Page 19 of The Gingerbread Bakery
Mac had spent most of his teenage years confusing lust with love. When he’d made out with Lauren Pepprell at the movies in ninth grade, he had been pretty convinced he was in love with her. And when Sadie Bates let him feel her up that time her parents were out of town, he was positive he loved her. And surely, when he lost his virginity to Parker Moore last year, he was in love with her, right?
Sitting in his basement bedroom with Annie, he suddenly wasn’t sure about any of it.
Which was crazy, because he wasn’tin lovewith Annie. But he’d never stayed up half the night or even like half an afternoon with any of those girls. He’d liked them and they’d come to his games, and he’d taken them on a date or two, but nothing like this had ever happened before.
Annie was currently lying on his bed, snuggling the stuffed polar bear he’d had since birth, and teasing him for admitting that his favorite movie wasThe Muppet Christmas Carol.
‘I meant like a favorite movie in general, not a Christmas movie,’ she said between giggles.
‘That is my favorite movie!’ he insisted, and Annie started laughing all over again.
He threw a pillow at her from his position draped across the foot of the bed. ‘It’s a good movie.’
‘It’s singing puppets.’ She added the pillow to the stack behind her head. It was after 1 a.m. and he should really take her home, but he was having too much fun.
‘The world’s most beloved singing puppets.’
She shrugged a little like she’d give him that much. ‘Fair.’
‘Thank you.’ He stretched his arms behind his head and stared up at the old drop ceiling above them. He’d moved into the basement a few years ago for more privacy and, as much as his mom tried to make it homey down here, it was still a basement. At least twice a year, the whole damn thing flooded. He really needed to move out.
‘Okay, my turn,’ he said.
‘My favorite movie isPride and Prejudice, the Colin Firth version, obviously. Although, technically, it was a TV series but I’m going to count it.’
‘I don’t know what any of that means. And that wasn’t my question.’
Annie huffed and he could hear her snuggling down into his pillows. ‘Okay, go ahead with your question.’
‘So, you and Logan never hooked up?’ He wasn’t sure why he wanted to know, but he didn’t really think you could be that close a friend with someone of the opposite gender, assuming you were both straight, and not hook up eventually.
Annie returned the pillow from earlier and it landed on his face.
‘Ew.’
‘It’s not that crazy of a question.’ He slipped the pillow behind his head.
‘He is a brother to me in every way except blood. So no, I didn’t hook up with him nor would I, even if we were the last two people on the planet.’
‘Wow, harsh. Poor Logan.’
‘I assure you he feels the same about me.’
‘If you say so.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘I’m just saying, if it was me and I had a hot girl hanging around me all the time, but she only wanted to be friends, that would be tough.’
Annie sat up so she was looking down at him.
‘You think I’m hot?’
Oops. Had he let that slip out?
‘I mean, yeah.’ He tried to say it casually, like he often had girls over, confessed his most embarrassing secrets, showed them his childhood stuffed animals and then told them they were hot. Just a normal evening for ol’ Mac.
Annie’s brow furrowed in a way that said she was skeptical, and Mac wanted to elaborate on exactly why she was hot, starting with that plush bottom lip and ending with the perfect curve of her ass, but he didn’t want to ruin the night.
