Page 20 of Messing With My Brother's Best Friends

“Nearly ten years ago…” They came outside and stood at the front door, gazing at us through the windscreen of my car, frowns on their faces. “I applied to get a bakery apprenticeship with a really high-end place close to the city.”

“So you can cook?” she asked.

“I could.” I nodded sharply. “People seemed to think I was pretty damn good, and when I did the cakes for one of Connor’s mum’s fancy parties, the woman who owned the bakery I wanted to apprentice for asked who made them. Connor’s parents set up a tasting of my best work at our house.”

There was a reason why I never wanted to see the three of them again, something I chose not to think about too much. No point crying over spilled milk Mum always used to say, and by now, the carton was well and truly emptied.

“This bakery was so high end that people lined up outside the door to get their cakes, and they, they thought I might be a good fit for an apprentice. Jobs like this didn’t get advertised. They had people falling all over themselves, sending their resumes in, trying to get an interview and I…”

A hand shot out and took mine, squeezing hard.

“What did they do?” Barbie asked in a small voice. “What did those dickheads do?”

“Just another dumb prank.” I shot her a reassuring smile. “One of so many. The sugar had been swapped out for salt, something I normally would’ve picked up in the cooking process, but I was in such a flap. I wanted everything to be… perfect, and instead these people came to our house and bit into cake that tasted like shit.” I shook my head. “I can cook fine if I have to, but I just don’t enjoy it anymore, so I don’t. Anyway, let's get you home.”

I knew Barbie was my best friend when she didn’t ask me any more questions on the drive to her place.

Chapter 12

Kendall

“Babe, is Pellegrino’s all right with you?” Alan asked, looking up from his laptop. “Oh, hey, Kendall. Are you joining us? I can ring and ask if they can squeeze an extra chair in for us.”

“Oh, no—” I started to say, looking down at my decidedly casual dress. It was fine for lounging around home but not a fancy restaurant.

“Gonna need to take a rain check,” Barbie said, moving over to kiss him.

He instantly tilted his lips up, eager for everything she had to give. He might have worked in finance (ew) and wore a suit most days (double ew), but as far as I knew, Alan wasn’t some arrogant dude with a type-A personality. He was sweet and attentive and loved my bestie, as evidenced when he pulled her down onto his lap.

“What’s going on now?” he asked, perfectly patient.

“Kendall had to move out because her flatmates are fucking, and I gotta say, seeing that boy’s junk, I woulda kept Ken and tossed him away.”

“What?” Alan blinked in confusion.

“Doesn’t matter.” She waved her hand through the air. “And we went to places, sooo many places, and one was a corridor and one was full of junkies—”

“You went to a share house full of junkies.” His grip on her tightened, and then he shot me a look filled with concern. “I should’ve come. I said I’d come and—”

“It’s fine.” Another hand wave and her lips started moving faster, the words a verbal avalanche that strove to smother his protests. “The second to last one was a bloody shed. A garden shed!” Alan shook his head, staring at Barbie. “It had old AstroTurf on the floor and a fucking portaloo for the bathroom.”

“That’s not legal!” Alan leaned forward, cradling Barbie in his arms as his fingers flew across the keyboard. “They can’t do that. It contravenes our rental laws. Bathrooms need to be permanent and in good working order, and what about the expense? How much would hiring a portable toilet be each week? That doesn’t make good financial sense as I don’t think you’d be able to write it off as a tax expense—”

“Focus.”

She grabbed his square jaw and tilted his eyes her way.

“I dragged Kendall out of there and we went to one more place.” Alan just blinked, waiting for the punchline. “It was perfect, with a real bedroom and an en suite and the rent was really reasonable.”

“Right…”

Her eyes blinked and it was weird seeing the second hand outrage there because I’d long since stopped feeling it. I’d shouted, screamed, and cried after the bakery owners left the house that day, even as Mum tried to calm me down. There’d be other chances, she said. Other apprenticeships.

But I didn’t want that.

Then Finn came sidling in through the door, eyes wide as he took in my state and after Mum explained what had happened, he told me what I needed to know. The boys had decided to swap the sugar for the salt as a joke.

Barbie told Alan just that, her voice vibrating with a barely contained fury, but when the two of them turned to face me, I didn’t know how to respond.

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