “I left a shirt out for you if you wanted it,” he said, kicking his head towards the corner of the bed, his eyes still on his screen.

  As I got undressed, our eyes caught and he smiled. But, it wasn’t an expectant smile, it wasn’t a seductive or flirty smile, it was just warm and made me feel like he was just happy to have me there.

  When I was down to my bra and undies, I reached for the t-shirt he’d left for me and I caught his eye again. There was a different look on his face.

  “What?”

  “They’re not even matching,” he said and I looked down with a smile.

  “We don’t always wear matching.”

  He sat up, his legs crossing under the blankets as he leant his elbows in his knees and leant forward with interest. “You don’t?”

  I shook my head with a laugh and pulled his t-shirt on. “No. Why would you possibly think we do?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Why have matching ones if you don’t wear them together?”