Love, Lust & Friendship

by Elizabeth Stevens

  “It was good, hey?” I hedged.

  “Maybe the popular jackass thing was just a phase?” I wasn’t sure if that was sarcasm or hope along with a smile in his voice.

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  I couldn’t remember a time when the boys had been really close. But, the way Ander and Aunt Jelly sometimes talked, there must have been a time before I met them. It was one thing I’d never pressed; I might have been wrong, I might have found out something I didn’t want to know (although, what that could have been, I’m not sure), and it just always seemed like a weirdly depressing thing to choose to talk about.

  “Where’s your shaver?”

  “Somewhere you can’t use it.”

  “Uncool.”

  He snorted. “Relax. It got blunt and I chucked it out.”

  “Have you got any more?”

  “Nuh. We can get some more tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, all right then. No one’s going to be feeling me up anyway,” I muttered.

  Ander snorted then was quiet for a while.

  “Maybe it’s a tumour?” Ander finally mused.

  “It’s not a tumour, you just don’t have anything better to do,” I said.

  “Not me, Ferris. Topher and his weird behaviour.”

  I snorted. “You want your brother to be sick?”

  “No, of course not. But, maybe I’d be happy with a change in personality? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if my big brother was less of a jerk?”

  “But, who’d get all the itching powder tacky bombs?” I teased and he laughed. “Towel.”

  I held my hand out of the shower and he handed me my towel with his eyes shut firmly. We might not have minded stripping off in front of each other, but that didn’t mean we wanted to see anything (don’t worry, the shower screen had a frosted modesty panel. Very chic).

  “Oh, he’s still getting all the itching powder,” he said as he turned to face me, his eyes still shut.

  I quickly towelled off and wrapped it around me. “Okay, safe,” I told him as I tried to detangle my hair.

  “You feel like heading out tonight? Or is it an in kind of night?” Ander asked as he nudged me.

  I nudged him right back. “Dunno. When did we last do a movie night with Aunt Jelly?”

  “Dunno. A while, I think?”

  “She’s home tonight, isn’t she?”

  “I think so. Shall we ask her?”

  I nodded. “Sure.”

  We were jostling each other as usual when we burst out of the bathroom and ran into a very surprised and still unshowered Topher – he’d probably been waiting for us to finish. But, his surprise soon melted and he smirked at us.

  “You two are so weird.”

  “Says you, jackass,” Ander replied as he went into his bedroom – stupid Topher and his ensuite.

  “Why are we so weird now, Toph?” I asked, shaking my hair out in the hopes it wouldn’t dry clumped together just because I was too lazy to use the hairdryer.

  He looked me over slowly and I warmed, but at least I held the flush back. I really hoped we were going to stick to the whole not talking about kissing no matter what happened thing.

  “How many people do you know who shower together?”

  “We don’t shower together, we just like the company. You’re just jealous you don’t have someone to talk to while you’re showering.”

  His smirk grew and his eyes were full of humour. “You offering?”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Ew. No. That would be gross.”

  “And, yet you’ll hang out with Lex while he’s showering?”

  “That’s totally different.”

  “How?”

  I paused before I replied, because I wasn’t actually sure why it was different. “Because Ander’s like my brother. We’ve been doing it forever.”

  “So, what does that make me?”

  I frowned at him. “You are not like my brother, Topher.”

  “Why is that, Addy?” he asked, dropping his voice as he leant towards me. “Because you like kissing me? Or because, if you hung out with me while I showered, you know we wouldn’t be talking?”

  Oo! I thought we weren’t talking about it?

  “Is everything suggestive to you?”

  He gave me that half-smile that was known to get girls into trouble. “Was it a bad suggestion?”

  I frowned further to convince myself I wasn’t falling for his stupid charm. “Is everything a joke to you?”

  “I wasn’t joking.”

  No. Suggestion or not, he wasn’t joking. Not that I cared. Because I didn’t. I also didn’t vividly imagine that exact scenario and feel my heart stutter.

