Page 52 of Spin The Bottle
18
Eat you alive
The FaceTime call comes just as I’m settling in to watch a movie, needing a break from studying. I pick up the call, smiling when I see him grin. “Hey.” Lucas smiles, holding the phone up to his face. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” I tell him. “Just studying.” I give him an eye roll which he snickers at.
“Can’t be that bad.”
I shrug. “It’s alright. Just boring as hell.”
“Really?” he asks. “Damn, aren’t you glad I called then?”
I laugh. “So glad. Have you heard from James yet?”
His face drops a little and I instantly want to retract my question. “Yeah, he’s good I think.” I watch as he rubs a hand down his face. “Just waiting for the results now.”
“I’m so sorry,” I tell him. “James is such a good guy. I hate that he’s going through all this again.”
“Yeah.” He lets out a breath. “I thought he was doing better.” He shrugs.
“And Adriana?” I ask him, knowing the topic of his friend is hard. “How is she doing?”
His face lights up, a smile painted on his lips. “She’s so much better,” he says. “She won’t stop talking my ear off about you. Honestly, Leila, I can’t thank you enough.”
“It was nothing. I love that girl.”
“And she is so completely in love with you. I swear she sees you as some sort of celebrity. She tells me all the time how she wishes you were her sister instead of me.” He lets out a laugh. “I try not to take it personally but…”
“She loves you,” I’m quick to say. “She wouldn’t confide in you if she didn’t. You’re a good big brother, Lucas.”
He smiles. “I try. I just don’t have much experience in these kinds of things. And speaking of,” he says, grinning at me. “I heard about the photo shoot. I’m so proud of you, Leila.”
I roll my eyes, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks. “It’s nothing.”
He lifts his brows. “It’s everything. Are you kidding me? Sixteen-year-old Leila wouldn’t be caught dead doing a swimwear shoot. You’re going to be an inspiration to girls like Adriana everywhere.”
Those words lift a huge weight off my shoulders. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, isn’t it? I wanted what I never had when I was younger. I wanted to see girls in the magazines and think, ‘that’s what I look like.’ And now I get to be that to someone.
“Thank you.” I close my eyes, tipping my head back. “It’s a little nerve-wracking.”
He shakes his head. “You’ll be great. I know it.”
My head snaps to the side when I see Madi enter my apartment, waving the key in the air. I gave each of the girls a key to my place mostly for safety purposes but also because… I love their company.
“Hey,” I smile at her.
“You have someone over?” Lucas asks.
“It’s just my friend,” I tell him.
He hums. “Is she hot?”
I snicker, watching as Madi’s eyebrows raise as she takes off her shoes, leaving them by the door. “Very. She’d eat you alive though,” I tell him. Madi smiles beside me.
“I doubt that,” Lucas says.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You don’t need help getting women.”
