Page 33 of The Casualty of Us
“Not yet,” he sighs woefully. “I’m not sure she’d take it good yet.”
“Well, Ollie.” I push open his bedroom door with my foot, and we try to maneuver through with all of us. “She wouldn’t take it well. Not good.”
“That’s the point.”
“Good call, man,” Hayes adds, laughing quietly under his breath. “When’s the wedding?”
“After…” Ollie yawns as we come up to the bed, fighting to get away from us before taking a single step and faceplanting into it. He mumbles something into the covers that sounds a lot like “After” again, and a quiet snore follows that leaves me laughing more openly this time.
“I’ve never seen Ollie drunk before.” I turn to Hayes, catching the amusement filling his eyes also. “I think I like it.”
“Really?” He tilts his head at me with a flash of surprise. “You two have never partied before?”
“Not really.” I shrug. “Our parents let us have a glass of wine with dinner sometimes and we snuck a few beers here and there but that’s about it.”
“Weird.”
“What is?” I giggle some more, heading to Ollie’s door before stopping to wait for him and watching as he pulls the small trash can right next to the bed.
“Uh, nothing.” He trails after me with a shake of his head. “Just wasn’t the same for me, I guess.”
I step into the living room, snorting softly at Holden’s form halfway on the couch with his legs hanging off the end. “At least he tried.”
Hayes walks over to where he’s lying and lifts his legs, pushing him further onto the couch. “Come on, buddy, that’s it.”
Holden groans but eventually makes it, and Hayes reaches for a blanket someone left lying across the back of the couch. Pulling it down over him and practically tucking him in before stepping back.
I fight against the grin for all of two seconds as he looks up at me, quickly losing the battle and cooing, “Very sweet, Dimples.”
“Whatever.”
A flash of dimples comes before he turns around and calls out softly, “You coming?”
I just stare at his back. “What?”
Apparently having trouble keeping up between the seltzers and—
“Come on.” He looks back at me over his shoulder. “Let’s watch a movie or something.”
“A movie?”
“A movie.” He nods.
“In your room?”
He opens his door with an amused sound before turning back to prop himself against it. “Yeah, O. A movie, in my room, with me.”
“That seems…” My brows fall, and I struggle to find the right way to put it before settling on… “Like a leading idea.”
Our gazes hold as his eyes narrow for a moment before he pushes off the door and walks right back over to invade my space.
“I want you to remember the first time I kiss you, Ophelia,” he states blatantly, making my mouth start to fall open before I quickly snap it shut. “It won’t be after a party where we’ve both been drinking and you can blow it off the next day. Now I can either walk you back to your dorm, or we can go watch a movie together where nothing leading is going to happen.” His dimples twitch. “Except maybe some cuddling.”
“Cuddling?”
“Your choice.” He lifts his hands into the air with a move of surrender and takes a step back. “I’m hopping in the shower real quick, so just let me know what you want to do when I’m out.”
I hold perfectly still as he turns around and disappears into his room, standing there staring and straddling the precipice of something that could definitely turn into more. Different parts of my mind at war with each other and making equally validpoints as the seconds continue to tick by. Quickly turning into a few minutes before curiosity gets the best of me.
