Through the Layers (Rumor Has It series Book 4)

by RH Tucker

  Taylor’s seen me talking to her a few times tonight and gives me a head nod with a huge, cheese-eating grin.

  As the night goes on, we keep our conversation going and it’s refreshing. One of the things I like about talking to her is that she’s funny. An honest type of funny, where she says something, and she’s not trying to make me laugh, it just comes out naturally. And not to sound like a dude-bro, but I have checked out her ass a couple of times. That being said, the thing I’m drawn to most is her smile. And she has this little giggle she does that keeps me locked onto her.

  We’re sitting on the couch as people start clearing the apartment when Cindy walks over to us. “Hey, V. You ready?”

  “Oh.” She looks over at her. There’s a moment of silence and Veronica appears to be blushing. Cindy flashes me a quick glance, before looking back at her. It almost seems like a silent conversation is going on. “Um, I think I’ll just hang out here a bit longer. I’ll take an Uber home.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I say. “I can take you home.”

  Veronica seems a bit taken aback. “Oh … okay.”

  Another silent conversation plays out between them before Cindy gives her a smile. “Okay, then. See you guys later. Thanks, Micah. This was fun.”

  It’s only after Cindy leaves that I notice Veronica is the last one here. Her eyes meet mine, and we sit for a moment in silence. She said she wanted to stay, but stay for what? To talk? Something more? This is exactly what Taylor’s been saying I need to get my mind off of Lana, but that’s not me. I’m not the kind of guy to just hookup with girls, much to Taylor’s dismay.

  Before either of us can say anything, a moan emanates from Taylor’s room, and both of our eyes widen.

  “So that’s where he disappeared off to,” Veronica says, a slight blush creeping up her face.

  “Uh, yeah. Sorry.”

  “For what?”

  I bite the inside of my lip, wrinkling my nose. “We have, um, thin walls.” More embarrassment shows and I want to say we should go to my room, but I don’t want her to think I’m saying we should do something. Then I remember a stupid stunt Taylor pulled last week. “Hey, you want to prank him?”

  She wrinkles her nose, her teeth together. “A prank? I’m not sure … I don’t know him that well. Cindy knows him better than I do.”

  “I know, but he caught me in my room last week and got me so—”

  “He caught you in your room … with someone?” She looks at me almost like she’s in shock.

  “Oh, no.” I wave my hand. “Not with someone.”

  “What do you mean then?”

  Damn it. I can feel my face get hot and I’m sure it’s turning red. Something about talking to her tonight has put me at ease. Comfortable enough that I just left myself open to something super embarrassing. “Uh, you know what? Never mind.”

  “What?” There’s that giggle again. She’s sitting with her legs crossed, her knee lightly brushing against mine.

  “Well … I was alone …”

  Her eyes go wide, and then suddenly shoot to my crotch. Then, as if catching what she’s doing, they shoot back up to meet my eyes. “Oh!”

  “Wow, I can’t believe I just told you that.”

  The silence drifts back between us. She looks as embarrassed as I feel. I seriously can’t believe I just said that. Maybe it’s that comfortability I’m feeling with her. It has to be. We’ve talked about stuff that’s mostly insignificant. Movies, books, food. Some things we have in common, other things we don’t, but it doesn’t matter. We seem to connect.

  The silence is broken with Taylor’s words, and we both stifle a laugh. “Damn, girl.”

  “Anyways,” I clear my throat, “he walked into my room, looking for a condom.” I shake my head, still not sure why I’m telling her all this. At the same time, she doesn’t appear to be as embarrassed anymore. “I kicked him out while he was laughing his ass off. Two minutes later he came back in, a girl in tow, talking like we were supposed to have a threesome. The girl seemed shocked, I freaked out and cursed at him, telling him to get out. He immediately started busting up, and the girl took off.”

  “Oh, my God.” She’s laughing. “He didn’t.”

  “He did. He gathered himself enough to chase after her. I heard him calling out, ‘Don’t worry, baby. I’ll change his mind. Come back!’ Saying that two guys make it hotter and all this stuff. All the while still laughing his ass off.”

