“Did your mom ever remarry after your dad passed?”
She shakes her head. “No, she’s dated here and there, but nothing ever sticks. I think it’s because no one can compare with my dad. My oldest brother is married with two grown kids of his own. Same for my oldest sister. Then there’s my brother Dillon and me. We’re still trying to figure things out. My youngest siblings are still living at home. My brother Brent just started college and my sister Maddy is about to start her last year of high school.”
“So you’re a middle child,” I tease.
She laughs and nods. “Yep, the one who always gets overlooked because the older ones are already doing great things in life and the youngest ones are still causing trouble. I’m just here, living life.”
“I bet it was fun growing up with such a big family. I only had my brother, and he was old enough that we weren’t super-close growing up—we just had different interests with our age gap.”
She nods as she chews. “Sometimes it was great. Sometimes not so great. I don’t think I had my first pair of new jeans until I was in high school, and that’s only because I got a job to buy them myself. Hand-me-downs were a big thing in my house. Plus we only had a three-bedroom house. My parents got one room, the boys got one, and the girls got one. Nothing ever belonged to just me. Everything had to be shared. You should’ve seen our driveway. My mom had a car, my dad had one, then us kids had one. Mom had to make a schedule for us to share the car. But she loved when the older two got their licenses, because that meant she didn’t have to play taxi driver anymore.”
I can’t help but think about how differently we grew up. I mean, I wouldn’t consider my parents rich by any means, but Calvin and I each got a used car when we got our licenses. We didn’t have to share, and even though I’m the younger sibling, I never had to wear any of Calvin’s clothes unless I wanted to. I usually didn’t, because we have very different tastes.
“It was a good childhood though. I wouldn’t change it for anything,” she says with a distant look in her eye.
“So, coming from a rather large family, how many kids do you want when you find the right person and get married?”
She laughs. “Oh, not that many! I think two or three is a good number, but that’s, like, 10 years from now . . . AT LEAST. What about you?”
“I absolutely agree! I couldn’t imagine having six! I would get their names confused.”
She giggles. “My parents did that a lot too. They’d go through every name but the right one, then give up and say, ‘You know what your name is!’” She laughs harder as she remembers it, and I join in.
“What made you decide to go into writing?” I ask, enjoying this opportunity to get to know her better.
She shrugs as she picks up her juice and takes a drink. “I’m a firm believer in the fact that you don’t choose writing. Writing chooses you. It’s something I’ve done for as long as I can remember. When I was little, I would make up stories to write. When I couldn’t sleep, I’d dream up my own story and watch it play out behind my eyelids. In the morning, I’d get up and write it down. My mom has boxes of notebooks, all full of my stories.”
“So you haven’t always been interested in writing editorial pieces for magazines?”
“Oh, no.” She shakes her head. “I’ve always loved stories with a good romance. I still write them from time to time for fun, but I mostly got into writing articles in college. It became clear that most writers are broke and never make the best-seller list, and even if they do, it’s still only a lucky few who can make a good living from it. So I decided to stay true to my roots by writing, but moved to something that would give me a steady income.”
I nod, completely understanding the sudden career change. I had to do that myself. “Well, at least you get to do something you love. And hey, you could always write books on the side. Especially now that digital publishing is possible. You don’t have to go the traditional route.”
She smiles and I swear she bats her lashes, making my heart seize in my chest. “I’ve been working on something in my free time. I’ve been thinking about publishing it, but I have no idea how to go about any of it. I mean . . . editing, designing covers, promotion? It’s all a little overwhelming. So for now, I’m just happy with writing in my spare time.”
She takes a bite of her bacon and continues, “Tell me about your life. How was it growing up with Piper?”
“I’m sure Piper’s told you plenty of stories, but I loved my childhood and wouldn’t change a moment of it. She’s been by my side for as long as I can remember. She’s like a sister to me.”
She frowns. “Then how did that friendship line get so blurred?”
I laugh at the awkwardness. “I have no idea.”
