Diana felt a hand on her back. Not Marissa’s. Not Janelle’s. Ian was standing over her.
“Hi.” He nodded around at her friends. Everyone was gaping at him. “Hey, babe.” Leaning down, he kissed Diana on the lips.
“What the fuck,” someone breathed.
“Guys, this is my boyfriend Ian.” Diana wrapped her arm around his waist. Stunned silence greeted her announcement. Shock showed on every face.
Yes, she was evil, springing the news on her friends like this. And God knows the twins were used to being stared at, but she felt a little bad putting Ian through such intense scrutiny. She had to say, though: she was enjoying this moment.
“Nuh-uh,” Shaun said finally from the stage above them, guitar dangling from his hand. “No, he’s not. It’s a prank. ‘Cause you’re neighbors and all. Good one, Diana. Except not, because it’s completely unbelievable.”
The twins’ friends had had the same reaction. At least their friends had one thing in common.
“No prank here.” Ian flashed a dimpled smile, all charm, and gave Diana’s shoulders a squeeze. “You’re Marissa, right?” Marissa waved, her eyes still wide. “And Janelle.”
“You know my name?” Janelle squeaked. Diana gave her a pinch. “Hey!”
“You’re taking this too far,” Diana whispered. “Don’t feed his ego.”
“I’m taking this too far?” Janelle didn’t bother to lower her voice. “I’m going to die, and it’s all your fault. But first I have to kill you. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Alex. Good to see you again.” Ian nodded to Alex. Alex didn’t look too happy, but he nodded back. Automatically, Diana made the rest of the introductions. It wasn’t easy, with Janelle practically panting on one side of her, Marissa making comments under her breath on the other, and Ian’s hand on her back. When she finished, everyone still looked stunned.
“Excuse me,” Janelle said loudly. “I think I speak for everyone when I ask: how the hell did this happen?”
Diana blinked. There were so many eyes on her.
“It just happened,” she began.
“I still don’t believe it’s real,” Shaun muttered. Marissa gave him a look.
“You know,” Diana went on, ignoring him. “We’re neighbors. When Ian and Brendan came home from college in May, we started hanging out. Things just…” She waved her hand vaguely. “…went from there.”
Alex was peering at her, a little more closely than she would have liked. “I thought you said Ian was like your annoying older brother.”
“Well, he's annoying.” Diana reached for the plastic cup in Ian’s hand and took a drink. She’d expected beer, but she tasted ginger ale. “And he's older.”
Janelle crossed her arms. “So next you’re going to tell us you’re dating Brendan too.”
Diana gulped Ian’s soda. “Ian’s enough for me. More than enough. I have my hands full.”
Good thing it was dark in the club, because her cheeks were hot. A chord rang out from the stage. Shaun’s band was starting. Her friends cheered, and the attention left her and Ian. Diana breathed easier, but when she turned to the right, Marissa was still looking at her.
“What?” Diana asked. Ian’s hand tightened on her waist, and she sucked in her breath.
Marissa leaned in. “Anal lube,” she whispered in Diana’s ear.
Diana spluttered through a mouthful of ginger ale. Ian took the cup out of her hand.
“Get over it,” she whispered back.
“You expect me to get over it when Ian O’Brian’s fucked you up the ass? At least now it all makes sense. If anyone would wanna do that, and could talk a girl into it, it would be him.”
“Shush,” Diana hissed. Thank God Shaun’s band was loud. “He didn’t talk me into it. I asked him to.”
And his twin had a lot to do with it too. She clenched her thighs together, remembering Brendan teasing her, keeping her on the edge, holding her wrists with one hand to keep her from touching herself. You’re worse than Ian, she’d moaned. Maybe, he’d replied.
“Is he good?” Marissa squeezed her arm.
“Yes,” Diana whispered. Ian was eyeing the two of them, an eyebrow raised. “That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
When Marissa let go of her arm, Ian leaned close. His breath tickled her other ear. “So you didn’t tell your friends.”