  She’s in hysterics now, leaning over, her head on my shoulder. “That’s insane.”

  “I know!”

  We hear another moan from the room.

  “So, yeah, I really want to get him back.” I smile at her.

  “What’d you have in mind?”

  I pull her off the couch, and we walk over to Taylor’s door. I know exactly what I want to do. And it all starts with kissing her. Yes, I do want to prank Taylor, but I can’t lie—the more we’ve talked tonight, the more I’ve wanted to kiss her.

  “So, what are we doing?” she asks.

  I bite my lip, nervously. “Just go with it, okay?”

  She returns my gaze, nodding.

  Leaning closer to her, I wrap an arm around her waist. Her eyes widen, putting a hand on my chest. Suddenly, I don’t want to continue on with this prank. I just want to keep her close to me. Holding her, feeling her body close to mine. I lean down and my nose brushes against hers; I feel her breath across my lips. I nearly forget about everything, especially my stupid prank, when I hear Taylor behind the door.

  “Damn, baby, you feel so good.”

  Veronica and I stare at each other. I make my move.

  As soon as my lips meet hers … Sparks. Fire. A part of me wonders if it’s just because I haven’t kissed anyone else in a while. But I know it’s not. Her lips on mine feel electric. And I wouldn’t even remember the prank if Taylor didn’t start screaming at me as I opened the door.

  “What the hell, Micah?” Taylor yells, and the girl yelps.

  I pull away from Veronica. Is it my imagination, or does she look flustered? I wish I could examine it a little longer, but I turn to Taylor, smiling. “Oh, baby, you found one, too!”

  “What?” He stares at me, shifting in the bed, and I have to stifle my laugh from him hiding his excitement.

  “Well, Veronica said she’d be into it.” I look at her. She seems confused for a moment, but follows my lead and starts to nod. “I know she’s your step-sister, but you said you’d be cool with it. And she’s not blood-related, so …”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he practically shrieks.

  I let go of Veronica and put a knee on the bed. The girl scoots back, staring at Taylor, confused.

  “T, I know we’ve had some rough patches, but I really think this might be just the spark we need. And if you want to make it a four-way,” I look over at her and give her the most comforting and understanding smile I can; she recoils, totally confused, “instead of a three-way, then I say, let’s do it. Right, Veronica?”

  Her eyes are wide. Her hand’s in front of her mouth, and I can tell she’s trying not to laugh. She nods and then looks at Taylor. “Absolutely. Taylor, I just want you to be happy. And Micah, he really loves you.”

  “What the shit is going on?” Taylor yells at both of us. “Get the hell out of my room, both of you!”

  “But, baby …” I reach out to him, and the girl jumps off the bed, keeping the sheet around her while grabbing her clothes off the ground.

  “This is too weird!”

  “No. Gretchen, he’s just messing around!” Taylor calls out.

  “Baby, it’s okay. You don’t have to be embarrassed.”

  “Don’t call me!” Gretchen yells, running out of the room.

  Veronica watches her leave the apartment. My eyes follow her out, before looking back at Taylor, who’s also watching her go. When the front door shuts, his head snaps toward me, and he lunges.

  “You asshole!”

 
I jump off the bed, Veronica in a fit of giggles now. “Payback’s a bitch, huh?” I say, laughing.

  “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to hookup with her?”

  “Oh, um, Taylor?” Veronica starts, her cheeks blushing

  “No.” He points at her, standing up. “You don’t get to say anything. Step-sister? What the hell was that?”

  “Hey, uh, bro?” I glance around, trying to get his attention.

  “Shut up, cockblocker.”

  “Uh,” I laugh. “Looks like I didn’t block as much as you think.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  I look over at Veronica, who’s averted her eyes, still giggling. I point down at his waist, his boxers tenting.

  “Shit!” He jumps back on the bad, grabbing a sheet to cover himself. “Get the hell out of here!”

