Page 20 of No Summer Hotter than You

“Woo-hoo,” I grumbled on my way out the back door. I waved her goodbye before leaving entirely.

“So, you and Shoua are really going to do this whole fake dating thing, huh?” Andy asked. I could practically hear the smug smirk sitting on his lips, and if he was here, I’d probably try to smack it off of his annoying face.

My brother and me always made time to talk over the phone with one another. Even when we were in college, we would always chat despite living completely separate lives in different cities. Some people thought that we were inseparable because it’s a twin thing.

But I think one reason is the fact that we grew up sharing our lives for so long. We slept in the same crib and even shared a bed for several years. We had the same friends and loved similar hobbies. College was the first time we’d ever lived apart, and it felt weird for both of us at first. Now that we’re adults and still living in different cities, I still miss living close to him. I don’t miss the part when we had to share everything though.

“Well, yeah,” I retorted. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

Andy snickered.

“What the hell are you even laughing at?”

“At the fact that I’m not surprised it’d be you who’d be roped into something like this by Mom and Dad.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

My brother laughed out loud as my cheeks burned. “You’re too gullible and trusting sometimes.”

I let out a long groan of frustration. “It’s not about being gullible or too trusting. You weren’t there! You didn’t see the way Mom looked at me! She’d look at you like she’d break your neck too if you didn’t say yes!”

“That’s because I’m not you. She knows I’d say no.”

“Oh, so you’d be fine with being stuck with Evelyn for all of June?” When Andy didn’t respond to my question, I bit back with, “Yeah, I thought so.”

He chuckled. “At least I’d have the decency to say no to their lies, even if that does cost me my life.”

“Decency, my fucking ass! You would’ve fallen for it too, and guess what? You’d also ask Julie to be your fake girlfriend if you two weren’t already dating.”

“Nah, you have too much faith in me to fall for Mom’s scheme like that.”

I rolled my eyes at his comment. Out of the two of us, he had always been more of a mama’s boy. “Sure, keep telling yourself that. You just got lucky you’re off the hook because you and Julie are together now.”

Andy laughed out loud. “I’m a lucky bastard, I know. But seriously, if you fuck up and this fake dating thing blows up in your face, I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth.”

It was true. He was the luckiest motherfucking bastard. For one, he was already in a relationship and, for two, he lived out of town. He didn’t have to deal with all this shit for another three weeks.

“No.” My voice was firm. “That won’t happen.”

“We’ll see about that.”

We continued to banter until I glanced at the clock. Fuck. It was already the afternoon.

One of the things I loved to do the most during the summer was spend all weekend long out in my garage, refurbishing old furniture and bringing it back to life. Furniture flipping was the term the internet coined, but it’s just plain old furniture restoration to me.

I had a new project with an old coffee table I was trying to restore but seemed to have gotten carried away with it. I ended my call with Andy with a quick goodbye. I had to let him know that the fake dating summer scheme was going to go on full throttle. The one person I could always trust to scheme with me was always him.

After cleaning up the garage, I let out a long, exasperated sigh before heading over to Shoua’s place. As always, I knocked on her door and let myself in. I immediately knew she wasn’t downstairs just from the sounds of it. The music she usually played around her home was coming from upstairs.

“Shoua!” I shouted, sitting down on her sofa. “I’m here! It’s almost time to head out!”

“Good thing I woke up early for this,” I heard her say as the music stopped. Her footsteps soon padded down the stairs.

I was busy scrolling on social media when I heard high heels clicking toward me in the living room. It occurred to me that she only wore heels when she dolled up. As she got closer, her mouth-watering, delicious-smelling coconut perfume eased its way to my nose.

“Did you dress up? We’re just going to the airport so?—”

Oh, shit.

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