  “What do you want from me, Topher?”

  His eyes dropped and, when they looked back into mine, he wore a smoulder to rival The Rock in Jumanji. “Why do you think I want anything from you?”

  “I’m not one of your girls. You can’t just give me that look and I’ll beg for you.”

  “Well, that I certainly don’t want. You’re not the begging kind, Addy.”

  “Really,” I scoffed. “What kind am I?”

  His smirk was one of epic heart-fluttering proportions as he leant his lips to my ear. “You’re the kind worth begging for.”

  And, by the time I’d got over my intense shock, he was gone and Ander had popped his head out of his room.

  “You right? Jackass not bothering you, is he?”

  “Uh… I don’t think so…”

  Ander sniggered. “Oh, did he kiss you again?” he teased and that was enough to pull me out of my surprise.

  I batted Ander and shoved my way past him into his room. “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” I forced a laugh as I got changed.

  There was a knock on the door and Aunt Jelly calling our names.

  “Clear!” Ander yelled back.

  “Hey, so…” Aunt Jelly started as she walked in. “Plans for tonight?”

  “We were just going to ask if you wanted to do movies,” Ander answered.

  Aunt Jelly beamed. “God, yes.”

  “Sweet. We’ll be down in a second.”

  “Shall we get pizza?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Most definitely.”

  She grinned and started heading downstairs. “I’ll find the menu!” she called as she disappeared and Ander and I exchanged a smile.

  “She’s almost as happy as you after Topher kissed you,” he joked then pursed his lips and kissed the air.

  “Shut up!” I laughed.

  “Oh, Topher,” Ander said in his best falsetto as we left his room and we were in fits of laughter by the time we got to the bottom of the stairs.

  “Okay, enough!” I told him. “I’m going to hyperventilate and die. Then, where would you be?”

  “Lost.”

  I sniggered and he threw his arm around me as we went into the kitchen to find Aunt Jelly and the pizza menu.

  A few minutes later, Ander and I were arguing over who got to press the buttons on the ordering app and Aunt Jelly was trying to open her beer.

  “Did you know you people left the back door unlocked?” a familiar voice asked and I turned to see Topher’s best mate Nick strolling into the room.

  “We like to feel insecure and vulnerable,” Aunt Jelly replied as she handed him the beer bottle.

  “It gives the boys something to do. A purpose in life,” I teased and Nick grinned.

  “He ready yet?” he asked as he passed Aunt Jelly back her beer.

  “Buggered if I know,” I told him. “He did have to shower.”

  “Right, he’ll be forever then,” Nick said, rolling his eyes and we all knew that he was being sarcastic; Topher wasn’t the kind to waste time when there was going out to do.

  Unlike most of the crowd of people Topher liked to surround himself with, Nick was an okay guy. He was still a bit of a twat. But, when it wa
s just us and him, he was nice. Yeah, I got it was totally shallow, but I wouldn’t talk to him in front of his friends if I didn’t have to either; snobbery goes both ways here.

  “Dude,” Nick yelled up the stairs. “We fucking going already?”

  “Language, Nicholas,” Aunt Jelly chastised and Ander and I sniggered as Nick muttered under his breath.

  “Tell me he’s turned into some kind of Queen?” Nick pleaded, leaning on the bannister and looking back at us.

  Nick was the kind of hot you looked at but didn’t touch, with his sweeping dark blond hair, gorgeous baby blues, an athletic body made for sin, and a smirk that got you into all kinds of trouble. Boy was a heartbreaker – much like his best mate – and no mistake. I’d done my time drooling over him from afar.

  Ander and I both shook our heads at his adorable smirk.

  He scrubbed a hand over his chin and sighed. “Then, there is no excuse for this behaviour. Dude!” he yelled again. “Taking ten minutes is usually long for you. What’s up with this?”

  We all heard a muffled response from Topher, but couldn’t make out the words.

  “She’s not going to care what you look like. She’s already tried climbing you like a fucking–”

  “Nicholas!”

