AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You aren’t happy for them?” I asked gently. I was still holding her from behind, and I sipped my drink as we watched everyone start to join in on the dancing. Couples filled the dance floor. As they made their way past the happy couple, they offered their congratulations.
“I’m happy,” she said. “But I wish he had told me.”
“I completely understand,” I told her. Then she downed the rest of her drink and turned, looking up at me. She gestured to the empty glass.
“I need more whiskey,” she whispered. “A lot of whiskey.”
“I think I have a solution to your problem.”
4
Zoey
Engaged.
He was engaged.
My big brother and his beautiful girlfriend were totally, officially engaged. I was happy for them. I was. I was totally. completely happy.
Only, I also kind of wasn’t. I also felt kind of thrown off-guard. Felix and I had always been close. Even after I’d moved away, we’d seen each other a few times a year, and we talked almost every day. So why hadn’t my brother dearest mentioned to me that he was planning to propose?
I mean, at the very least, he could have let me help pick out the ring. It felt like I was being edged out of something that was supposed to be wildly huge and ridiculously wonderful. Irritation washed over me, and suddenly, I didn’t really feel like being at the party anymore. I couldn’t leave, of course. I was staying with Felix and Lauren, and it would be pretty damn weird if I got back to their house before they did. Luckily, David seemed just as annoyed as I was.
He ordered two more drinks. He chose a different type of whiskey this time: Wild Turkey American Honey. His drink was neat: mine was on the rocks. I sipped at it, and a shiver shot through me.
“Like it?”
“It tastes like Mead,” I pointed out.
“Like at the renaissance festival?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. We’d all loved going to renaissance festivals as kids and even as young teens. Every summer, when we’d hang out together, we’d dress up in our best medieval costumes and go play games like “Drench-A-Wench” and eat turkey legs and broccoli cheese soup in bread bowls. We’d watch jousting and go through haunted houses. It was wonderful. The drink brought back a slew of amazing memories, and when I looked up at David, it was hard to see that sweet, carefree little boy in him.
No, the David I’d known years ago was gone. My image of him had shattered when he’d punched my boyfriend square in the face. I’d never thanked him for what he did. I’d never told anyone either. There were so many reasons for it. The biggest one, though? I was scared. I was scared of how he made me feel.
When I watched him punch Eric right in the face, I’d felt wildly justified, and I’d felt horribly turned on. Even when I’d been kissing Eric, my body had just felt good. It had felt pretty nice. When I saw David step up and defend me? I’d gotten downright wet.
That day, everything had changed for me.
After that, I hadn’t been able to think of him in the same way. Oh, I’d eyed him before, of course. When he and my brother would hang out playing basketball in the driveway, it was hard not to notice the way his abs rippled in the sunlight or the way he always seemed to wink when he caught me looking. I’d still always viewed him as off-limits, though, and I’d never thought, not for one second, that he noticed me.
Well, the day in the hallway, he noticed me.
And after he’d punched Eric, he looked up at me, and our eyes locked. David looked different then. He looked like he wanted to fuck me, and the worst part was that I wanted that, too. This little bet he’d offered me? Yeah, it was hands-down a no-brainer. He wanted to give me an orgasm and a date? If that wasn’t an offer to lose on purpose, then I didn’t know what was.
And now we were drinking honey whiskey and talking about my brother’s upcoming wedding like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Hey,” my brother appeared, seemingly out of thin air. He grabbed me and gave me a hug. Then he pulled back and hugged David, too. “You two found each other.”
“Sure did,” I muttered. Then, I remembered to play it cool. “And congratulations, by the way!” I laughed and clapped and gave Lauren a big hug when she showed up.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. She flashed the ring, and David and I both managed to ooh and ah when we saw it.
“I’m so happy you were both here for this,” my brother told me, and I felt just the slightest pang of embarrassment about the fact that I wasn’t truly happy for him.
“Me too,” I said. It was sort-of a lie, but it was fine.
It was a white lie, and that was what little white lies were for. They were to get people to feel better about themselves and about whatever situation you had found yourself trapped in together.
