Page 17 of We Thought We Were Invincible
“I wouldn't call two weeks exactly long,” I snapped. Where did that come from?
“Oh, she speaks.” Colby cupped his hands around his mouth, ignorant of the daggers Jamie and I were shooting at each other. “I was wondering where my sister went.”
“Two weeks is long enough when you have a chance with a girl like Amelia.” Jamie shrugged. “Anyway, enough about her. How is my dear brother doing without the love of his life by his side at college?”
I clenched my fist on the table. “We're not… ugh… you know what? It doesn't matter. I do not need to explain myself or my friendship with Jay to the likes of you.”
I pushed my chair back and shot to my feet before storming away and slamming my door. Jamie's chuckling permeated the thin walls.
“I've gotta take a piss.” I heard him tell my brother.
I paced the length of my room, clenching and unclenching my fists. Before I realized it had opened, my bedroom door shut, and I spun around to find myself face to face with the infuriating blond soccer phenom himself.
“What do you think you're doing?” I asked as the breath left my lungs and he stepped closer.
He took me by the shoulders and pressed me up against the wall. His head dipped, and he was kissing me before I could even think. I didn't respond. Instead, I pushed at his chest, and he released me.
“What?” I breathed.
“It's just that you're hot when you're angry.” He grinned.
The heat rose in my face. “You can't just go kissing people.”
“Why not?” He shrugged, laughing as I moved out of the way to let him walk out the door.
As I watched him go, I realized that he really thought he could do whatever he wanted. I ran a finger across my still tingling lips, knowing full well it had meant nothing. It was an impulse. I should have been angry, but all I could think was that I wanted to do it again. That thought turned into guilt when I looked at my ringing phone to see Jay's name lighting up the screen.
Throwing my phone as if it'd burned me, I sunk onto my bed, unable to do much else.
7
Jamie
The taste of Callie's lips still lingered on mine as I punched out a response to Amelia's millionth text of the day. Okay, I was exaggerating, but the girl was already getting on my nerves, and we hadn't even gone out yet. I ran into her after soccer practice. It was only hours after seeing Callie and my anger hadn't abated. I needed something to distract me from the girl I'd wanted for so long. The girl that I couldn't have for many reasons. Both our brothers being some of them.
“Dude, we need to talk,” Colby had said as soon as I got to practice.
“What's up?” I bent down, pretending to tie my shoe. Something in his tone told me I wouldn't like what he was about to say.
“Did you skip with Callie this morning?”
I straightened up, but still didn't look him in the eye. “Yeah.”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Man, I know you've had this weird obsession with protecting her over the years, but she doesn't need any of your head games.”
“I don't play games.” He leveled me with a stare and I finally met his eyes, releasing a long breath. “Fine. Jamie. Bad.”
“She's my sister, ya know?” he went on.
“We're friends,” I stated. “Sort of. That's it.” Then I said the one thing that killed me to admit. “Plus, you think my brother would ever forgive me if I went there?”
Coach interrupted us then and set us on a grueling practice. By the time Amelia found me, I was sitting on the bench with a towel thrown over my head. Colby went ahead to the locker room, leaving us alone.
Exhaustion. Anger. Whatever else I was feeling. It all led to me asking her to dinner. She graced me with a wide smile and hadn't stopped texting me since.
Date set, I threw my phone on my bedside table and laid down.
Why the hell had I kissed Callie?
