Oh this kid…
I love her, truly. I’ve known Brooke since she was about to turn one, now she’s turning six this year and let me tell you, there has not been a single day in my life that she doesn’t remind me to be nice. Granted, onlyifshe’s around me. But even if she’s not, recently, she tends to call me a lot using Miles’s phone and guess why, to tell me to smile a little more on TV next time.
I don’t do smiles, especially not in public. That’s gross.
But for her I gladly let a smile slip. Not right now though.
“Where did your smugness go anyway?” I ask Luan, only to earn myself a slap from a certain five-year-old.Rude.
“Uncle Grey, if you don’t be nice to Luan, I go tell Daddy.”
Because he’d do anything about it. Miles is more likely to throw a party because I scared off some guy rather than tell me to be nice. Somehow, he’s a little scared I’d replace him with another best friend. That won’t happen, ever. Not only because we’ve gotten a fucking best friend tattoo together, but because Miles is just… Miles. I love that guy, even if I’d never say that to him without it being a hundred percent necessary. Or when I’m drunk. I get affectionate when I drink, especially with him.
I’m notin lovewith Miles. He’s just my best friend, and I happen to think having a best friend is a whole lot like being in a relationship.
Best friends offer to fake date you in any situationfor fun. They stick up for you like nobody else ever would. They call you out on stupid shit then dive right into that mess with you. They do all the things you’d do with someone if you were dating them, minus the whole sex thing, I guess. They’re the ones youalwayschoose over a partner unless there’s a great reason why that’s not what you should be doing.
Best friends are for-lifers.
“Do you want the skates or not?” He’s definitely not going to be able to skate in the ones he has.
Luan smirks at me, his eyes follow down my figure before they travel back up to meet mine. “I think you only want me wearing something of yours.”
Of course. I forgot how cocky he is. “Unless you threw away the clothes you stole from me last year, I’m sure you wear something of mine all the time.” He probably doesn’t, but if he gets to be smug, so do I.
Luan shrugs. “Picture me in them a lot, huh? I do look very good in your clothes, just saying. Though, I think yellow suits me a whole lot better than black.”
Frankly, I think so too. I don’t understand howanyonewould want to wear a bright as fuck color like yellow, and depending on the shade of yellow, it’s even pretty damn ugly too, but it suits Luan. Even right now, that stupid bright yellow jacket he decided to wear looks good on him, despite it burning through my eyes down to my soul.
Why’s he even wearing a jacket in the first place? Yes, ice rinks are cold but it’s not like he’s going to fucking die in there. Or maybe he will, he really doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who appreciates the cold.
I love the heat, I grew up with it, but the cold is a million times better. You can’t do anything about burning up, except for AC’s maybe, or moving into a pool. But with the cold, you can put on layers of clothing until you’re no longer freezing. It’s a whole lot cozier on the dark side of things.
“Are you done being smug?”
“Nope.”
“Great,” I breathe out, feeling a little sorry for myself there, as I walk away from him to get the skates from my bag.
While I get the skates, I hear Brooke speak to Luan, but I can’t make out her words. I’m just hoping she isn’t talking about me, and knowing that little girl, she most definitely isn’t. All she really talks about is princesses, Eden, her father, and Emory. Sometimes she throws school and Reece into the mix. Reece is Colin’s younger brother who’s around the same age as Brooke. They’re basically best friends, though I know Miles is already suspicious of that guy. According to both Miles and Colin, Reece has a little crush on Brooke, but Brooke has no idea.
Kids seemingly in love is the cutest thing ever. Some of those little fellas are way more attentive to their crush than some my age are to their actual partner. And at twenty-two, one should know better than to treat their partner like a piece of garbage.
If little five-year-old Reece can pick up a fucking daisy and gift it to Brooke for no reason at all, a twenty-something-year-old should be able to even justlistento their partner, communicate, and have more braincells to know that cheating is stupid and you will get caught.
Luan shakes his head, grinning. “Your enthusiasm for me is blowing me away, Grey Davis. Careful, or I might think you actually like me.”
I let out a gruff in response, then without saying a word, help Luan out of his skates and exchange them with mine.
“You know, the last time someone went down on their knees for me to help me out with myfootwear,I must’ve been eight years old because I still somehow put the left shoe on the right foot and the right shoe on the left,” Luan tells me, chuckling a little at the memory.
“Daddy always do this for me too!” Brooke shrieks, and I just know she’s currently grinning up at him so widely, it’s sickening. But her grins are the only ones I can stand all day, every day, so that’s alright.
“Oh, he does?”
“Yup.” Brooke pops thepin the end. “Then he call me a duckling, but in our language so Memory don’t understand, and she can’t be mad then.”
Luan gasps dramatically loud just as I start tying the first skate. “Really? So did you tell… Emory?”
