Next In Line

by Daws, Amy

  “How was your first day as the official owner of Tire Depot, asshat?” Miles asks, dropping down onto the stool next to Sam.

  “I only thought about firing you nineteen times so, all in all, a great day.” Sam stands up to pull the stool out across from him for me to sit on.

  Kate’s eyes flash curiously at me as I take the seat. She slides in beside me and elbows me with a smirk. I glance over to see if Miles has noticed any of this and exhale with relief when he’s busy talking to the waitress.

  He looks over at Kate. “You want an IPA, babe?”

  “Ha-ha,” she replies while rolling her eyes. “I’ll have a margarita.”

  “And I’ll have a Coors bottle,” Miles adds, then looks at me expectantly.

  I bite my lip, unsure why he’s staring at me like that. Does he know? Does he suspect something’s going on because his best friend just pulled out my stool for me?

  “You want Chardonnay?” Sam asks out of nowhere. “They have good wine here.”

  My head jerks from side to side. “I hate wine.”

  He frowns back at me, and I internally kick myself because a glass of Chardonnay does sound delicious. The waitress stares impatiently at me to make my decision, so I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “I’ll have a Guinness.” Both Sam’s and Miles’s faces contort in confusion.

  “You hate beer, Megan,” Miles states knowingly.

  “Not anymore!” I exclaim, feeling my shoulders tense. “Sterling has me converted. He crafts his own beer sometimes.” That part is actually true, so I’m grateful that at least one thing coming out of my mouth tonight isn’t a total lie.

  Miles shrugs, and I can feel Sam staring at me from across the table, but I refuse to look at him. The waitress heads off for our drinks, and the four of us sit there—girls on one side, boys on the other—as though we’re on a flipping double date.

  Miles and Sam start talking about their classic car expansion plans for Tire Depot when my phone dings inside my purse. When I pull it out, I unlock it and find a text from Sterling.

  Sterling: I miss you, baby. I need to see you…soon.

  My heart thunders in my chest when Kate leans over. “Who’s the text from?” she asks.

  I jerk my phone away so she can’t see it. “No one,” I reply instantly.

  She eyes me suspiciously. “Stop lying. It’s from him, isn’t it?”

  I roll my eyes, annoyed that she always seems to know everything. Leaning in closely, I whisper, “Yes, it’s from Sterling. He says he wants to see me.”

  Kate’s lip curls up in disgust. “Why?”

  I shrug. “He said he misses me.”

  Kate barks out a laugh. “Does he want you back?”

  My eyes go wide as I look over to see if Miles and Sam overheard anything. Thankfully, they’re still engrossed in shop talk, so I lean in and hiss, “Lower your voice, okay? I don’t know what he wants, but I have a feeling that could be it.”

  Kate averts her eyes to look at Sam. Pointing her finger back and forth between the two of us, she says, “This makes sense to me.” Then she points at my phone. “That doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask with wide, pleading eyes as I wave my phone at her. “This is what I’m working toward. This is why I’ve been in Boulder for the past few weeks acting like some sort of woman of the woods.”

  She takes a long sip of her drink, grabbing an ice cube and crunching it loudly with obvious agitation. At the same time, Sam peers over at me with a tiny hint of a smile that I think is obvious only to me, but I look over to see that Kate witnessed it too.

  She leans in and whispers in my ear. “Sexual chemistry with just one look, Meggie-Bear.”

  “Shut up, Kate,” I whisper and resist the urge to push her off her stool.

  The drinks arrive, and I nearly gag when I take a sip of the Guinness. It’s thick like mud, and I can’t believe people actually drink this shit. Sam stares at me over the top of his beer with a furrow to his brow. I’m afraid he’s going to call me out on my drink, so out of nowhere, I blurt out, “I don’t eat the butt ends of a loaf of bread because when we were kids, Miles told me they were human butts.”

  Kate sputters out a laugh, spraying her drink all over the table. “Excuse me?” she asks, wiping the dribble off her chin.

