My Best Friend's Brother (Hometown Heroes Book 3)
Page 8
I looked down to see her looking up at me. She felt it too, I realized as our eyes became lost in each other’s.
Without thinking, I took her hand in mine. Her hand felt so small and delicate. It was like losing a butterfly in a catcher’s mitt.
She looked down at our hands then up at me and smiled. I smiled in return then settled back to try and enjoy the movie. The both of us silently ignoring the fact that we were holding hands. We hadn’t discussed it. I hadn’t planned it. And I knew that Jenny would freak out if she saw it. But I didn’t care.
A simple thing, but it meant so much.
As the movie ended and the lights came up, both of us let go at the same time as if we had been caught holding hands with the devil. Amy glanced up at me, her cheeks shifting over to a pretty pink.
I quickly glanced over at Jenny to learn if she had seen but she was frowning at Chip then nodding to something he had said. I relaxed and tried to give Amy a comforting smile as I handed her the crutches.
“So, pie?” she asked the others as we made our way to the lobby. We all nodded. This was Sam’s diner we were talking about. It was almost a law that we had to go there on a Saturday night.
When we got back to the cars, Chip said, “Jenny, do you want to ride with me?”
You could have heard a mouse burp. My sister froze for a moment as she quickly shot Amy a look of fear and hope. Amy smiled and nodded slightly.
Jenny turned to Chip and shrugged her shoulders as if it were no big deal. But I knew that look. That was a Prescott look. The more things were special, the more we pretended they weren’t. Special things could too easily be lost.
Chip smiled back at her like he’d just won the math championship of something.
As Amy climbed up into the truck she looked over as Chip’s car and shook her head and said, “I’m surprised you’re okay with this?”
I laughed, “He’s harmless.”
Amy frowned and slowly shook her head. “I wouldn’t be so sure. She’s had a crush on him for years.”
“Who? Chip Huntington?” I asked as my stomach suddenly clenched up. Sometimes, I could be a complete idiot. In fact, more often than not, it seemed.
Amy smiled at me as if I was clueless. I took a deep breath and said, “No big deal. I’ll talk to him. Remind him who her brother is.”
“No, don’t,” Amy exclaimed quickly. “You can’t.”
“Why not? That is what big brothers are for. To put the fear of god into guys.”
She sighed heavily. “Because, when you … left…”
“Went to jail,” I interjected.
Amy glanced at me, her brow furrowed in doubt, obviously worried about offending me. She nodded, agreeing with me, “…You went to jail. … Things changed for Jenny. She lost a lot of friends. Parents didn’t want their children hanging out with her. There were wild stories about you. Guys were scared you would get out and pound them into the ground.”
“Not an entirely stupid thought,” I said.
She sighed. “It is one of the reasons we became friends. She didn’t have anyone else.”
My stomach tightened up with guilt. I had known it had been bad for both Mom and Jenny. A fact that I would have to live with for the rest of my life. But having it pointed out by Amy just made it feel like a dull knife to the gut.
“What has that got to do with Chip?” I asked, desperate to shift things off of my many failings.
Amy sighed again as if she was having to explain things to a moron.
“Just don’t say anything that will scare him off. It’s not fair to Jenny. Besides, think. Isn’t it better if she became interested in a good guy like Chip than some of the other jerks we have around here?”
I immediately thought of Willie Dawson and realized that Amy was right. Biting my tongue to keep myself from saying something stupid, I started the truck.
“You know,” I said. “if you weren’t Jenny’s best friend. We could almost consider this a date. The second one if you consider our night together under the stars.”
Her eyes grew very big as the color drained from her face.
I laughed, “Don’t worry. I’m only kidding.”
She frowned at me for a long moment then said. “What if I wasn’t Jenny’s best friend. I am of course, but what if I wasn’t?”
Now it was my turn to feel myself grow cold as a nervousness filled me.
I shrugged my shoulders. How could I answer that? If she wasn’t Jenny’s best friend, I would have kissed her that night by the fire and things might be different. At least I would know. At least I would have some idea if we had any chance.
“Besides,” she added, “we wouldn’t even be here, remember this is all Chip’s idea.”
I chuckled to myself and slowly shook my head. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Her face grew even whiter in the soft glow of the dashboard lights. “Did you set this up? Why?”
I shrugged, “Because I wanted to see you again. Away from school. Alone.”
Holding my breath, I waited for her to explode. It was better this way, I told myself. Better she found out now than after Chip let something slip. But it didn’t matter how many times I told myself that. I also knew that everything hung in the balance. If she yelled, or became offended, or worse, laughed. At least I would know and I could work on getting past this worry at the pit of my stomach.
Instead of being furious, she frowned at me in complete confusion and said, “Why didn’t you just ask me?”
I sighed heavily. “Because, remember, you are Jenny’s best friend. That sort of means I can’t.”
She sighed heavily as she slowly nodded while she bit the corner of her mouth.
My heart stopped beating as I slowly realized that it didn’t really matter what I felt. Or even what Amy might feel. Sometimes, things could not be fixed.
