Page 78 of Just Friends Forever
“Suit yourself,” I say.
“Great.” She heads for the stairs. “I’ll meet you at your couch in ten. I call right side.”
Who calls sides of a couch? I shake my head with a smile and go change into my sweats.
Ten minutes later, I’ve gotFresh Princequeued up and two bowls of popcorn ready—one with spice, one without—when Stevie comes upstairs.
I chuckle at the sight of her with her hood pulled up, just like I have mine. We are two very self-conscious people right now.
She tugs the strings on hers, making the opening scrunch weirdly around her face. It’s so much cuter than it should be. She trudges to her place on the right side of the couch, and I take a seat in the middle. Left side seems a tad too pointed. We’re best friends, not enemies.
I turn on the show while she tries to get comfy, which is evidently no small task. She curls her legs up under her. She sits normally. She crosses her legs.
“You okay there?” I ask, amused.
She sets a pillow against my arm, leans against it, then stretches her legs along the right end of the couch.
She sits that way for a few seconds, then settles in. “Please tell me this is comfortable for you.”
“Yup,” I say. It’s totally comfortable and not at all making my heart beat fast.
“Thank heaven,” she says. “I think my body is angry about my joy ride in the trunk.” She grabs the bowl of popcorn on the floor and sets it on her lap. I do the same, throwing back popcorn like I didn’t cover it in spice. Focusing on the burning in my mouth helps keep my mind out of the forbidden places it wants to go.
After a few minutes, though, my shoulder is aching. “Hold on a sec.”
She leans forward while I extract my arm and drape it across the back of the couch.Sweet relief.
She rearranges the pillow, pushing it against me, then she sits back right under the crook of my arm. Ten minutes later, she’s done with her popcorn and has nestled in.
Kill me now. This is pure agony and utter divinity. My mind wants to explore all the options available to me in this position. I envision taking my arm from the back of the couch and letting it fall around her. She’d tip her head back and pull me down to kiss her, just like I’ve pretended not to imagine a thousand times.
The front door opening jolts me from my thoughts, and Stevie shoots up, looking at me with wide eyes.
We’re both thinking it—some lunatic has picked the lock and is inside our house.
“Honey, I’m home!”
Stevie’s eyebrows snap together in confusion, shaded by the hood she’s still wearing.
“Austin,” I say, my tone a mixture of relief and unwelcome surprise. My brother is home. The brother Stevie was in love with in high school. The brothereverybody’sin love with now.
“You here, Troy?” Austin calls. My door opens, and he bounds up the stairs two-at-a-time.
“Yeah,” I say as Stevie sits up normally.
Austin appears at the top of the stairs, his gaze landing on us right away. He draws back, his eyes fixed on Stevie, his brow wrinkling as he takes her in. “Stevie?”
She smiles and lifts her shoulders in ayep, it’s me, gesture. “Hey, Austin.”
He grins. “I waswonderingwhy there were paparazzi outside! Man, I haven’t seen you in years!” He strides over, and she gets up to give him a hug while I purposely watch Will try to hypnotize Carlton with a spoon. I see every bit of their hug through the corner of my eye, though.
They pull apart, and Austin looks at me, then to Stevie again. “Did I miss the dress code memo? What’s with the black sweats and hoods?”
“That’s a funny story, actually …” Stevie says with a smile full of clenched teeth. She puts a hand to her hood and pushes it back.
Austin’s brows shoot up. “Oh. Wow. Okay.That’sa new look.” His gaze shifts to me. “And you?”
With a reluctant sigh, I pull down my hood.
