Page 4 of The First Time

“Everything okay?” I ask as soon as I answer.

“Yeah. Why?” he replies, sounding confused.

“I don’t know. You never call me at this hour on a weeknight.”

I throw my keys on the entryway table.

“Well, I mean, nothing’s wrong, but I do have a favor to ask.”

“Oh, okay. What do you need?” I would do anything for him. He’s like my brother.

I walk down the hall to my bedroom and plop down on my bed as I wait for him to reply.

He sighs into the phone, and I hear a muffled Charlotte in the background. I hear her say, “Just ask him.”

“Dude, what’s going on? What do you need to ask me?”

“It’s not really a small favor,” he starts. “So, you know how Charlotte and Layla are supposed to go to Italy tomorrow?”

“Yessss,” I draw out, wondering where he’s going with this.

Of course, I know that. It’s all they talk about when everyone is together. Layla won’t shut up about the Italian men she’s going to flirt with, which is annoying as fuck.

“So,” he stalls again, “Charlotte isn’t feeling well.”

“Oh, shit. And they’re leaving tomorrow?” I ask, wondering if she could maybe just push through and sleep on the plane.

“Yeah. She’s been getting sick a lot.”

That doesn’t sound good. Hopefully, it isn’t the flu.

“Damn. Do you think it’s just a bug? Maybe she’ll feel better in the morning.”

“That’s the thing. She’s actually pregnant. It’s not something we’ve shared with people yet. We were waiting until she’s further along.”

“She’s pregnant? Shit. Congratulations! I’m really happy for you guys.”

I am. Asher has been through hell and back, and it has been such a relief to see him happy again.

“Thanks, man. We can’t wait to share the news with everyone. But that’s not why I called. She figured she could still go on the trip and just not drink. Her only symptom was being really fatigued. We didn’t expect nausea to start so late, but she can’t keep anything down and is sick around the clock.”

“Damn. That’s not good.” I can’t imagine having to go through that. I’m a wuss when it comes to getting sick.

“No. It sucks. I feel awful watching her and not being able to do anything about it.”

“I can imagine.”

“So, that brings me to my favor,” he says matter-of-factly. “I was wondering…if maybe you could go with Layla.”

My entire body freezes and my breath catches in my lungs. I can’t really be hearing him correctly because I think he just asked me to go to Italy with his sister for an entire week—just the two of us.

I don’t even know how to process his words.

“I’m sorry. What did you just say?” I ask in a suffocated whisper.

“Look, I know you two have had your differences,” he starts, and I laugh bitterly, knowing he doesn’t know the half of it, “butshe really needs this break. She’s gonna be devastated if it gets canceled.”

I try to disguise my annoyance. I don’t like being put in this situation when he knows Layla and I together is bad news. We can’t get along for more than a second before one of us offers a snarky comment.

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