  “Yep,” I confirm with a jerky head nod. “I can’t eat them because all I think of are butts. It’s illogical because clearly, I know how bread is made and that it in no way requires human flesh as an ingredient, but every time I get a new loaf of bread, the first thing I do is throw away the butt ends so I don’t have to look at them.”

  Miles blinks back at me like I’m a moron, and Sam is trying his hardest not to laugh, which only makes him look even sexier.

  Kate is no help as she giggles uncontrollably next to me. “Here Meg, I think you should try this.” She slides her drink over to me.

  I lean down and take a fortifying sip, hoping like heck it will calm my nerves. Why am I being such a spaz right now? The story of the time I smeared Dippity-do hair gel all over our family dog and told Miles he was really sweaty is on the tip of my tongue…and that’s not even a good story!

  My eyes connect with Sam, and he seems completely confused by my actions. He can just join the club because I am confused too.

  Kate diverts all our attention when she stands up from the table. “Miles, let’s go check out that taco truck…I’m starving.”

  Miles looks over at me. “Do you know what you want yet, Meg?”

  I grab the food menu off the table. “Not yet. You guys go ahead, though. This beer is like pudding, so I’m not super hungry.”

  Miles frowns at that response as he drapes an arm over Kate. “Sam, you coming?”

  “I need to look at the menus still,” he replies with a half-smile that sends a jolt through my legs. I really wish he’d stop doing that.

  As soon as they walk away, I exhale heavily and splay my hands out on the table while pressing my forehead to the cool wooden surface.

  “You’re acting fucking nuts,” Sam says, and I see him tip his beer bottle to his lips out of the corner of my eye.

  My head pops up. “I’m acting nuts? You’re acting nuts!”

  “How am I acting nuts?” he asks, jutting his head toward me. “I’m just drinking beer with friends.”

  “You’re acting like a boyfriend!” I exclaim.

  “The fuck I am!” The veins on his neck stick out, and oh my heck, even those are sexy. “I don’t even know how a boyfriend acts anyway. I’m just…treating you like a human.”

  “Well, you should be treating me like a stranger.” I harrumph and attempt to drink my beer again. The smell alone has me wincing, so I set it back down. “You need to stop being so nice.”

  “I’m nice to strangers.” He shakes his head and turns to look away, a sexy muscle in his jaw ticking with obvious agitation.

  My heart pitter-patters at his words because damnit, I bet he is nice to strangers. And I’m over here acting like a jerk. I lean across the table and lower my tone. “I’m sorry, Sam. I don’t mean to be a bitch. I’m just nervous being around you and my brother at the same time.”

  “Well, try to chill,” he barks back and takes another drink of his beer.

  I cross my arms over my chest, annoyed at his simple demand because he’s acting like he’s not doing anything wrong in this scenario. “Well, you’re not really helping matters, you know.”

  His brows lift as he points at his chest. “What the hell am I doing wrong?”

  I roll my eyes. “Don’t do that shy smile thing you do.”

  “What shy smile thing?”

  “You like, look away when you smile sometimes because you don’t want people to see. It’s really fucking cute, and when you do it, I swoon a little, and I can’t swoon in front of my brother.”

  “You swoon?” he asks, doing that annoying shy smile thing again.

  “That!” I state
, pointing an accusing finger right at his sexy mouth. “Don’t do that. And while we’re at it, don’t pull your bottom lip into your mouth. It reminds me of Prince Harry at his wedding, and it does things to me.” My voice turns low at the end of that sentence like I’m flipping Bane from Batman, and Sam can’t help but laugh at me. I’d laugh too. I’m acting totally fucking unhinged.

  “Well, what about you?” he barks once he’s regained control of himself.

  My eyes go wide. “What about me?”

  “If there are things I can’t do, then there are definitely things you can’t do.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like…don’t ramble.” He leans in close, his shirt tight on his biceps as he rests his elbows on the table. “When you ramble, you get this crazed look in your eye that I swear makes your eyes turn even brighter blue. It’s distracting.”

  “Okay, I’ll try not to ramble.” I shrug.

  “And you shouldn’t have worn tights.” His eyes cut downward, and my thighs instantly clench together.

