Page 63 of The First Time

“This is all so romantic,” she sighs blissfully.

I snicker as I drink my water. “I mean, aside from all the dirty hotel room shenanigans, I suppose it’s pretty romantic.”

“Oh, please,” she waves her hand at me. “The dirtier it is, the more romantic, in my mind. Like when Asher uses his tongue and…”

“Ahhhh!” I scream and cut her off. “Look, I know I get to share my kinky little details with you, but I’m sorry, I draw the line with details of my brother’s sex life.”

She gives me a pouty face. “I know, but you’re my best friend. Who am I supposed to talk to about my sex life?”

“Avery, a college friend, your therapist, anybody but me.”

“Fine,” she whines. “Moving on. So, what does this mean? Have you two done anything since you’ve been back? Oh, no, are you two gonna pretend like it was just Italy, then go back to hating each other here? I don’t have the energy for that.”

Charlotte has certainly gotten a bit more dramatic since she’s been carrying life in her belly. She doesn’t normally catastrophize like this.

“Calm down. At first, I was definitely weary about what it all meant. He broke my heart years ago, you know that.”

She nods her head in understanding. She doesn’t know all the details of what happened, I never told anyone. I was too mortified.

“But after talking to him about it, I don’t know I guess I had it all wrong. Can you believe I spent ten years hating him when it didn’t go down exactly how I thought it did?”

She rolls her eyes. “I only said that to you like a million times. I could tell from the moment I met Josh that he was a good guy. I figured whatever he did, there was more to the story. I told you to ask him about it, make him talk to you.”

“Well, I still think he could’ve grown a pair and talked to me about it.”

“Ok, I think we’re getting off topic. One day, I’ll make you tell me the whole story. So, you guys talked. Does that mean you’re dating?”

I shrug my shoulders. “I guess. We haven’t really gotten that far in our conversations. We get too distracted with—other things. But I’ve spent a couple of nights at his place, and the way he talks to me, it sounds like he has no intentions of being with anyone but me.”

“So, you guys haven’t talked about telling people about the two of you?”

I laugh. “I just told you, we don’t get much talking in before other things happen. We’ll get there. It’s been two weeks since we’ve been back.”

“Fine. But please have the conversation with him so I don’t have to keep this secret for long.”

“We’ll see,” I tell her, not wanting to promise anything. I need to see where Josh is in all of this first.

“Look who’s here,” Asher walks in, holding my adorable niece with her messy bedhead and tired-looking face.

As soon as she spots me, a bright smile spreads across her face. “Auntie Lay-lay.”

I run over to her and grab her from my brother. “There’s my girl. Did you have a good nap?”

She nods her head as she starts to play with my hair. There’s something about when a kid just wakes up, they are willing to be held. They are super clingy and affectionate. I just love it.

Charlotte heads to the bathroom, leaving me and Asher alone.

He looks behind him to make sure Charlotte is gone. “Thank you for bringing her food and visiting her. I think pregnancy hormones are raging right now. If I ask her if she’s hungry, she cries and tells me I think she’s fat. If I don’t, I’m not taking care of her and the baby.”

I let out a snort. “Good luck. I don’t think that’s going to go away as the pregnancy progresses.”

“I know. I’ll get used to it. She’s the one going through this entire process and carrying our baby. I can deal with some mood swings.”

Although he is saying the words, I can see the concern on his face.

“Hey, she’s not Lauren. Okay? Even if Charlotte deals with anything post-partum, it’s not going to be like it was last time. She loves you like crazy. I promise,” I tell him.

He nods his head. “I know, it’s just sometimes my brain can try to tell me differently.”

---