Slightly Stalky: He's the One, He Just Doesn't Know it Yet (Slightly Series Book 1)
Page 23
Illuminated only by the indirect glow of her headlights, Emily could see dark shapes near her door.
“I don’t know,” she said, shutting off the car.
The two stepped out and walked to Emily’s porch.
The shapes were boxes.
“Do a little online shopping, did we?”
“No.” She opened her door and turned on the porch light. “These boxes aren’t sealed,” she said, pointing to a loose flap on the nearest.
Emily crouched down and opened one. It was full of men’s clothes. She opened another to find mugs and silverware.
“What the hell?” said Emily.
There was a flash of light and Emily and Kady both turned to see Sebastian’s truck pull into the driveway.
The lights shut off and Sebastian stepped out. He walked to the porch.
“What are you doing—”
“This time I’m going to cut you off,” said Sebastian, holding up an open hand.
Emily fell silent.
“And if you hate me, I’ll go. But I’ll need to get my stuff.”
He motioned to the boxes.
“These are yours?” asked Emily.
Sebastian nodded.
“I’ve been sleeping at my brother’s since Croix’s birthday party. I came to get my things at Greta’s today while she was at work and I—”
Sebastian looked at his feet.
“Well, I know it was crazy to bring it all over here. But, fact is, this is where I want to be. Here with you. I didn’t know if you’d be happy to see me or not. When you weren’t home, I started stacking my boxes. I was going to sit here until you came back and beg you to forgive me for being an idiot. Then I got the call from Kady, so I drove to Camden Yards.”
Emily stared at Sebastian. “So you moved out?”
“More importantly,” said Kady. “He moved out before I told him about Joe and Greta.”
Sebastian nodded.
“Greta cheating wasn’t the last straw,” said Sebastian. “I suspected that before I even met you. I just didn’t have any hope of being happy with anyone so... I was in no hurry to go anywhere. What Greta and I had was just... I dunno. The status quo.”
“Well that’s sort of depressing,” said Emily.
“I guess.”
“You can’t just accept being unhappy,” said Kady. “You just gave up!”
Sebastian looked at her. “You are making it really hard to create the romantic atmosphere I was hoping to achieve.”
“Sorry,” said Kady, pantomiming zipping her mouth shut.
Sebastian turned back to Emily. He stepped forward and took her face in his hands.
“You were the last straw. I was just so afraid to look like a loser to you, moving from Greta’s house to yours. I didn’t want you to think I was using you for your house. And to be honest, I’m not sure I trusted my own instincts, even though they were all screaming for you.”
Sebastian looked at Kady.
“If you ever tell anyone I just sounded that mushy, I’ll hunt you down.”
“Duly noted,” said Kady.
Emily felt her eyes brimming with tears, but her mouth curled into a smile. She looked down at Sebastian’s belongings to hide her emotion.
“I guess you better bring them in before it rains,” she said, motioning to the boxes.
“I don’t think it is supposed to rain,” said Sebastian looking at the sky.
“Take a hint.”
Sebastian smiled. He brushed the hair from her forehead, leaned down and kissed her.
“Eww,” said Kady.
Sebastian pulled back and scowled at Kady.
Emily laughed and covered her face, worried she’d grow another snot bubble.
“Sorry,” Emily said to Kady. “PDA. That was gross.”
“Hey!” said Sebastian. “I thought we had a thing going here...”
Emily giggled and propped open the screen door.
“I’m going to go home,” said Kady, like a sentenced prisoner announcing her upcoming trip to jail.
“No, you had a rough night!” said Emily, touching Kady’s arm. “Stay with us. I could call Mark and we could all hang out.”
Kady beamed.
“Really? Oh, Em, that would be so awesome! I can’t bear the thought of talking to Joe tonight. I’d rather just go home tomorrow while he’s at work and move all his stuff to the porch and change the lock.”
“Been there,” said Sebastian.
“You have?”
“I’m kidding,” he said. “Sorta,” he added, mumbling.
“Of course you can stay,” said Emily, handing Kady her phone. “Call Mark and see if he’s around.”
“Oh yeah, sure, stick around,” said Sebastian, lifting a box. “We didn’t have anything planned.”
Emily opened the door for Sebastian and smacked him on the shoulder as he walked past.
Emily made three Chicken Clubs and threw a beer at Mark when he arrived, truck tires screeching.
“You going to eat these?” asked Mark, spotting a plate of sausages on the counter.
“No,” said Emily. “They’re all yours.”
“Cool.” He ate one, and then bit into another, oblivious to how terrible they were.
The four of them went to the basement to play darts.
Emily and Sebastian took the first game, Mark and Kady the second.
“Hey, you’re over the line,” said Emily, as Mark stepped up to start the third game.
“What?”
