Page 5 of One Little Kiss
“You sure?”
“Of course.”
It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve crashed here. Elijah has what some call “the fun parents.” They don’t seem to care much about what we do just so long as it doesn’t interfere with their lives.
Some might call them fun, but I don’t see it that way. There’s nothing fun about how they ignore Elijah. Luckily, his cousin Leah’s been staying with them this year, and he always has friends around, otherwise I’d feel sorry for the guy.
Maybe he’s thinking something similar because he gives me this long look that’s not pitying, but it holds a whole lot of empathy. “Holler if you need anything?”
I nod.
“Help yourself to whatever,” he says.
We’ve done this so many times I know what ‘whatever’ means.
I know where their housekeeper stocks the spare toothbrushes and which drawer has his comfy old T-shirts to sleep in. I also know which of his pillows is my favorite.
I glance toward the door where the blonde disappeared. “I won’t be cramping your style?”
“Nah.” He heads back toward the party, but then turns to face me with a ridiculous, lopsided grin. “This house has three extra guest rooms, remember?”
He winks. And I roll my eyes because...he may or may not be kidding.
I know for a fact that Elijah’s player reputation isn’t nearly as bad as the gossips would have you believe.
I also know he’s not a saint either.
“Don’t be gross,” I mutter as he heads out the door.
He turns back after he’s walked out and leans in so his head pokes through the open doorway. “Goodnight, babe.”
“‘Night.”
He disappears and I fall back into the cocoon of pillows. Although without Elijah here beside me…it really isn’t as cozy.
TWO
Elijah
I’ll bethe first to admit, I am not a morning person.
Especially not the morning after I throw a party that didn’t end until the sun was rising. It doesn’t help that I’d spent the night in a guest room, which didn’t have my room’s comfortable mattress or the shades that could block out every last hint of the sun.
My vampire shades, as Noelle calls them.
Running a hand through my hair, I don’t bother to swing by my room to see if Noelle’s still in my bed. I know she isn’t because I can hear her voice as she talks to my way-too-perky cousin, Leah, in the kitchen.
“Morning, sunshine.” Leah laughs when she sees me squinting against the bright light coming through the kitchen’s floor-to-ceiling windows.
Noelle’s hair is tossed up in a messy bun as she eats cereal across the table from Leah, her legs curled up under her.
I swallow hard as the sight of her wearing one of my T-shirts hits me like a punch to the gut.
Crap. It’s too early. My head hurts too much. For a second I’m helpless against a shock of awareness that’s as annoying as it is inevitable.
Noelle can’t help it that she’s hot.
And I can’t help that sometimes…I notice. But I’m not supposed to, and we both know it. It’s an unspoken rule. This mutual apathy toward each other’s sexuality is kinda our thing. It’s the linchpin upon which our friendship was founded.
