Page 87 of An Unexpected Home

She sat in her chair. “Oh God, what’d you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,”

“Or anyone,” Mel added.

“What?” Leah said, turning her head from Carly to Mel. “What am I missing?”

“It seems that someone over here,” Mel pointed her thumb to Carly, “had a certain security guy in her bed last night.”

Before Leah could even comment Carly butted in. “If you aren’t gonna tell the truth then let me tell the damn story.”

“I don’t care who tells me,” Leah said, “but someone better fill me in and now.”

“Technically,” Carly made air quotes, “Anthony slept in my bed. BUT and this is a big but, we did not have sex.”

“I don’t know,” Mel said. “He looked pretty happy this morning.”

“We did not have sex,” Carly said again.

“Did you do anything?” Leah asked.

Carly sighed. “No, but not for lack of trying.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Melanie asked.

“I basically threw myself at him and he turned me down.”

“He did?” Leah said, her level of respect going through the roof for Tony.

“Do you know how embarrassing it is to throw yourself at someone and have them turn you down?”

Leah remembered how it felt when she had first met Brandon and he had said no to sex. So she got it.

“Did he say why?” Mel asked, “and also, I thought you hated him?”

“I don’t hate him, I just don’t like him and that’s why I asked for sex. I thought it could be a total no strings, one-off kind of deal. But nooo, he had to go and be all ‘you're drunk and you’ll regret this in the morning’.”

“Ah,” Leah said. “That’s sweet.”

“No it’s not,” Carly said. “It’s only sweet to people in love like you. To the rest of us, it’s annoying and stupid and embarrassing.”

“So if he turned you down, why did he sleep in your bed with you?” Mel asked.

“I tried kicking him out but he wouldn’t leave. Something about not wanting me to be alone.” She waved her hand above her head. “Stupid boy.”

“Do you want me to have Brandon beat him up for you?” Leah asked, completely serious. “Cause I'm pretty sure he will.”

“As much as I’d like to watch that, I think I’ll pass.” She chewed on her bottom lip.

“Is something wrong Carls?” Mel asked her. “You’ve been odd the last couple days.”

“I’m fine,” she said but Leah could tell she was lying, meaning that Melanie could too. “There’s just a lot going on.”

“I can add a little good to our lives,” Leah said, turning to her desk and grabbing three envelopes. “It’s our first official payday!” She waved them in front of her face.

“You mean we actually made enough money to get paid?” Mel asked.

“Yep and even better, it seems that all the kids have signed back up for our next session. So I think it’s time to start trying to open a few more classes.”

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