Page 32 of A Night to Remember

I laugh. “Are you coming on to me?” I ask, mock-flirtatiously.

“Maybe we should have a threesome,” she playfully retorts.

Tom whips his head towards her, eyebrows raised nearly up to his hairline.

“Not withyou,” she tells him with a laugh. “There’s no way I’m sharingyou. Keep your eyes on the road!” Then she turns back to me.

“Seriously, K. Is it so bad that I want to see my best friend relax and have a little fun?”

“I—” I start to offer reasons why I can’t possibly “relax and have fun” with Gabe. I don’t relax. I rarely have fun. Most of the time I feel like a shark: if I stop moving, I’ll die. But kissing him had felt so, so good. And I want to do it again as soon as possible.

“No,” I say finally. “No, I guess it’s okay.”

The next night,at 10:00 on the dot, the doorbell rings. I’m in my room, fussing uncharacteristically with my hair, so Mom opens the door. Gabe is polite, but I can hear his surprise—was he expecting me to open the door in just an apron and a strand of pearls?—and when I come into the kitchen, he gives me a look that reads,so I’m really supposed to fix the garbage disposal.

Part of me had hoped that not seeing him for 24 hours would give me a chance to cool down, but the opposite has happened. I’ve been thinking about him nonstop. Allison is right. Wild, public make-out sessions have never been my style. I can’t even blame alcohol—I’d had maybe half a Miller Light, the other half of which I splashed all over my shoes. But when he kissed me, I’d just lost control.

Still, I live with my mom, and my choices were either to sneak him into the house after she was asleep, or invite him over on a ruse and hope she goes to bed early. I don’t like sneaking around, so I chose the latter. Plus, the garbage disposal reallyisbroken.

“So I can hear the motor buzz, but the blades aren’t turning. Even though I am morbidly afraid that it’s going to slice my fingers off, I put my hand down there to see if something’s stuck. But the blades are clear.”

“As long as you don’t put your hand down there when the motor is on, you’re safe.”

“Ah, but what if it’s possessed by a demon that just wants to turn my hand into ground chuck?”

“Gross, Johnson. Okay, I’m going to turn off the breaker and then rotate the blades manually. You have an Allen wrench, right?”

“No…?”

He rolls his eyes, then digs into his pocket for a Swiss Army knife. “This might be a little big, but it’ll get the job done.”

“Is that right?” I say before I can stop myself. He gives me a dirty look before disappearing under the kitchen sink.

“Can’t imagine why that fiancée of yours didn’t want to keep you around,” Mom comments, coming into the kitchen. “Her loss, I guess,” she continues with a chuckle.

“Fiancée?” I query innocently, poking my head under the cabinet.

“Ex-fiancée.”

“How ex?” I demand. I’m pretty sure I know the answer to that, but suddenly I need a guarantee that I’m not about to walk into someone else’s chaos. I certainly have enough of my own.

“Veryex. Listen, can we not talk about this right now?” Something clanks ominously. “Johnson, did you put something down here that you shouldn’t have, like potato peels or...”

“Lemon rinds?”

He sighs in exasperation. “Yeah, that’ll do it. Okay, get a towel. I’ve got to disconnect the disposal from the p-trap.”

This involves Gabe splashing water onto the floor (and himself), releasing a terrible stench into the kitchen, and sticking his hand into the line to clear the clog.He’snot afraid of garbage disposal demons. He’s also filthy. And—all right, Meg, I admit it—hot.

“Do you want to take a shower?” I say with a giggle. “We’ve got this great new bathroom fan.”

“Are you just using me for free home repairs and legal advice? I have feelings, you know?—”

“Shh! I know.” I quickly check over my shoulder to make sure that Mom has gone to her room, then slide down next to him on the kitchen floor. He watches me carefully, one hand holding slimy lemon rinds, the other his Swiss Army knife. I straddle him where he sits. Then I kiss him gently, slowly, letting myself taste him, savoring the feeling of his lips against mine. He leans up to meet me and slides his tongue into my mouth. I run my fingers through the soft hair at the back of his neck as he tugs at my lower lip with his teeth, moving his mouth down to my throat. I pull away from him just as I feel him get hard.

“Take a shower,” I whisper. “Then meet me in my bedroom.”

Gabe takesthe fastest shower known to man. I barely have time to wring my hands and pace around my room in terror and anticipation before he comes up behind me and wraps his strong arms around me. I can feel that he’s not wearing a shirt. His chest on my back feels warm and firm, and the little drops of water still clinging to his skin soak into my t-shirt.

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