“I liked the secret,” she confessed. “Shaun was excited to play this show tonight, and back at the beginning of the summer, right before I surprised you at the gym, everyone was saying, ‘Invite your hot neighbors, Diana. We know they’re like your brothers, but we like the view.’ I guess I wanted some drama.”
“You got it.”
“Are you mad?” she asked softly. “Everyone staring at you — I know you’re probably used to it, but still.”
Ian shrugged a bulky arm against hers. He rested his hand on the back of her neck. “I guess I’m used to it. Brendan’s the one who likes the attention. He eats it up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, even though he’d swear up and down that he doesn’t.” When his hand closed over the back of her neck, she sighed and leaned against him. “I’m not mad. Girls before now—” He broke off.
“What?”
“They told their friends. Everything, if you know what I’m saying.”
“What does it feel like to be talked about all the time? I mean, I know what it’s like to be teased.” The words left her mouth now without any pain. The year away had faded. “But what about everyone acting like they know you and want a piece of you?”
“It messes with your head.” Ian ran a hand over his hair, and she stretched up to kiss him. “I really like being with you, babe. Let’s leave it at that.”
*
Her parents rounded out the summer by insisting that Ian come over for dinner. Of course she’d be meeting so many new people at Yale, they pointed out, but she’d spent a lot of time with Ian this summer, and it was only polite to have him over. Dinner together would give them all the opportunity for a nice chat.
Everything about this idea made Diana nervous. But over the past few weeks, she’d been pleasantly surprised: after the fireworks on the Fourth of July, her parents had been almost laid-back. At least, for her parents.
They did want to know when she was out with Ian, and her mother kept dropping unsubtle hints about Brendan’s manly charms. But when they saw she was staying on track — with her job at the lab, with submitting her poetry for publication in online magazines — they didn’t clamp down.
She still slept in her backyard most nights, and Ian still climbed the fence, or took her out in the Jeep. He’d snuck her into the treehouse again; his room, too, and his bed felt like a luxury.
As she crossed off each day on the calendar, college seemed more real. More exciting. She’d looked up the bus schedules between Yale and UConn. Staying with Ian in the twins’ apartment for an entire weekend would be pretty good compensation for spending the week apart.
But dinner with her parents and Ian involved a new level of pressure. She came straight home from the lab to prepare, because she’d had the brilliant idea to make the dinner herself, and when her parents got home from work and saw every pot and pan in use, they did flip out.
Ian showed up in a shirt and tie obviously borrowed from Brendan, which would have made her fall over laughing if he weren’t so damn quiet and collected and eerily polite. A pitcher of iced tea stood on the counter, and she wanted to swipe it with her elbow just to have something go wrong.
The first fifteen minutes were exquisitely awkward. Ian didn’t even blink when she nudged his foot under the table, and everyone was grasping for conversation.
Diana had informed her parents beforehand that they weren’t allowed to tell embarrassing stories about Ian as a kid or discuss her glowing future and accomplishments. This left her mom and dad at a loss, until they figured out that they could tell embarrassing stories about Diana as a kid and discuss Ian’s future and accomplishments
.
Somehow, they made it through the evening. Her parents didn’t exactly embrace Ian with open arms, but at least everyone was smiling by the time they said goodbye, and her mom only mentioned Brendan a few times.
Late that night, as she lay in Ian’s arms in the backyard and they traded soft conversation, the calendar kept rolling through her mind. Three days. Three days until she left for Yale, where everything would change again.
Chapter Fourteen
Diana sagged into her dorm room desk chair. It was Saturday afternoon. She’d arrived at Yale yesterday morning, ready for a full day of orientation. After she’d settled in and waved goodbye to her mom and dad, she’d thrown herself into meeting people. She’d gone to every activity, stayed out late Friday night, and chugged coffee this morning so she’d be ready for more.
And it was great. It was fantastic. It was everything she’d hoped for, and she just really needed a nap now.
The bed across from hers was empty. No sheets, no pillows, no blankets. Whoever her roommate was, she hadn’t shown up. Privately, Diana was keeping her fingers crossed that she’d have the place to herself.