  “Sorry, Aunt Jelly! –flag pole. Twice. You’ll be naked before she even notices what you’re wearing.”

  “Dude, I do not need the reminder that my nephew’s a legal adult,” Aunt Jelly said, wrinkling her nose. “Gross.”

  Ander and I giggled.

  “So, what are we watching tonight?” Nick asked, leaning fully on the bannister while he waited for the unusually slow Topher.

  “It’s Molly Ringwald night,” Aunt Jelly said proudly.

  Ander and I shared a smile. We’d acceded to her suggestion quickly and easily. We loved those old movies of hers and tried to watch at least one of them with her at least once a month because we knew she enjoyed sharing them with us.

  Nick sighed in disappointment and weirdly it was legitimate. “Leave Breakfast Club ‘til last, yeah? I don’t want to miss it.”

  “Don’t you… Forget about me!” Topher sang as he strutted down the stairs, his fist in the air in perfect imitation of Bender, bopping his head.

  “You are not the criminal,” I said.

  “I’m not the criminal?” he clarified, pointing at his chest and mock-gasping at Nick.

  “Nope. Criminal’s too hot for you.”

  “Too hot? No such thing. What am I then?”

  “Princess. Duh.”

  He scoffed. “I’m way cooler than that.”

  “The nerd, then?” Nick asked.

  I snorted. “No. Ander’s the nerd. Nick’s the jock. You’re the princess.”

  Topher held his hand to his heart, then pointed it at me. “Well, coming from the basket case, I suppose that’s not so bad.”

  I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned.

  “Which leaves Aunt Jelly the criminal,” Nick said and we all turned to look at her.

  She was stuffing chocolate in her mouth, but paused when she saw we were all watching her. She gave a shrug and conceding nod. “Yeah, probably,” she said as she reached for her beer and we all laughed.

  “So, is that a yes or a no on the waiting front?” Nick asked.

  “I dunno, Aunt Jel. They weren’t home until two last week,” Ander said slowly.

  “Really, boys? Two?” We all knew what was coming. “That is despicable. When you two hit eighteen,” she pointed at Ander and me, “I don’t want you home until four, got it?”

  When Ander and I hit eighteen and were finally of legal drinking age, we were not going to the sorts of places Topher, Nick and their mates went. I knew, though, that with my choice of friends there was an unavoidable trip to the Crazy Horse in my future and that was taking enough mental preparation; no matter how much time I spent with them, I would never understand the straight male’s fascination with strippers.

  “Uh… I doubt you want any of us at the sort of places that are open that late,” Topher said slowly.

  Aunt Jelly stopped and frowned. “Really?”

  Topher nodded.

  “Fuck, I’m old.”

  “Language!” the four of us yelled at her and she smiled.

  “Yeah, yeah. All right. We’ll wait. But, if you’re not home by one, then we’re watching it without you. You know these two,” meaning Ander and me, “have the stamina of sloths.”

  Topher nodded and kissed Aunt Jelly’s hair as he went past. “One it is.”

  “Night, guys,” Nick said with a nod.

  “Oh, and Christopher?” Aunt Jelly called.

  “Yeah?”

  “If she gets you totally naked, don’t forget to get totally re-dressed after, yeah? And, a raincoat, boys! No glove, no love.” Aunt Jelly threw us a wink and we stifled our giggles.

  “Yeah. We hear you,” Topher yelled back and I heard the smile in his voice.

  “Bye!” Nick called happily and we heard the front door close.

  “All right. If we can’t start with the good stuff, what will we start with?” Aunt Jelly asked.

  “Sixteen Candles!” Ander and I said in unison.

  “God, you two are freakishly the same,” Aunt Jelly muttered as she jumped up to find the DVD.

  Chapter Ten

  Almost two weeks later, I was coming to the realisation that it was okay if my relationship with Topher changed. Not the kissing thing, that had to stop. As did my weird… I wasn’t even going to dignify it by calling it a crush.