Her eyes fixate on my face and I can tell she’s searching for more.
“Honestly, I love Piper to death. At the time of the show, I couldn’t see myself with her or anyone. I didn’t want a relationship. I just wanted to keep living life. But then I thought about it and realized that Piper would be perfect for me. I mean, we’re already best friends. We already know all there is to know about each other. I finally told her that I loved her too, but she was already with my brother by that point.”
“You’re in love with Piper now?” she asks, eyes wide with surprise.
I laugh and wave my hand through the air. “No, I’m not in love with her, but I do love her. I think that got a little confusing for me. I love her like family, so of course I want what’s best for her, which just happens to be my brother.”
She offers up a weak smile and nods. “Wow, this family really is screwed up,” she laughs out, and I can’t help but join her.
We finish up breakfast and hit the road to finally start our little journey. She sits in the passenger seat, playing with the radio while I maneuver through traffic. She ends up finding a ‘90s alternative station and we both start quietly singing along. “No Rain” by Blind Melon comes on and she laughs. “I sang this at a karaoke bar once.”
“Yeah?” I ask, impressed. I love karaoke, but I’m in no way good at it. Piper and I used to hit the karaoke bar every week back when we first got out of college.
“Yeah, I was hammered and this guy got up to sing it, but I love the song so much that I rushed the stage and took the mic from him. I sang my little heart out that night. Then I fell off the stage, mooned everyone in the crowd with my short skirt, and proceeded to puke everywhere and got kicked out of the bar.”
“Well, that story didn’t end the way I thought it would.”
She smiles at me. “Yeah, me neither. I still can’t even go to that area of town without someone yelling, ‘Lift up your skirt—it’s raining!’”
I laugh quietly to myself as I turn my attention to the road instead of her, not wanting to laugh in her face. The talk between us on our drive is easy and I almost forget how attracted I am to her. She’s just like another Piper. I feel like I can talk to her without being judged. Things come easy instead of feeling forced. I want nothing more than to reach over and hold her hand as I drive, but we’ve already talked about this and I know she’d never allow it. I push away the urge and finish our drive.
We finally make it to the ziplining site. It’s tucked away off a busy road, with only a little sign marking the dirt path through the trees. If you weren’t looking for it, you’d never even know it was there. I drive us up the dirt road that winds around some beautiful groves until we come to a gravel parking lot. There are only a few other cars parked, so at least we won’t have to wait in long lines.
We climb out of the car and make the short walk up to a metal building. Inside we find souvenirs: T-shirts, hats, keychains, bumper stickers—even customized pint glasses with custom leather sleeves. There’s a drink station holding water, Gatorade, and a variety of sodas. A teenage boy sitting is sitting at the counter, and we make our way over.
“Hi, I have two appointments for noon. Name is Preston Young.”
The kid starts fi
ddling with the computer. “Yup. I have you right here and I see that you already paid online. All I need is a copy of your driver’s license and your signatures on these forms stating you won’t sue us if you fall out of your harness, and you’ll be ready to go.” He lays out two pieces of paper and two pens.
Riley steps up to my side to sign her paper. I sign mine and push it toward the kid. I hand him my license and he makes a copy before returning it to me.
“I’ll need your left wrist,” he says, holding out a plastic orange bracelet.
I hold out my wrist and he straps it on. It’s like the ones they use in hospitals—the kind it takes a bomb to get off.
I watch as he puts a bracelet around Riley’s wrist then hands out two orange whistles. We each take one with a confused expression. He shrugs. “It’s just company policy. If for any reason you get lost or hurt out there, just blow the whistle and a member of the team will come find you. Have fun and be safe.” He gives us a smile.
“Where do we go now?” I ask, turning back to face him.
He looks at his watch. “If you’ll step outside this door and follow the red rock formation, it will lead you to the safety course room. You’ll have to watch a 10-minute safety video.”
“Thank you,” Riley says, grabbing my arm and tugging me toward the door.