Not that she was alone right now. Two guys were making themselves comfortable in her new room, their height causing the space to seem smaller.
When she’d told Ian that freshmen were supposed to stay on campus through Labor Day, for the first week and a half of the semester, he’d insisted on driving down to see her this weekend. And Brendan had come along for the ride. Apparently he had a friend here, a girl he’d met at some leadership camp in high school, who of course had kept in touch and would be thrilled to meet up later tonight.
But until then — for the first time since she and Ian had gotten together — the three of them were hanging out the way she’d hoped for. Relaxed. Uncomplicated. Friends.
It had taken close to three months, but it was happening. And she hadn’t even tried to bring it about. She and Brendan had never discussed what went down on the Fourth of July, and she didn’t know if the twins had either. But maybe they didn’t need to. It was in the past.
Ian was stretched out on her bed. Brendan lounged against the wall, eating french fries from a bag. Both of them looked way more at home than she felt. She’d been too buzzed last night to sleep much, and her dorm room bed was an adjustment after spending the nights outside all summer.
She leaned back in the wooden desk chair, fidgeting with her short-sleeved blouse and embroidered skirt. The blouse buttoned up the back, a little tighter than she wanted right now, and the delicate white fabric stuck to her skin, but she wasn’t going to order Brendan out of the room so she could change into a T-shirt. She wanted to make the most of this time, not remind the twins of any awkwardness.
“Aren’t you guys training or something?” She pointed to the bags of fast food the twins had brought. “Does this fit your diet?”
“We’ve got a couple months ’til the season starts,” Brendan said easily. “You’re coming to our games, right?”
“All the ones I can make it to. Ian’s going to explain everything to me.”
“Yep. There’ll be a quiz. Oral only.”
“Ian,” she groaned after a minute. Brendan grinned at her and popped another french fry in his mouth.
Ian gave her a withering look. “It took you forever to get that. Wake up. It’s too quiet in here.” He rolled off the bed, put a record on her record player, cranked up the volume, and pulled her door wide open.
“Ugh, no.” Diana covered her ears as cymbals crashed. Ian knew all her records now, and he’d picked the most raucous one. “I don’t want to be that room.”
“Sure you do. Everyone will come see where the party is.”
“It’s not here.”
Brendan leaned over and turned the music down. Not that she needed to blare her records to get attention. Everyone, female and male, had stared as she walked through the dorm between the twins. Right now, Kate and Eleanor, the girls across the hall, were lingering in their doorway.
“Hey, Diana!” Kate called. “You made it home okay last night? This girl can dance,” she added to the twins.
“What, without me?” Ian looked injured.
Grudgingly, Diana introduced Ian and Brendan. Her hallmates were nice, but she was completely peopled out right now, and Kate and Eleanor looked like they were settling in for a long conversation about their histories, hobbies, and life goals while Brendan encouraged them.
Diana glanced at Ian for help. He gave his brother a tap on the shoulder.
“We need to clean Diana’s room now. It’s a health hazard. Come visit later, ‘kay?” He gave the girls a winning smile and closed the door.
“Health hazard?” Diana repeated.
He grinned. “There are some words that just make people want to go away.”
Brendan shook his head and came over to her chair. “Di, you need to be out there meeting people.”
“I have been.” She smacked Brendan’s hard stomach. He didn’t blink. It felt so satisfying that she kept doing it. “I’ve been meeting everyone who’s here to meet. You can take all the credit if you want it.”
Brendan smiled tolerantly as she kept batting his abs. “Ouch,” he said mildly. “Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.”
“Liar. That doesn’t hurt.”
Ian was flipping through her records, examining them and putting them back. “It’s okay, Diana. You can’t be good at everything.”
“How hard would I have to hit you for it to actually hurt?” she demanded.
Brendan shrugged. “You can’t.”
She made a face. “I thought you said I could do anything I wanted once I graduated. Remember?”
Across the room, Ian snorted.