Chapter Twelve
Amy
A cloud of tension settled over us as my stomach tightened up into a small hard rock. Had he just said what I thought he said? My heart raced and my hands trembled in my lap. As I glanced over at him, I noticed his hands on the steering wheel and remembered the white bandages on them. For me.
Who was this man? Tall, alone, handsome, heroic, complex, different, did I mention heart-stopping handsome. Did he really say that he wanted to be with me? Me, Amy Jensen?
No. I told myself. He said if he weren’t Jenny’s brother, he would have wanted to be with me. There was a difference. A significant difference.
My heart broke in two as I realized just how impossible it was. Every part of me wanted to squeal with joy but I couldn’t because he was Jenny’s brother. He would always be Jenny’s brother.
He looked over at me with a sad smile. I looked back, unable to think, unable to form words. What should I say? Should I acknowledge the impossibility of it all? Should I tell him I felt the same way? Or should I pretend it was no big deal? Something we could pass off as if it had never happened.
This electrical pull between us. Could we pretend it wasn’t there?
Sighing, I looked out into the dark and tried to make my brain work again. The tension continued to build. All I could think about was what it felt like to be held in his arms. How the world had felt safe and wonderful. How everything seemed to fit, the pieces coming together.
Careful, Amy, I reminded myself. Do not get ahead of things. Don’t overthink things. All he said was he wanted to spend some time with me. Maybe he meant as ‘Just Friends.’
Before I could ask him though, he pulled into the parking lot next to Sam’s Diner. As he placed the truck into park, he glanced over at me with a sad smile.
I swallowed hard as a dozen different thoughts fought to be released. Instead, I bit my lip as I tried to work it all out. Of course, I failed miserably. Sometimes my brain takes over and does things before it should.
Turning to him I took a deep breath and said, “I stopped thinking of you as Jenny’s big brother that night, next to the fire.”
Sighing heavily, I opened my door and worked myself up onto my crutches. Jenny and Chip were waiting for us at the front door. Luke shot them a quick stare and then looked down at me.
“Okay, I won’t scare him away. You’re right, she could do a lot worse.”
I sighed inside, so that was how we were going to treat it. The ‘us’ issue, not the ‘Chip’ issue. No big thing. Pretend there wasn’t this overpowering attraction between us. Our feeling didn’t matter. So, I was to pretend my heart hadn’t just been crushed. No, we were to be friends, and that was all.
Nodding to him, I shot him a small smile. The kind I hoped showed him I was perfectly okay. There was no need for him to know the truth. No need for him to know about the pain churning inside of me.
When the four of us stepped into Sam’s Diner a wave of aromas greeted us. A combination of grease, coffee, and floor wax. A local institution, Sam’s had been around for so long that people didn’t even remember a time when there wasn’t a Sam’s.
A young waitress in a green uniform smiled at us as she poured coffee to a customer at the counter.
Chip led the way to a booth in the back. Jenny slid in. Chip slipped in next to her. I handed Luke my crutches then sat across from Jenny, making sure my giant foot didn’t bang into them along the way. Luke leaned the crutches up against the other booth and sat down next to me.
My shoulder brushed his, just as our legs touched, and once again I was reminded of the overwhelming need building inside of me. This energy-charged pull that made me want to throw myself at the man and bury him in kisses.
Instead, the four of us sat there, awkward, silent, each of us unable to admit the obvious.
The young waitress with a name tag that said ‘Meagan’ came up as she opened her order book. She smiled, her eyes lingering on Luke a little longer than necessary. I felt a quick anger build inside of me.
“So?” she asked. “Coffee?”
“Yes, for me please,” Luke answered. “And four pieces of coconut cream pie.”
“Hey,” Jenny interjected. “Who says you can order for us? I might want banana cream.”
“Yes, she’s right,” I said. “I want banana,” automatically sticking with my friend. Unfortunately, it didn’t alleviate the guilt in the bottom of my stomach.
“Yeah,” Chip said. “I want banana, too.” Why did I think if Jenny had ordered crushed rock salad he’d have ordered that as well?
Luke laughed, “Who said I was ordering for you guys? It’s been two years, remember.”
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “No way can you eat four pieces of coconut cream pie,”
His eyes opened wide as he stared at me, then at the others. Chip nodded his head in agreement with me. Jenny frowned, obviously worried that her brother was going to make a fool of himself.
“Is that a dare?” he asked. “Are you really challenging me?”
Both Chip and I said, “Yes,” at the same time.
Luke threw his head back and laughed as he smiled at Jenny.
She shook her head at me, “Big mistake,” she said to us. “He never loses a dare.”
Meagan the waitress wrote down the order as she shot Luke a quick look and shook her head. Again, that primal anger flashed inside of me. But luckily, she left to get us our food. I was able to relax.
Jenny and I started talking about the movie. Chip sat there quietly, obviously completely lost as to how to participate in a conversation. Luke leaned back and put his arm across the back of the booth. My insides immediately tightened up. Our legs kept brushing, and now his arm was only inches from me.
I so wanted to lean into him and let that arm cradle me in warmth and security. Instead, I swallowed and forced myself to concentrate on Jenny.