Once we’re outside, I say, “I have to waste 10 minutes of my life watching a damn safety video?”
She laughs. “Well, you didn’t think they’d just string you up untrained, did you?”
I laugh. “Yeah, kind of!”
She snorts. “I once went on a Segway tour in the city. I had to watch a video just for that. So I kind of expected we’d need to watch something before zipping above the treetops.”
I laugh. “You rode a Segway?”
She smiles and nods. “Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Got pretty good on the thing too.”
I laugh harder, just picturing her zipping around Paul Blart-style on a Segway.
“You’re just jealous of my mad Segway skills. I’ll teach you if you want. You think jumping a handrail on a skateboard is hard? Try a Segway!”
I can’t help but laugh uncontrollably. She’s so quick and witty. “Oh, I would so love that,” I joke. “I bet it’s a lot like a hoverboard, right? My mom’s sister’s kids have a couple of them. They brought them over last summer and Calvin and I just about killed ourselves on them. Piper picked it up in no time though.”
“It’s like a really safe hoverboard for the elderly. The hoverboard will take off even if you only have one foot on. The Segway won’t. It requires two feet to go. And the little balance bar up front makes you feel like you have something to hold on to, even if it moves.”
“You can ride a hoverboard?” I ask.
“Of course. Who can’t?”
“I guess just Calvin and me.”
She smiles sweetly and bats her lashes. “I’ll teach you to ride one of those too. I can see us now, zooming through the city on our hoverboards. I’ll have some leather jackets made and we’ll start a gang!”
I laugh. “A hoverboard gang?”
She nods. “That’s right. You don’t get to have all the good ideas, Preston.” She opens the door to the next building and walks in.
Twenty minutes later, we’ve watched the safety and instructional video and hit the restrooms, and we’re finally getting fitted for our harnesses. Everything feels snug and tight, but not too tight considering I’m going to be dangling from this thing. Excitement is filling my body and I can’t wait to get up in the trees. There are platforms built around the trees and we start up the stairs with one of the employees. At the top, he hooks me up to the line.
“Ready to go?” he asks.
“Hell yeah!”
“Just step off.”
I look back at Riley and she’s wearing a wide smile. I shrug and give her a smile before stepping off the platform. I fall for a slight second, but the zipline catches me and I start sliding down. The wind blows in my face and I let out a loud, “Whooooooo!” as I glide down the line. After the excitement and the buzz wear off, I’m able to look around me and see the beauty of the forest. There are birds and squirrels in the trees. The sun is shining through the limbs beautifully, lighting up the green forest floor. There are logs on the ground that are growing moss, and I see a group of people walking back up, just finished from their tour.
I try to look for Riley, but I can’t turn my head enough to see how close she is. When I get to the next tree, I’m unhooked and feel a little shaky on my feet. The worker wants to hook me up to the next line, but I insist on waiting for Riley. I want to see the wide smile I know is on her face.
Seconds later, she makes her landing and gets unhooked. She’s beaming, showing off all her white teeth. “That was amazing!” she cheers, throwing her arms around my neck. I know this is a friendly hug, but I can’t help but breathe her in when she’s this close. Her sweet scent makes my body come alive in ways I wish it wouldn’t right now. All I can picture is pushing her up against this tree and sliding deeply into her. If only this employee weren’t here and the rules hadn’t already been laid out by Calvin.
“All right, let’s get you guys back on the line before the next group comes in.”
I stand back and watch as he hooks her up to the next line and she takes off running—right off the side of the platform. She goes zipping through the air, giggling and laughing along the way.
The worker tells me I have to wait so there’s a safe distance between us, and to fill the silence, he tries to make small talk. “How long you guys been together?”
“Oh, uh . . . we’re not together together.”
He nods with a smile. “Ah, still trying to work your way out of that friend zone?”
