“You stay in here. I’ll go talk to Abby and distract her. You can quietly slip out.”
“Wait!” Tyler hisses. “My car is in your driveway.”
I point a finger at him. “Ya know, I didn’t think of that. Okay, new plan. You’re here fixing something.”
Tyler nods his agreement, and I slip from my room. Looking down at myself, I see that I’ve grabbed Tyler’s hoodie, once again. My sweats are on inside out, but Abby won’t think much of that. Abby still stands on the porch, not yet inside, yelling things to Amelia. They’re both laughing, so I take this opportunity to grab Tyler’s ruined shirt and shove it behind a pile of shoes just as Abby steps through the door.
The smile on my face is too bright and my voice too high when I ask, “Did you have fun?”
Abby’s eyebrows narrow, but she nods her head. “I’m exhausted, though. Amelia and I basically stayed up all night. We watched the ball drop then spent hours sending each other TikToks.”
“You hungry? I can make you something?” I say, tugging her toward the kitchen.
“Nah. Amelia’s mom made us pancakes. I wanted to come home early so I could get in my bed for a few hours.”
Abby starts down the hallway, but stops, turns to the front door and back to me.
“Did I see Tyler’s car outside?”
“Mm-hmm…toilet emergency. No clue what in the hell happened, but when I woke up water was pouring from it. It’s a disaster, towels everywhere. But good thing we have Tyler to call, am I right?” The more I talk the more my hands move along with my words.
Abby eyes me suspiciously. “You’re being weird.”
“I’m not being weird. You’re being weird.” Maybe she’s right and I am being weird. I need to tone it down.
Abby shakes her head and turns to her bedroom door. “I’ve gotta get some sleep. Tell Tyler I said hey.” Right before she steps into her room, she gives me a once over. “How many days do you plan on wearing that hoodie?”
Totally ignoring her question, I say, “Nighty-night, sugar booger.” I wiggle my fingers in a small wave.
Abby mouths,weird, and shuts her bedroom door with a click.
When I think enough time has passed for Abby to be lying down, I open my door to find Tyler sitting on the edge of my bed. His hair is adorably sleep rumpled and he’s wearing another one of my silly graphic tees. This one has a raccoon riding a bike and in the front basket sits a possum. The wording readsGet in, Loser. Trouble ain’t gonna make itself.
It was a gift from Penny a couple years ago. She said it reminded her of the two of us.
“Nice shirt,” I say.
“You literally only own shirts with goofy sayings, don’t you? I looked through them all.”
I shrug. “Pretty much. Or my decent ones are in the laundry hamper. Anyway, let’s get you out of here before Abby realizes there was no toilet emergency.”
Grabbing Tyler by the arm, I pull him up, ushering him to my bedroom door. With his hand on the knob, he turns to me. “You could give me my hoodie back so I’ll have something else to wear besides this.” He motions to the T-shirt.
“Let’s trade,” I say, yanking the hoodie up and over my head.Tyler reaches behind his head to pull off the T-shirt but his eyes heat when he sees me standing before him with no bra on.
Leaning down he sucks my right nipple into his mouth, and I let out a small gasp.
“Tyler,” I say with a sigh. “You’ve gotta go.”
He tugs the T-shirt down over my head, then pulls the hoodie over his own head.
We tiptoe to the front door, pausing for Tyler to swipe his ruined shirt from behind the shoes.
“You can text me if you want,” I say, using my flirtiest tone of voice.
“For you, I’ll text.” Curling a hand around the back of my neck, he presses his lips to mine in a quick kiss. “Talk to you soon, love.”
Cassie, Lisa, and Penny all look on in stunned silence.
