Page 44 of Enemies with my Bestie’s Brother
“How did you learn to teleport?” I ask, looking up at Whitney.
She rolls her eyes as she drags me into my apartment and towards my bedroom.
I’m laying in my bed, suddenly being undressed.
“Stop! I have a girlfriend!” I shout suddenly, but the room is swirling around me and I’m unable to distinguish who exactly is undressing me.
“Just go to sleep, you idiot,” Whitney’s voice says.
There’s movement on the bed beside me, and then a gentle hand stroking my forehead. I drift off to sleep slowly.
Chapter Twenty
Whitney
I’msittinginGrayson’skitchen, making myself a cup of tea. I slept over here last night, after giving Penny the excuse that I was worried he was going to choke on his own vomit. Penny offered to come to watch him herself, but I know that this is the first night that they have really been alone since Baby J was born, and I didn’t want to ruin their special night. Plus, Grayson kept muttering my name and saying all kinds of goofy stuff all night. I definitely didn’t want to answer questions about that.
I still can’t believe that he mistook that Australian woman for me. I mean, I’m flattered, because she was gorgeous. But aside from being tall and blonde, we looked nothing alike. You’d think he would have known right away from the accent, but he seemed completely out of it by the time I came across him. I know that when he wakes up, we’re going to have to have a serious conversation about our relationship and the fact that he keeps trying to pressure me to tell Penny before I’m ready.
I’ve never done well with being pressured — in fact, it makes me want to do the exact opposite of whatever the person is trying to get me to do. My mom always liked that trait about me; she knew I’d never succumb to the peer pressure surrounding drugs and alcohol. But pressure isn’t the reason that I don’t want to tell Penny.
If I’m honest with myself, I know that Grayson is right. The longer that Grayson and I keep hiding our relationship from Penny, the worse that her reaction is going to be. I wouldn’t even blame her if she never wanted to talk to me again. I’m supposed to be her best friend. She shares everything with me, and I’m over here hiding this. I fully recognize that telling Penny the truth about us now is the right choice.
But, I’m scared, and not just of telling Penny that I’ve been lying to her. There’s a part of me that almost feels like if I admit what’s going on between Grayson and me to anyone, that it will somehow make it more real, and therefore harder. With our true feelings for each other kept under wraps, there’s no pressure to live up to the typical expectations that come along with a relationship. I know it’s wrong to think that way, and I know that it’s even more wrong to let Grayson’s needs in this relationship fall to the wayside because of my anxieties.
The thing is, I don’t even know if this relationship is actually going anywhere. Grayson and I are completely different; he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. I don’t resent him for his wealth, of course, but I worry that there are some things that he just won’t understand because of it.
Like when he meets my family. We come from humble beginnings. There’s no fancy penthouses or gorgeous mansions in my family tree. My parents just remodeled the only bathroom in the house three years ago, and that was an accomplishment for us. I know that he knows the meaning of hard work, but he’s never had to work to survive, never had to worry about going hungry. It’s not just on his side, though. I know there are some problems he’ll have that I’ll never understand either.
“Ugh,” a familiar voice groaning from the hallway interrupts my thoughts. Grayson shuffles into the kitchen and stops in his tracks when he sees me.
“Whitney, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be back home — well, Penny’s I mean.”
“Do you want some tea?” I ask, unable to make my mouth say the words that I’m thinking.
I know that we need to talk about this, but I first need a moment to gather my thoughts and think through what I’m going to say. He cocks an eyebrow before throwing his palm on his forehead.
“Ow. Yes. What happened last night? I think I had a weird dream about you having a twin… and my head hurts, a lot.” He sits at the island in front of me, cradling his head in his hands.
“Yeah, I imagine it does. You got seriously plastered last night. Honestly, I thought you’d sleep a lot later for how drunk you were. I don’t know how you ended up so drunk. Landon and Hailey said the bartender stopped serving you a couple of hours before we even left.”
He grins sheepishly as a blush colors his cheeks.
“I may have swiped a drink or ten off of tables around the venue. I was pretty blitzed by the time I was cut off. Clearly, I wasn’t in my right mind.”
“Well, that would certainly explain why you mistook that Australian model and influencer for me.”
“Australian model? Influencer?” he asks, his eyebrows pulling together.
“Georgia Kelly King? Red lipstick? Apparently, an acquaintance of Preston’s?”
After I’d finished tucking Grayson into bed last night, I’d gone home and googled her. She’s not quite an A-lister, but she’s basically A-list adjacent. The more pictures that I looked at of her, the more I began to wonder exactly how drunk Grayson was, because beyond long blonde hair and being tall, we look next to nothing alike.
“That name doesn’t ring a bell, but the red lipstick sort of does. Have you ever considered wearing red lipstick?”
I narrow my eyes at him as I place a cup of freshly brewed tea in front of him. I’m not well-suited to a red-lip look, but apparently Georgia is.
“Uh, nevermind about that. You’re perfect just the way you are. Anyway, what are you doing here? Did you sleep here?”