“You’re going to mess up my records,” she called.
“You can do a lot, Di,” Brendan said encouragingly. “You can do all kinds of things.”
“Do you believe in me?” she teased.
“‘Course I do. But you can’t hit me hard enough for it to hurt.”
“Really?”
“Maybe she can.” Ian stopped rifling through the records and folded his arms. “She’s been going to the gym all summer.”
“Try.” Brendan pulled up his shirt with a grin.
Diana blinked at his defined abs, the soft trail of hair pointing down to his fly, the belly button that went in where Ian’s went out.
God, the two crazy weeks of the threesome had been all tangles and tumbles and excitement and rolling around, mostly in the dark or by candlelight. Now that she knew Ian’s body so well, she saw at a glance all the faint distinctions in Brendan’s bare torso. Her stomach flip-flopped.
“Just you wait.” She drew back her arm and landed her best punch. Her fist bounced off Brendan’s abs.
“Ouch,” he said unconvincingly, while she was moaning “ow” with a lot more feeling and shaking her hand. Ian doubled over with laughter.
“Poor baby.” Ian loped over and rubbed her hand. “You better get your ass back to the gym. I expect you to keep it up when school starts.”
“Really, Di, you did great.” Brendan was trying not to laugh.
“Oh, shut up. Could Ian hit you hard enough for it to hurt?”
“Don’t make me do it,” Ian drawled. “Brendan would be on the floor, bawling like a baby.”
Brendan raised his eyebrows. “You want to see us fight?”
“Not fight,” she said quickly. “Just, uh, roll around. With your shirts off.”
Ian tugged her hair. “Only if you have your shirt off too.”
“I’m eating,” she protested. Ian was just kidding around, so why was she blushing? She rustled through the paper bags on her desk. “You guys brought way too much food.”
“Give Brendan the rest.” Ian tossed his brother a bag. Brendan caught it. “He needs the energy for later. If you know what I mean.”
“Oh, right. He has to go see his leadership friend. What happened to Katherine from your internship?” she asked Brend
an.
He laughed. “That was a summer thing. We’re just good friends now.”
“Like you are with this girl?”
“I have a lot of friends. She’s a nice girl. You’d like her, Di.”
“I’m sure.” She busied herself poking around in a bag for more french fries.
“No, I mean, you’d really like her. And she’d love you. You’re right up her alley.”
“Brendan!” She crumpled the bag and threw it at him.
He grinned. “Wanna meet her?”
“It’s okay. I don’t need to meet your fuck buddy.” It was easier to say things like that now, but she still felt a few degrees hotter. Ian snickered.
“Di.” Brendan sounded shocked. “She’s just a friend. She can be your friend too. You want to make friends, right?”
“Ian, Brendan’s booooothering me.”
Countless times, she’d said the opposite when they were kids, until she’d learned it was better to fight Ian back. Brendan’s broad grin made it clear he remembered.
Ian rolled his eyes. “Back off,” he told his brother.
He crossed the dorm room — it only took him a couple of long strides — and began poking through her dresser drawers, messing up the careful rolling and arranging she’d done.
“Jeez, Ian,” she groaned. “Are you marking your territory on all my stuff?”
“I’m just making sure you put everything away nice and neat. You better hide these.” He rooted around in her underwear drawer and brandished two toys — a purple dildo in one hand, a pink butt plug in the other. “Otherwise you’ll come in and find your roommate using them.”
“Put those down before you hurt yourself,” she ordered, flushing and glancing at Brendan. He gave her a wink. Thank God the door was closed. “I’m still hoping for no roommate.”
“Di, everything’s going to be fine.” Brendan’s voice was so reassuring that in an instant, she just wanted to go back to being a kid again. Back to when he’d taught her how to dribble a basketball and kept telling her she was doing a great job, she was a natural, keep going, don’t quit, while Ian ran circles around them and she tried to copy his lay-ups. “You’re doing everything right. Next time we see you, you’ll be friends with everybody on campus.”
The Girl in Between Page 20