Fuck you, man. I’ve never been in the friend zone in my life, I want to say but don’t. “Yeah, something like that,” I just agree. Finally, enough time has passed that he’s able to hook me up to the line. I leap off the platform as quickly as possible, not only needing to get away from him and his questions, but also wanting to catch back up to Riley.
We spend hours zipping from tree to tree. Finally, I’m unhooked from the last line and Riley is already there, waiting for me at the bottom of the platform. I walk down the steps and she jumps into my arms, wrapping her legs around my hips.
“That was amazing! Thank you for inviting me!”
I smile as I hold her against me. “My pleasure,” I reply, but I can’t help but feel that pull between us. Without thinking or realizing it, my head starts leaning in closer to hers. Something is exchanged between us and she leans in too. Our lips meet in the middle and this kiss is better than our last one in every possible way. Her mouth opens and her tongue comes out, dancing with my own. Between the excitement of ziplining and now this kiss, I feel dizzy and have no choice but to press her back to a tree. With my body holding hers against it, it frees up my hands and they move to cup her cheeks, deepening the kiss.
It feels like every nerve ending in my body is coming alive and vibrating with excitement. My cock grows hard and I know she feels it pressing against her. Fuck, it’s nearly begging for entrance. Already, I’m trying to think of where I can take her to finish this up a little more privately. I bet that stupid kid on the platform is watching us right now.
Her hand lands flat on my chest and she pushes me back slightly. She doesn’t push me away, but it’s enough to let me know she wants to break the kiss. With a sigh, I pull my mouth from hers and allow her to slide down my body so she’s back on her feet.
“I’m sorry, Preston. I didn’t mean to . . .”
I nod and turn my back to her, wiping my mouth dry. “I know. No harm, no foul.” I start heading toward the marked-off trail to hike back up to the buildings.
She follows along behind me for a minute, then I hear her feet crunching against small twigs and leaves as she catches up to my side. “I didn’t mean to do that. I was just caught up in all the excitement of the day and
our growing friendship. Plus there is this connection we have.”
“I know, Riley. You don’t have to explain,” I reply, but don’t slow my walking. There’s no running from this, but walking is the only way I can distract myself.
“I feel like I do have to explain, because I want you to know I’m not stopping this because I don’t like you or something like that. Because I do. I really, really like you, Preston.”
I stop and turn to face her. “Why are you telling me this, Riley? You think me knowing that you really, really like me will make this any easier on me? ‘Cause it won’t. I finally find someone I’m not only attracted to, but also feel a real connection with, and she’s off limits. The only way I’m going to get through this is if I think you don’t want to be with me. ‘Cause as much as I love my brother and Piper, they won’t stop me from taking you. Only you can do that. So please don’t like me.” I get back to my hike and try to keep my mind off how I feel about her and our day. Everything was perfect until we kissed and she stopped it from going any further.
We don’t talk for the rest of the hike, but I can hear her heavy breathing and footsteps behind me, so I know she hasn’t run off or gotten lost or anything. I hate that I’m mad at her. And if I’m being honest, I’m not mad at her. I’m mad at myself. This is all on me. She’s not doing anything other than what she’s supposed to. She’s being a good friend to Piper and I’m putting that friendship on the line. But I guess the same could be said for her. My friendship with Piper was just fine until she came along. Maybe the person I should be mad at is Piper. She’s the one who introduced us, after all. I could be mad at Calvin too. He’s the one who forbade me from seeing Riley. But back to Piper . . . I wonder if she did this on purpose.
She’s always known the types of girls I’ve gone after. Hell, she was the best wingwoman for a while. We’d go to a bar, she’d find a girl she knew I’d like, make quick friends with her, and then throw her at me. Deep down, I wonder if that’s what she’s doing with Riley. Only now, she’s hoping and praying that everything works out.
We finally make it back to the car and I know something needs to be said. If I don’t break the tension, this will be one long, awkward car ride home.
Marrying My Best Friend's BFF: A Friends to Lovers, Accidental Baby Romance (Love You Forever Book 2) Page 4