  We both burst into laughter, scampering out of his room and into mine.

  Chapter 6

  Veronica

  Running out of Taylor’s room while he’s yelling at us, I follow Micah into his. It’s like we’re old friends and we both flop down on his bed in a fit of laughter.

  “Did you see his face?” Micah wipes the tears from his eyes

  “That was hilarious.” I hold my stomach. “Oh man, he’s going to really want to get you back for that one.”

  “It was worth it.”

  The laughing continues for a few more minutes, and he reaches over to his desk, grabbing a remote. “Want to watch some Netflix?”

  I wipe my eyes again, giving him a coy grin. “Micah, are you asking me to Netflix and chill?”

  “Oh!” His eyes pop open. “No! Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

  I wasn’t planning on staying after everyone left. As well as we seemed to be getting along, when it started to die out, I was going to leave when Cindy was ready. It wasn’t until halfway through the party she pulled me aside and told me her plan.

  Still entirely determined on getting me to hookup with Micah, she said if I wanted to stay just tell her I would get an Uber. I told her okay, mostly just to get her to shut up about it. But the more the night went on, the more I was thinking about her idea. And the more I was leaning toward using it. When she finally said she was ready to go, I could tell from the expression on her face she wanted me to act on her plan. I surprised myself when I actually did it.

  “What’d you want to watch?”

  He turns on the TV. “I’ve been binging on Supernatural lately.”

  “Cool.” I nod, sitting up and kicking off my shoes.

  I don’t know what it is that makes me feel so comfortable around him. We talked a little in our art class, and I knew who he was in high school, but I would’ve never called us friends. Of course, I always thought he was cute. Cindy would call him delicious. Okay, I’d call him delicious, too.

  He’s a foot taller than me, and his broad shoulders just emphasize that more. Dark brown hair that’s short but long enough to style. I’ve wanted to run my fingers through it a couple times tonight. His square jawline is clean shaven, though he does have a small five o’clock shadow, and dark umber eyes that draw me in.

  He’s in jeans and a T-shirt, but I’ve seen him at the gym. Sleeves cut off, shorts riding high when he’s working out his legs. It’s enough to make a girl drool. I’m sure he does, which is why I’ve tried to hide when I see him. I mean, what guy would be looking at the chunky girl on the elliptical machine, when Malibu Barbie is deliberating working out her glutes in front of him.

  Trying to focus, I watch the TV as he scrolls. “Have you ever watched New Girl?” I ask.

  “Not really. Is it good?”

  I nod. “It’s funny. But we don’t have to watch it.”

  “Why not? If you say it’s good, I’ll give it a try.”

  “No, it’s okay.” I shake my head.

  Bringing up New Girl makes me think of Tim. It doesn’t happen a lot anymore, but certain things trigger memories of him. Watching New Girl is one of them. Or, should I say, not watching it.

  We were hanging out in his room one time, and I brought up the show. We’d been watching a marathon of The Walking Dead, which I also like. But we watched three episodes, and I wanted to watch something else. I pulled up New Girl and started an episode while he was in the bathroom.

  “What happened?” he asked when he came back in.

  “Let’s watch this. Please?” I gave him my best cute-pouty look. “I’m tired of zombies.”

  “What is it?” He watched the quick opening of the show then looked at me, throwing up an eyebrow. “Are you serious, V?”

  “Yeah.” I smiled.

  “This looks stupid.” He grabbed the remote and put on another episode of Walking Dead.

  Micah nudges my arm, breaking up the memory. “You good?”

  “Yeah.” I nod. “Put on whatever you want. I mean, it’s your TV.”

  “All right.”

  I return my gaze back to the sheets and then down at my shoes on the ground. What am I doing here? Why do I even think there’s a possibility of making out with him? Yeah, sure, we kissed playing that joke on Taylor, but it was a joke. Tingles spread across my arms as soon as his lips touched mine, and when he broke away, I was a little disappointed. But why? It was a prank. This is so stupid.

