Page 16 of I'd Never Date my Brother's Best Friend

Everyone nods, and the game begins. My parents’ team rolls the highest dice, leading the game. They answer their question correctly and move their dice toward the outer wheel of the board. They answer their second question incorrectly, so Jamie and Evelyn take the next turn. As we approach our turn, Jessica starts to vibrate with excitement. There’s the tell-tale determination in her eyes, which is so adorable I find myself struggling to look away from her.

Eventually, it is our turn to go, and Jessica throws the dice. She rolls a five, and she moves the wedge holder five spaces toward the outer wheel. She lands on an orange color block. Jamie snatches up a question card corresponding to the color.

“Are you guys ready?”

Jessica glances at me, her eyes narrowing in my direction as if to say, behave yourself. She should know that her giving me this warning will make me want to do the opposite.

“What year did basketball become an Olympic sport?” Jamie asks. “Time starts now.” He hits the timer.

“Uhh…” Jessica taps a finger to her forehead.

“1940,” I say confidently.

“Wrong.” Jamie shrugs. “Next team.”

Jessica’s glare burns into the side of my face, and it takes all my control to keep myself from laughing out loud. I didn’t give the wrong answer deliberately; I’m not that trivial. Maybe I should have waited for Jessica to answer but she didn’t seem to know what the correct answer was either.

As the other teams breeze through their turns, I chance a glance in Jessica’s direction, only to meet her fiery gaze.

“Jessica, come on.” I nudge her playfully. “We’ll have a next turn.”

“For your information,” she whispers back. “Basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936. Maybe next time, let me answer. You suck at Trivial Pursuit.”

“Maybe next time don’t precede your answer with an uhh and I won’t think you don’t know what it is.”

She isn’t totally right, but she isn’t wrong either. I don’t suck at Trivial Pursuit. It’s just what I’ve made everyone believe because of my antics. Jessica and I would make a formidable team if I put half the effort she’s putting into this, but watching her competitive side come out as we play is so attractive that I doubt I can put effort into anything other than discreetly staring at her.

When the dice get to us again, Jessica is impatient and high-strung. Every other team has one pie in their wedge, while ours is still empty. She throws the dice and moves two spaces clockwise on the outer wheel. The wedge lands on a blue color pie space. This time, Lenny Stewart asks the question. Within a millisecond, Jessica rattles off the correct answer, earning a pie. She answers two more questions correctly until the third one; then, the next turn goes to the next team.

With each correct answer her excitement grows, and it’s contagious. I start to feel myself getting excited too. Overall, everyone is doing reasonably well, and the competition is getting tighter, especially since Evelyn and Jamie’s pie is almost full of pieces. In another moment, it’s our turn again, and Jessica hands me the dice to throw this time. I throw a four, moving the wedge four steps ahead, landing on a purple.

Mom picks up a question card and asks our team, “Who wrote the satirical essay ‘A Modest Proposal?’”

Quite certain of the answer this time, I don’t wait for Jessica before answering, “Jonathan Edwards.”

“Oh, sorry dear, that’s incorrect.”

“Sean!” Jessica howls. “It’s Jonathan Swift!”

“Oh.” I scratch my head, holding back my laughter because I know I deserve her wrath this time.

“Didn’t we talk about you waiting for me to answer?” She fires.

“Sorry. I was certain I knew it.” I can’t help but smile which just annoys her even more, making my smile bigger.

“You’ve had a lot of chances to prove that you’re certain of nothing,” she answers. Jamie bursts into laughter, which brings me dangerously close to a complete laughter meltdown.

“Jessica, relax, it’s just a game.”

Jessica eyes her brother with a snarl, and the look on her face does it for me. I burst into my own bout of laughter and nearly start crying. By the next round, Evelyn and Jamie have filled their pie and are swiftly moving back toward the center. There’s a lightness in my body that is alien to me, and it’s all because of Jessica. She probably thinks I play too much, but no woman has ever dared to look into my face and speak to me the way she does. Most women usually want my approval. Not Jessica, nope. She doesn’t care.

I know it has to do with my fame and my looks, but I miss having a woman who sees herself as my equal. With Jessica, it’s incredible because not only does she not think I’m her equal, but she believes herself to be superior to me. I’m growing very enamored, and I suspect it’s more than our usual squabble. It’s definitely time for a reevaluation as to what these feelings toward Jessica are.

Chapter 8

Jessica

I grudgingly admit that I’m having more fun than I should. The game is going horribly wrong, and I should be upset, but – I’m not. Instead, I’m vividly aware of the constant warmth on the side of my face from Sean’s stare. He thinks he’s slick, but his gaze seems to tingle when it hits my skin making it impossible for me not to notice when it’s being directed at me—which it has been for the whole night. My heart beats wildly in my chest, making me feel like a teenager all over again.

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