Page 28 of Forgotten Dreams

“Again, dated is a stretch. We went out maybe three times and then decided we were better off as friends. I felt like I was kissing my brother when I kissed him, it was just gross.”

“I’m sorry, we must have been kissing a different person because”—I shake my head—“he’s hands down the best fucking kisser I’ve ever kissed in my whole life.”

She gasps, “Wait a second, you like him.” She points at me, and I close my eyes. “Oh my God, oh my God,” she chants over and over again, her voice filled with glee and laughter, “you fucking like him.”

“I don’t know,” I lie to her and then roll my eyes. “I like him a little bit. He’s hot.” She looks over to the side and fake vomits. “That’s how I feel about Emmett, so I think it’s normal.”

“Emmett is hot,” she defends, and now I grimace and shake my head.

“Agree to disagree,” I counter. “Can you forgive me?”

“You didn’t even do anything,” she says. The front door opens, and then it slams back shut. We hear the sound of boots clonking on the floor. Lucy comes into the room first. “Shower.” Lilah points at her bedroom. “You can say hello after.”

“Ugh, fine.” She walks past the couch, waving.

“Oh, hey,” Emmett greets, walking into the room and going straight to Lilah, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss her lips before heading to the fridge. “I didn’t know you were coming over.” He pulls it open and takes out a beer.

“She made out with Caleb,” Lilah announces, snickering, and I gasp at her.

“I heard”—my head whips around to him—“last night at the bar.”

“Who told you?” I ask, shocked. Then I’m really fucking happy I decided to come here today and tell her instead of her finding out from Emmett.

“Someone saw you two in the parking lot,” he tells me, and I close my eyes.

“She came to ask me if it’s okay if she dates him.” Lilah fills him in.

“I did not.” I shake my head, trying not to let him know that I might have, maybe, perhaps tried to see if she was bothered by it.

He cocks his head to the side, his eyes going to Lilah. “Why would you care?” His eyebrows go up.

“I don’t, but she thought I would.”

“There is a code,” I tell Emmett, who rolls his eyes. “You know, bros before hos, and hos before bros.” He just stares at me. “Since they dated, I didn’t know what to do.”

“Oh, that’s right, they dated.” He cocks his hip.

“Don’t you start with me, Emmett.” Lilah gets up and puts her hand on her hip.

“You hated me.”

“Never hated you.” I get up when he says that as the two of them go into a standoff.

“I’m going to get going.” I point over my shoulder. “Go home and open a nice bottle of wine and soak in my tub.” I walk over to her. “Thank you for being the best friend a girl could ask for.” I hug her. “Also, do you have a bottle of wine I could borrow?” Emmett is the one who laughs, and I look over my shoulder at him.

“She’s going to be another pain in my…” he mumbles as he walks over to the cabinet and takes out two bottles and brings them to me. “Here.” He hands me both. “You owe me two bottles.”

“She owes us nothing,” Lilah retorts. “Now, get out of here and go call Caleb.”

“I’m not calling him,” I scoff at her as I walk out of the house and head to my car. Today was not a bad day, I think to myself as I start my car. Not a bad day at all.

Chapter 14

Caleb

I’m patching up the walls in the kitchen when I hear the sound of a car door slam shut. The soft light comes from the one light I have on in the kitchen. From where I’m standing, I can see the front door perfectly since we took down the wall that was separating the dining room and the kitchen. Opening the space up and making it an enormous fucking kitchen. When she puts in the island, it’s going to be phenomenal. Her silhouette fills the glass in the door before I hear the key in the lock as the door swings open, and she’s walking in. Her eyes fly around the room until they find mine, and shock fills her face. “What are you still doing here?” She looks just as beautiful as she did this morning when she left. Which was a long fucking time ago, not like I was checking my watch hourly thinking about where she was. But I did wonder where she was all day long.

I take in the box of donuts in one hand and the other holding a bottle of wine. Then I see a second bottle of wine sticking out from her armpit. “Hello to you too, beautiful.” I chuckle and turn back to the wall, not answering her question.

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