Page 26 of Late Nights

Demi pulled down the hem of her shirt where it had ridden up. “We were just playing Mario Kart.” Her wide eyes had me thinking she was worried about West finding us in a compromising situation.

“And she cheated and wouldn’t confess,” I said, pointing to her.

“You’re the one who dropped your controller,” she argued.

“Because you jumped on me.”

“You jumped on him?” West asked her like he couldn’t believe she’d done that.

“It was the only way I could win,” she said with no remorse.

West pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me get this straight.” He dropped his hand, taking a breath to calm himself. “You jumped on Cannon to win a video game race,” he said to Demi before looking at me, “and you were tickling Demi to get her to confess that she cheated?”

“Yes,” she and I said at the same time.

His worry seemed to ease at our explanation. He might have been annoyed with us for waking him up, but his concern fled at our innocence. “You should know better than to think a Vanderhall won’t do what’s necessary to win,” he said to me with a smirk.

Demi chuckled, and I rolled my eyes.

“Now please be quiet and go to bed so the rest of us can sleep,” he said, turning to leave.

“Good night, Dad,” I called out after him.

He gave me a withering glance, which only made me laugh as he shuffled out of the apartment in his slippers.

Once he was gone, I sat back down on the couch. “We should probably go to bed.”

She grabbed one of the couch pillows and hugged it to her chest. “Yeah.”

Neither of us made a move to get up. We sat on the same couch, her on one end with her back resting on the arm rest, her feet out in front of her. I moved to mimic her pose on the other side of the couch, facing her as I placed my legs next to hers.

“How was work tonight?” I asked, happy she wanted to stay out here too.

“It was good. Nothing too eventful. But I guess you already know that since you were there,” she replied. “You seemed to have a good night.”

I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”

She looked down, tracing the geometric pattern on the pillow. “You seemed like you were enjoying talking to that blonde who sat with you most of the night.”

Oh, yeah. I’d totally forgotten about her. As bad as it sounded, she’d just been a way to pass the time so I didn’t look like a creeper watching Demi all night.

“Uh, yeah, she was nice.”

“Like, nice enough that you’re going to see her again?” she asked, barely looking up at me.

Was she jealous? Did I want her to be jealous?

Unfortunately, yes. Even if I couldn’t do anything about my feelings for her, I couldn’t deny that I liked the thought of her liking me too. I mean, I knew she was attracted to me, but I wanted more than that. I wanted her to like me. The guy no one really knew. The guy who was too scared to tell her the truth, to tell her about where I come from, that if it wasn’t for my grandfather and her dad, I didn’t know where I would be right now. That sometimes I felt like a total fraud living this life.

“No, I don’t have any interest in seeing her again,” I told her. “What about you? Any guys who caught your eye?”

Her cheeks tinged pink as she took a quick glance at me before returning her gaze to the pillow. “No. And I’m not interested in dating right now. With school starting on Monday and my job at the bar, I don’t have time for a guy.”

“What about Aiden?” The question was out of my mouth before I could think about whether it was an appropriate thing for me to ask.

That had her head snapping up to look at me. “What about Aiden? I told you we broke up.”

And I’d learned over the years that them breaking up didn’t mean anything. They’d broken up and gotten back together six times in the last two years.

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