  But, he’d been noticeably…nicer lately. He’d joined Ander and me in video games a couple of times and he’d been just generally less antagonistic and he’d been funnier. There’d been more of that the three of us hanging out thing going on. The shift was only slight and I did wonder if I only noticed it because I was freaking out about kissing him. Twice. But, maybe not all change was bad. Maybe it would be good if we were all friends as we got older. I’d never love Topher the way I loved Ander, but I didn’t see anything bad in the three of us actually getting along without Aunt Jelly to mediate.

  And, I almost had the kickflip I’d been practising. Almost. I hadn’t even smashed my nose into the pavers yet, and I considered that a significant win.

  “Not bad,” I heard Topher say and I looked up to see him leaning on the veranda post watching me with a warm smile.

  Something about the way he was watching me made me seriously wish I was wearing anything other than a crop top and a pair of Ander’s daggy old overalls with the hems rolled up. But, then I realised that there was something about the way he was watching me even though I was in a pair of Ander’s daggy old overalls. Something that made my stomach flutter, my cheeks heat, and my breath come embarrassingly short. Something that told me Topher didn’t care that I was in about the least feminine piece of clothing I owned. Not that it was a long bar from what I had on to the most feminine.

  I smiled and rolled the skateboard under my foot awkwardly. “Thanks. What’s up? I thought you had things to do?”

  “Changed my mind. I thought we could go for a drive while Lex is still at AV club?”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “Go for a drive?” I teased.

  “I was thinking you could get some more driving practise in,” he conceded with an adorable shrug that reminded me the brothers were similar in more ways than they cared for.

  “Driving. In the only car here, being your pride and joy?” I clarified.

  “Well, when you put it like that…” he said, then smiled. “Come on. Once you go manual, you’ll never go back.”

  I snorted. “Let me guess. Something about a long, hard stick in my hands?”

  He was trying not to smile, but he was failing. “Sure. Why not?”

  “I’m not driving your car, Topher.”

  “Why not? I promise she’ll be gentle.”

  I snorted again. “I was mor
e concerned about my ability to be gentle with her.”

  He gave me the smile that made my stomach squirm happily. “She’s tough. She can handle it.”

  I rolled the board some more as I thought about it.

  “Come on. We can head down the beach or something. It’s never busy this time of year.”

  It was still of the too-hot variety of weather for my liking, but it was cooling down enough that only die-hard beach lovers would be there on a Wednesday afternoon.

  “Fine. But, if she gets a scratch or dent or anything, it’s so not my fault,” I warned him.

  That lop-sided grin broke out on his face. “Fair. I’ll grab the plates and meet you in the garage.”

  I nodded. “Okay. I’ve just got to get my license.”

  He gave me one more smile and headed off.

  By the time I was in the garage with my license, he was in the passenger seat sticking the big yellow ‘L’ plate to the front window, the back one already up.

  I plonked down into the driver’s seat and threw him a glare.

  “What?” he chuckled and I started the car.

  “Why are you two so tall? Seriously, if I didn’t already have a complex, I’d get one. I can’t even reach the steering wheel from here!”

  Topher laughed and reached over me. As his nose almost brushed mine, my heart jumped and my breath caught. We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, Topher looking like he was surprised at our closeness. Then, that suave cockiness was back and he was smiling.

  “This is why they invented the,” he pulled it and the seat crawled forwards, “seat adjustment control.”

  I took hold of his arm and pushed him back into his own seat. “SAS members can adjust their own seats, thank you.”

  “Okay, off you go then.”

  I spent a couple of minutes trying to get the seat and mirrors sorted, knowing he was amusedly watching me the whole time.

  “Stop that, or I will purposefully crash your pride and joy,” I told him as I tried to wrench the transmission into reverse.

  “Have you got the clutch in far enough?” he asked.

  I gave him my stoniest look. “I might not.”

  He snickered. “Try again. Be gentle.”

  “I warned you I might not be gentle.”