When Meagan returned with a large tray, we all sat back and watched her place four pieces of large coconut cream pie in front of Luke.
The boy smiled and I swear, he was looking forward to eating every bite.
“Hey, I’m a growing boy,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders as he took that first taste. Closing his eyes, he moaned with pleasure, savoring every moment.
Jenny rolled her eyes. “God, you sound almost pornographic.”
My cheeks grew warm as I realized I’d thought the same thing. The only difference was It had created pictures in my mind that shouldn’t have been there.
He smiled at his sister and took another bite.
The rest of us continued to watch him as he devoured that first piece of pie like it was a finger sandwich. He was through the second one before I was even close to finishing mine. Taking the third piece he slid it in front of him and shot me a quick smile.
Was that a hesitant concern in the back of his eyes. Had he begun to realize he’d literally bitten off more than he could chew.
Taking a deep breath, he started in on the third piece of pie. Slowly this time, as if he was having difficulty taking another bite.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said. “It won’t go to waste. The rest of us can finish them.”
His eyebrows rose in shock at the mere suggestion he wouldn’t accomplish what he set out to do.
“Amy’s right,” Chip said. “You will make yourself sick.”
Luke tipped his head to the side and studied the boy across from him. “Do you want to bet?”
Chip leaned back.
“Don’t,” Jenny said to Chip with a shake of her head.
Chip frowned as he looked at Jenny then back at Luke. I could see his mind working at a million miles a minute. This was his chance to prove something to Jenny. It had almost become a challenge in his mind. He could work out the odds. The facts. There was no way Luke could finish. He was barely halfway through and already faltering. This was an opportunity, no way could he lose.
“What’s the bet?” Chip asked.
Jenny rolled her eyes again.
Luke shrugged his shoulders then slowly smiled. “I know. … I’ve got some stuff to do tonight. Later. I was going to drop off Amy then take Jenny home before I went and took care of it…”
“What do you have to do tonight?” Jenny asked, her face tightening into a cold stare at her brother. I could tell she was worried. I well knew the reason, I felt it too. What did Luke have to do tonight? No way could it be good.
“Stuff,” he said to her, returning her stare with that cold Prescott look that said don’t push me on this issue.
Jenny looked up at the ceiling, obviously exasperated.
“So,” he said to Chip. “If I finish this, you take Jenny home. I’ll drop off Amy on my way.”
Chip’s face drained of color as he quickly looked at Jenny and then back at him. It was obvious that his greatest desire had just been offered up on a silver platter. All he had to worry about was Luke finishing off two more pieces of pie.
Jenny looked as if her brother had just pushed her into oncoming traffic. She shot me a quick glance, obviously looking for support. All I could do was shrug my shoulders. The idea of being alone with Luke, even for a few minutes was just too much to pass up.
For the first time, I realized why the no friend/brother thing was such a big issue. I had just kicked her under the bus.
“What’s in it for me?” Chip asked. “What do I…”
“It doesn’t matter,” Jenny said, “he never loses.”
Luke studied Chip for a long moment until the boy nodded. “Sure,” he said, “you’re on.”
Smiling widely, Luke took another bite of pie, and didn’t stop until he had finished the last piece.
I sat there in complete shock. The guy had finished off two-thirds of a coconut cream pie without breaking a sweat. How was that possible? Jenny shook her head.
“I told you, he never loses.”
Chip smiled as he shyly glanced over at Jenny. “There are worse bets to lose.”
Her cheeks grew pink and I had to smile to myself until I suddenly realized, Luke had set this up from the very start. I was as certain of it as anything I had ever known. It was his way of taking me home without Jenny there.
Why?
Suddenly, my heart raced and my own face grew warm as a new nervous fear began to build inside of me.
A delicious nervousness. The kind that created butterflies and wild imaginative thoughts.
Chapter Thirteen
Luke
My guts were tighter than guitar strings. What is she thinking about? I wondered as I pulled out of the parking lot. Probably, who is this idiot? And how do I get away from him?
Did she have fun tonight? These and a thousand other worries danced around in my brain.
Her words from earlier, ‘I stopped thinking of you as Jenny’s brother,’ flashed into my mind. Sending me off into a dozen other directions.
What did that mean and why had she said it? I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and caught her looking at me strangely.
“What?” I asked, wondering if I had screwed up somewhere.
She slowly shook her head. “Four pieces of pie, what were you thinking?”
I laughed. “Hey, a guy’s got to eat.”
She smiled and the world felt right again. But, as the seconds ticked by, a silence fell over us. I scrambled around in my brain trying to think of something to break the growing awkwardness. Amy glanced at me, repeatedly, as if she were trying to understand something.
I knew the feeling. What was I doing? Why had I finagled this whole night? Tricked Chip into taking Jenny home? All so I could be with Amy. Why? What did I hope to accomplish?
Then, I caught a hint of her perfume and a flash of interest in her eyes and I knew I had no other choice. This thing between us couldn’t be denied. Unfortunately, we were both going to keep pretending there was nothing there.
Maybe, if we addressed it out in the open, the both of us could move past it. Move to a safe space that let us go on with our lives.