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“I see.” I’m short on words tonight and not eager to get myself in trouble. Because mention of her parents has the hairs going up on the back of my neck. Her father and my unclehateeach other. Pretending like the two of them don’t exist is the way Tobias and I have stayed such good friends all these years.
“They’re happy you’re here by the way. The guys I mean. They were talking about how much they missed you before you got here. I know it’s weird between you all now. I don’t know all the details, but if you were wondering…” She talks a mile a minute, but the sentiment is there, and I feel both grateful and awkward in the wake of it.
“Thanks. It’s a little weird, I guess.” I run my hand over the back of my neck. I wasn’t sure how to have this conversation with her. Really hate to have it with anyone.
“Sorry to be a bitch about the top bunk,” she says when the silence drags on.
“I don’t care about the bunk.” Especially since the bottom bunk means I’m going to get an upfront view of her long legs every time she has to climb it.
“It’s only for a little while. And it probably beats the couch. That thing is lumpy. I mean you’re welcome to it if you want, but I figured this would be more comfortable.”
“I appreciate it.” I drop my bag next to the bed and sit down. The mattress sags a little under my weight. It was definitely designed for someone smaller than my six-foot-four frame but it’ll do for the time being. Whatever I have to do to not be alone at some hotel Tobias paid for works for me.
When I look up, I see her unhooking her bra under her shirt, and I panic. The last thing I need is to see anything else about her I like. She’s Tobias’s sister, and she’s clearly after Xander—those two facts are all I need to remind myself that everything about her is look,don’t touch.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking my bra off?” She looks at me perplexed.
“If you’re going to change in here, I should probably go.”
“I’m doing it under my shirt.” She does some sort of magic trick moving her arms in and out of her sleeves and then pulls the bra out of one of the armholes. The way she’s looking at me, it’s like I must be an idiot for not realizing this is a thing. But then, when women take their bras off in front of me, the tees are usually long gone.
“Sorry. Not used to… that.” I feel like an awkward teenage boy right now. I’m not even sure how we got here in two quick minutes. This girl makes my head spin.
“Have to be able to change at camp or the gym or wherever.” She shrugs but there’s the slightest blush on her cheeks like I’ve made her feel awkward too, and now I feel like an asshole.
“Got it.”
“You can change if you want. I won’t look.”
I try to stop the smile that comes from her genuine attempt to give me privacy. Like I might actually have decency and morals—worry about someone seeing more than they should of me.
“Yeah, when I’m at camp or the gym or whatever, we’re all naked, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Okay well if you’re going to get naked, that might be a problem.”
“Oh yeah?” I shouldn’t tease her, but the scandalized look on her face has me amused. “I think I’m safe given your interest in Xander.”
Her eyes catch on mine and concern worries her face.
“Please don’t say anything to him.”
“Isn’t the point of all that so he’ll know you like him?”
“He already knows. Or knew. It was a long-running joke that I had a crush on him. But I don’t know that he knows I still do, and I don’t want to embarrass myself until I know if he’s even remotely interested. I’ve always been Tobias’s little sister to him, and I hate it.”
“You keep up like tonight, I don’t think I have to say anything for him to figure that one out.” I raise a brow at her.
“So you think he’s just not interested?”
Am I really discussing Xander’s preferences with Tobias’s little sister on my first night here? Is this my life now? Just a short while ago I’d have been neck deep in women of my own and now, I’m a relationship counselor for my wide receiver’s little sister.
“He’s kind of oblivious. But it’s more like… Well, like you said, I doubt you register as anything other than Tobias’s sister. I don’t think it’s that he isn’t interested so much as he doesn’t notice you at all.”
“Wow.”
And I’ve offended her in record time. I’m just tallying up a list of mistakes, and I’m guessing I’m going to end up on the couch soon anyway. She storms up the ladder, her long legs just as gorgeous as I imagined they would be up close, and I hear her bounce on the springs above my head in a huff.