“The line is there,” said Sebastian. He threw a dart into the Berber carpet, nicking the edge of the masking tape line, inches from Mark’s foot.
Mark glowered at Sebastian.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Mark. “I thought it was more like there.”
Mark threw a dart just left of Sebastian’s foot.
“Nope. Easy mistake to make though,” said Sebastian. “Because it’s right there.”
A dart landed between Mark’s feet.
“Enough of that,” said Kady. She threw a dart into the carpet between the two boys.
“Yeah,” said Emily. She threw her own dart toward Kady’s but it didn’t land where she’d aimed. Instead, it sunk into the front of Sebastian’s leg, left of his shinbone, in the meat of his calf.
A collective gasp filled the room.
“Oh my god!” said Emily. “I am so sorry!”
Mark laughed and pointed at the dart hanging from Sebastian’s leg. “Dude!”
The dart wiggled as Sebastian hopped to sit on the arm of the sofa, but it remained attached.
“What the hell!” he said.
“I’ll get it!” said Kady, dropping to her knees beside Sebastian. “My mother was a nurse!”
“No!” screamed Sebastian. “Don’t pull it out! It’s a gusher!”
“What?”
“It might be in my vein! I could bleed out!”
“It’s a gusher!” echoed Emily, she was laughing so hard she could barely form the words.
“It’s a gusher!” Kady leaned her head against the side of the sofa to steady herself, her body shaking with giggles.
“Here!” Mark whipped off his shirt. “If it starts to bleed I’ll tie my shirt around it.”
The other three looked at Mark, standing bare-chested before them, holding his tee.
Kady stopped giggling, her mouth hanging open.
“I told you,” said Emily to her. “Any excuse...”
Sebastian scowled. “Alright Marky Mark, put your damn shirt back on.” He leaned over and, wincing, plucked the dart from his leg. A small red dot appeared at the point of impact.
“No gusher,” said Emily, snickering.
“Shut it,” said Sebastian, the side of his mouth twisted into a grin. “I could have died, you psycho.”
“I’m so sorry,” said Emily. “I really am. I thought I aimed better than that.”
“He’s been in the house two hours and you’ve already tried to kill him,” said K
ady, as Mark pulled her to her feet.
“Oh my,” said Kady, looking up at Mark as she bounced to her toes. “You’re strong.”
Mark grinned. “I work out.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes. “For the love of...let’s finish this rubber match.”
When everyone grew too tired to play, they went to bed. Kady took the guest room next to Emily’s, Mark collapsed on the sofa in the basement. Sebastian followed Emily to her room.
“Don’t bother putting on makeup,” said Sebastian as Emily entered her bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.
Emily poked out her head. “What?”
“Don’t put on makeup, don’t try and find sexy pajamas,” he said. “Just go to bed like you would if I wasn’t here.”
“You mean with another man?”
“Oh, that’s hilarious.”
Emily and Sebastian crawled into bed and spooned together.
“This is nice,” said Emily, snuggling against him.
“Careful, don’t snuggle too hard,” whispered Sebastian, tickling her.
She giggled and thrashed until he stopped.
“I was hoping we’d have some alone time tonight,” whispered Sebastian.
“Me too.”
“But it would be creepy with Kady in the next room and Marky Mark downstairs.”
“I don’t think he likes it when you call him that.”
“Then mission accomplished.”
Emily snickered.
“I guess we can make it one more day,” she said, yawning. It had been a long day.
“Tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll have the sexiest sex.”
Emily nodded. “The sexiest sex in the whole sexdom.”
“The sexiest sex in the whole sexdom of Sextonia,” said Sebastian, his voice barely audible.
“Mmm.”
“And then you can help me find an apartment,” he added.
Emily’s eyes sprang open.
She smirked.
“Suuuure,” she said. “I’ll get right on that.”
THE END
Look for Slightly Sweaty coming Fall 2016!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy has been writing and finding other creative ways to make no money since high school.
She specializes in fun, comedic reads about accident prone, easily distracted women with questionable taste in men.
So, autobiographies, mostly.
Amy lives in Maryland with her husband Michael, whom she may or may not have stalked into submission, and their Labradoodle, Gordon. She makes a mean Chicken Club.
Other Books by Amy Vansant
Pineapple Lies (Pineapple Port Mystery: Book I)
Pineapple Mystery Box (Pineapple Port Mystery: Book 2)
Pineapple Puzzle (Pineapple Port Mystery: Book 3)
Slightly Stalky (Romantic comedy)
Angeli (Funny/dark urban fantasy adventure)
Cherubim (Angeli Book II)
The Magicatory (Middle grade fantasy chapter book)
Moms are Nuts (editor: humor anthology)
The Surfer’s Guide to Florida (non-fiction: out of print)