  “What’s wrong with my tights?” I ask, lifting my palms.

  “They make your legs look really fucking sexy, and I can’t stop staring at them, which makes me think of them wrapped around me, which then becomes a serious problem.”

  I press my hands to the top of the table. “Okay, okay, chill.”

  “And since ordering for you is apparently too boyfriendy, will you please go up to the bar and get yourself a glass of wine? I can’t watch you gag on that Guinness anymore.”

  “Fine…I’ll go.” With a huff, I stand, straightening out my dress that’s riding up on my tights. Sam’s eyes drop to my legs, and he bites his lip. With a sharp intake of breath, I turn on my heel and murmur under my breath, “We are so fucked.”

  Miles and Kate return at the same time I do, and then Sam and I go our separate ways to get food. Like super separate. I picked the food truck farthest away from his food truck.

  Once I’ve eaten and had a glass of wine, I feel moderately calmer. And thankfully, I manage to keep the embarrassing sweaty dog story in my head for the remainder of our dinner. Once we’ve all had one more drink, we get up to head down to Pearl Street to the next bar.

  I assume I’ll be riding with “Mom and Dad” again when suddenly Kate shoves me toward Sam’s truck. “Ride with Sam so he doesn’t have to ride alone.”

  Miles nods his agreement, and the two of them take off for their truck without a care in the world while I have to watch Sexy Sam open his truck door for me. I ignore the cute smirk on his face as I hop up into his vehicle, and by the time he gets in and pulls out, I’ve formulated six different ways I could murder Kate and have it look like an accident.

  The silence is heavy as we drive, and all I can think about is the fact that I was laid out completely naked in this spot only twenty-four hours ago. Surely, Sam’s thinking about it too because he’s gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles are white.

  I swallow slowly, doing my best to take deep breaths, but eventually, the silence becomes too much to bear. “This is harder than I thought it would be.” I expel my words as if I had been holding my breath this entire time.

  “Yeah, this kind of sucks,” Sam replies, his tone tight and constrained.

  “I’m sorry to put you in such an awkward position,” I lament because it was my idea to add sex to our little deception in the first place. “It was all pretty innocent until I threw myself at you.”

  He clears his throat and looks away. “You didn’t put me in this situation. I put myself in it.”

  We drive a little farther until we reach Bohemian Biergarten on Pearl Street. Sam throws the truck in park and turns to face me. His eyes are serious when he says, “We just need to relax and try to have some fun. Your brother is my best friend, and you are his sister, so there’s no reason we can’t have some drinks together and pretend we haven’t seen each other naked.”

  “Right,” I reply, nodding my head earnestly. “Because it’s seriously no big deal!”

  “Exactly.”

  “’Cuz you’re not a commitment kind of guy, and Miles knows I’d never hook up with someone like you. He’s not going to figure it out.”

  “Right,” Sam confirms, a strange look across his face fleeting as he turns away from me and slides out of his truck.

  He opens my door for me, and I hold back my comment about this being a boyfriend move because he looks like he’s beating himself up about something, and I don’t want to add fuel to his fire.

  We head inside to the German-style bar that’s filled to the brim with people. It’s noisy as we make our way past the picnic tables to find Miles and Kate wedged up against the wall sharing a community table with a group of college guys. Sam and I squeeze through everyone and take the last two spaces available directly across from them.

  “I ordered us a round!” Miles exclaims with a big smile as the waitress carries a tray of drinks over everyone’s heads. “Meg, I got you wine…I think you’re wrong about liking beer.”

  I force a smile and take the wineglass Miles hands to me. Maybe if I drink enough tonight, this will all seem a lot less difficult. The rest of the drinks are all passed around, and we do a cheers.

  “So Megan, is Sterling missing you yet?” Miles shouts over the loud noise of bar, leaning across the table toward me.

  “I think so,” I reply with a forced smile.

  He frowns. “He’s back at school now. Surely, he’s begging for you to head back to Utah.”

  “You trying to get rid of me?” I ask and take another drink.

