Page 90 of Beautiful Thing

36

LAYLA

“Oh. My. God. You little slut!”

My best friend abandons her cooking box on the front mat and excitedly yanks down the neckline of my turtleneck sweater. She inspects my hickies and my love bites and my other hook-up induced injuries, and she squeals.

“Hello to you, too.” I toss back, shrugging out of her reach, grabbing the food supplies and heading into the kitchen.

Karli invited herself over here to night under the guise of testing out some new recipes for her cooking subscription business. But I know her well enough to know her real intentions.

She’s here for the ‘tea’.

Since the guys are playing basketball tonight, she called and offered to cook me dinner. I told her that Archer’s fridge is brimming with leftovers. Yet still, she insisted that she was coming over. I can’t say I’m surprised.

After the (televised!) kiss that Archer and I shared at the hockey game, I knew my bestie would never let me off the hook without a detailed explanation. Now, here we are.

She hustles into the kitchen, quickly shucking off her coat and draping it over the back of a chair. “Don’t you dare act coy with me, missy. You and my brother are hooking up! Admit it!” Loudly clapping her hands together, she bounces excitedly on her toes.

“Shhh!” I scold her, index pressed to my lips. “Sky’s asleep.”

“Oops! Sorry.” She slams a palm over her mouth. Then she jumps right back into the conversation with a lowered voice. “You and my brother are hooking up!!!” she whisper-yells with just as much enthusiasm, bouncing around more quietly now. “Don’t lie. You’ve got the evidence all over you.” She motions to my hickies.

I try to act annoyed but the smile curling the corners of my lips isn’t doing me any favors. “Karli, you don’t understand,” I insist, self-consciously tugging my turtleneck up my throat.

“What don’t I understand?” She randomly grabs two coffee mugs from the cabinet before reaching into the box for a wine bottle. “You two were flirting the entire time at the hockey game. And then you kissed and almost set the whole arena on fire. And there is nothing ‘pretend’ about those hickies all over you now.”

“Fine. Things sort of got out of control when we got home, and we hooked up. For the first time,” I admit, trying not to shiver when I say it. “But we agreed that we shouldn’t do it again. We can’t take things further.”

Karli rolls her eyes, passing me a serving of wine before taking a hearty sip of her own. “Why the hell not? He’s single. You’re single. The two of you are hiding out in this cozy mountainside getaway.” She sighs wistfully. “The whole damn thing is romantic.”

“It’s not romantic, Karli. It’s complicated.” I try to sound like the reasonable adult in the room.

She insists on an explanation. “Meaning?”

“Yes, I’m crazy attracted to him. But I need to practice self-control.” I take groceries out of the box as I speak. There’s uncooked pasta, a brick of cheese, dried herbs, a rich-looking sauce and a fresh-smelling loaf of French baguette. I peek at the recipe card—red wine pasta with roasted tomato sauce and garlic bread.Yum!

“Self-control is overrated,” she grumbles.

“Karli!” I start listing out my problems on my fingers. “I don’t have a place to call home. I’m focused on saving as much money as I can. My baby daddy is unhinged and I have no clue what he’ll do next.” I give my head a brisk shake. “There’s way too much going on in my life. I’m not in the right headspace to jump into a relationship.”

Karli grabs a knife from the knife block and slices into the cheese. “Okay. Fine. You have a lot going on. Doesn’t mean you and my brother can’t have some fun.” She pops a cube of cheese into her mouth before ripping off a piece of bread.

“That’s precisely the problem,” I say. “Archer has made it clear that he won’t settle for a fling. With him, it’s all or nothing. Either we each jump in with both feet or we stay friends.”

She passes a piece of bread my way. “That sounds dumb. You know that, right?”

“Actually, it’s not.” I sigh. “The quickest way to get your heart broken is to get into a situationship,knowingthat you and the other person will never be on the same page. I don’t want to hurt Archer and I don’t want him to hurt me. We’re friendsandwe’re coworkers and I’d very much like to keep it that way.” I stuff a piece of bread into my mouth, muffling the words I’m speaking. “A few months from now when it becomes blindingly clear that things won’t work out between us, I’ll end up losing my jobandmy friend. I don’t want that to happen.”

Karli scowls. “Why’d you have to be so pessimistic?”

“I’m beingrealistic, hun.”

She’s quiet for a while. “I hate this.”

“I hate it, too,” I admit.

She silently nibbles on another piece of cheese and then she says, “Are you sure you guys can’t figure it out? I just want him to be happy, like the rest of us are. And I know you bring that into his life. Ever since you moved in here, he barely even comes outside anymore. He just wants to be holed up in here with you every night.”

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