  My doubts are broken up by the theme song playing. “Who’s that girl? It’s Jess!”

  My head snaps to Micah, who’s looking at me with a huge grin. “What are you doing?” I ask.

  “Checking out New Girl.” I start to smile as he gets off the bed. “Hold on a second.” He grabs the remote and pauses the show, running out of the room. Thirty seconds later he comes back in with a bag of chips and two sodas.

  “You like Dr. Pepper?” he asks, and I nod. “Cool. I would’ve offered to make popcorn, but we ran out. We got Ruffles though.”

  “Ruffles are great.” I smile over at him.

  He sits back down on the bed, handing me the drink, and opening the bag of chips. He starts the episode and digs into the chips. I take a small sip of the soda. We don’t talk, just lean back against his headboard, watching the show.

  It’s a comfortable silence. I’ve always felt like someone should be saying something, even if it’s just a comment about something random. As if too much silence meant why were we even hanging out or together in the first place. But I don’t feel that with Micah. He chuckles at the jokes on the show, and I glance over at him and see if he’s really enjoying it or he’s just trying to like it for me. He looks like he’s paying attention, and I smile. Catching me looking, he bumps his shoulder into mine.

  “You haven’t eaten any chips?” He motions to the bag, offering me some again. “You don’t like them?”

  “Oh, no, it’s not that.” I bite my lip, feeling a little embarrassed.

  “What is it?”

  I should just make up an excuse, but I feel at ease around him. Only Cindy and my family know how self-conscious I am about my weight, it’s not something I like to share. But something about the way he’s looking at me like he’s actually interested in what’s on my mind makes me speak up. “I’m kind of on a diet.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I have been for a while, but it comes and goes. Lately, I’ve been trying to stick to it again.”

  “That’s cool, I guess.”

  “You guess?” His words confuse me. Is he just being nice? Does he think I’m like other girls who say they’re on a diet to try and impress a guy?

  He shrugs. “Yeah. I don’t know. I guess I think you look fine how you are.”

  I scoff. “That’d be a first.”

  “What?”

  Again, the comfortableness I feel around him has me saying more than I usually would. “I know guys say they like a girl with curves, but there’s a difference between curves and being fat.”

  He recoils. “Whoa.”

  I’ve said too much. I expect him to look at me like I’m weird or maybe a little out there.
Anything other than how he’s actually looking at me, which is with concern.

  “Veronica—”

  “Micah, don’t.” I shake my head and avert my eyes. “I know what I am, okay? I have to see myself every day. I’ve lost twenty pounds, which might not be a lot, but I think I look better. And I feel better, too. But I know what I am.”

  The room goes silent. I glance over at the show and see that he’s paused it. He doesn’t break the silence until I look up at him. “If losing weight will make you feel better about yourself, then you do that. Good job, by the way. But, I think you’re beautiful.”

  I feel my face go flush, but can’t break my eyes away from him. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.” He rolls his eyes but smiles. “Besides, haven’t you heard the old saying? Guys like a little more cushion for the pushin’?” His eyes widen, mortification flashing across his face. “Wow, sorry. That was douchey. I just mean you look fine.” He clears his throat, returning his attention back to the TV, unpausing it.

  I can’t explain why his comment doesn’t make me roll my eyes. I know he’s not taking a shot or trying to be dumb. He’s just attempting to make me feel better about myself. And it makes me feel even more relaxed around him. More than relaxed or comfortable, it makes me feel safe around him.

  Scooting a little closer to him, I grab a couple chips. Through the corner of my eye, I see him smile. He lifts his arm and wraps it around me, and I snuggle closer. I’m not sure if he’s looking for a hookup, but I don’t think so. If this was Taylor, as I’ve seen firsthand, I know he’d probably try making a move. But he seems to be enjoying the show and my company. Then I wonder if he’s still hurt over his ex. I still don’t know what happened there.

  “Another episode?” he asks. Looking up at him, our faces are only inches apart. His dark brown eyes lock onto mine, and he licks his lips.