  “Hell no! I wish you’d move here.” Miles takes a quick drink and adds, “I’m hoping Sterling gets signed by the Broncos so I can see a lot more of you. Denver is so close to Boulder…just an easy train ride away.”

  I inhale and exhale slowly, trying my hardest not to chug this very generous glass of wine. Miles and I haven’t spoken that much about Sterling since I arrived in Boulder, so lying to him hasn’t been that difficult…until now.

  I decide to tell him the little nugget of truth I received during tonight’s phone call. “He said he missed me tonight, so maybe I’ll be going back soon. We’ll see.”

  Both Sam’s and Kate’s eyes bore into me with curiosity, but I do my best not to look at either of their reactions.

  Miles nods toward Sam, and states, “You should have seen our dad when he met Sterling over Christmas break. He was like a kid in a candy store. He always wished I would have played football, so Sterling is like a dream come true future son-in-law for him.”

  Sam nods slowly and takes a drink of his beer before replying. “I was never one for team sports.”

  “Me neither, but I love watching!” Miles replies jovially, completely oblivious to Sam’s tension. “I’m just glad Megan didn’t end up with one of my buddies from back home. They were always giving me shit about how hot you were.”

  I blanch at that response because just this past summer I saw one of Miles’s friends at a college party. They are all several years older than me, so it was odd this particular friend was hanging out at a college party, to begin with, but it must have been destiny because Sterling came out of nowhere and rescued me like my knight in shining armor.

  “Your friends are gross,” I reply around my wineglass and can feel Sam turn his head to stare right at me.

  “Especially this fucker,” Miles says, reaching across the table and shoving Sam in the shoulder. “He’s going to end up being the Hugh Hefner of Boulder.”

  “Hugh Hefner was actually a serial monogamist,” Kate states, her eyes wide and challenging. “He had three wives and was actually very loyal to his girlfriends. It was always the women who broke his heart.”

  We all blink at Kate for knowing such details, and then Sam adds, “Well, that’s definitely not me.”

  Miles shakes his head and then looks over at me again. “What are the odds Sterling will end up in Denver, Meg?”

  I shrug. “He’s done some trai
ning camps with their team, which is always promising, but we won’t know until the draft.”

  “We,” Sam mutters with a chuckle under his breath. It’s soft enough that I’m the only one who can hear him, but Kate must notice his mood change because she’s watching him curiously.

  Miles is still totally oblivious. “I feel like I didn’t get much of a chance to really talk to him at Mom and Dad’s,” he chimes in. “He should come here and visit sometime, Megs. You think he’d do that?”

  I nod instantly. “I think so.”

  “Cool, I want to get to know him better if you think he’s going to propose soon. I need to make sure he’s good enough for my baby sister.”

  “How do you know anyone is good enough?” Sam asks, his eyes narrowing on Miles. “Are you the ‘good enough’ police?”

  Miles raises his chin up. “For my sister, fuck yes, I am.”

  Sam shrugs. “My sister just got divorced, and I thought that guy was good enough. Clearly, I was wrong. So what magic do you have to tell if someone’s an asshole or not?”

  Miles takes a moment to stare at his best friend whose entire body is stiff with tension. “I’m sorry to hear about your sister, buddy. That totally sucks. Is it your older one? You had mentioned they were having problems.”

  I exhale heavily when Miles doesn’t seem to understand what Sam is getting at. I’m trying to figure out what Sam is trying to say too. Is he referring to himself, or is he referring to Sterling? Because somehow I don’t think he’s really considering his sister’s situation right now.

  “Are you going to work at all, Megan?” Kate asks, chiming in out of nowhere.

  “What do you mean?”

  She shrugs. “I mean…you’re smart as a whip, you graduated early and in the top of your class at Utah, but you’re planning to marry a future NFL player, so does that mean you’re planning on not working at all?”

  My jaw goes taut because Kate’s question seems bitchy and judgmental, but she says it with that bright, happy smile of hers. “I’m going to work. Our plan was for me to start job hunting in the spring. I’m just taking some time off before my future really begins.”