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“Oh no,” I groan, trying to get up and fix it.
“Leave it,” Nate says, pulling me up with him. “Your parents will be gone tomorrow and your mom has put a lot of work into decorating your room. You don’t want to hurt her feelings by changing it. Just tell her it’s perfect and then you can fix it all tomorrow.”
“What would I do without you?” I smile.
“I seriously don’t know,” he laughs, indicating to Jesse to toss him another taco. “I don’t understand how you’ve managed to survive eighteen years on your own.”
“Shut up,” I laugh, rolling my eyes and snatching his taco out of the air before quickly unwrapping it and taking a massive bite out of the very bottom.
By seven o’clock at night, the house is just about done. All the rooms have been completed, beds have been put together, couches have been arranged and then rearranged. Hell, even the DVD collection has been sorted into our most treasured favorites.
I throw my arms around my parents, hugging them both at the same time. “I’ll come by in the morning before you go,” I tell them, hating that this is going to be one of the last times I’ll see them before they disappear to London for who the hell knows how long.
“Ok,” mom says, squeezing me back. “Will you be alright here? Did the man come to give you new locks? And don’t forget to lock the windows as well. You’re not protected by a big gate and security system like you are at home. You have to be proactive about your safety here.”
“I know,” I tell her, squeezing her again to help soothe her worries. “Brooke and I will be fine and if there’s a situation, the boys aren’t far away.”
Mom looks back over her shoulder and takes in the group of boys taking over our living room and cracking open a few beers. “No, they never seem to be far away, do they?”
“No,” I agree. “Never, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I know,” she laughs before dad gives me a few last instructions on caring for a home.
I send my parents on their way with a promise to text mom before I go to bed, letting her know that I’m safe.
I drop down onto the large couch, pleased that we made the decision to buy such a big one. Nate pulls me into him, and I can’t help but look around at all the bodies filing my new living room. This is for sure going to be the new ‘it’ place and I have no doubt that Nate is practically going to move in. He’s already so comfortable here.
Pizzas get ordered and beers are drunk and replaced, feet are propped up on every available surface, and everybody is having a great time while music plays softly in the background.
My body aches and I want nothing more than to have a huge sleep in tomorrow morning, but with my parents flying out, that’s not going to happen.
A knock sounds at the door and Jesse drags himself up off the couch. He walks the few steps towards the door with a little more bounce in his step than acceptable after such a huge day. He rips the door open in excitement, always ready and prepared for pizza, only his whole body slouches in disappointment when he sees who’s standing on the other side.
“Who the fuck are you?” he grunts, making the living room full of bodies turn to face the door to see what’s going on.
The guy hasn’t said a word when Brooke shoots to her feet. “Lukas,” she gasps in excitement. She hurries to the door, barges past Jesse and throws her arms around him before they start making out in the doorway.
Brooke eventually drags him in and introduces him to the room. Their date had gone amazingly on Tuesday night and she hasn’t been able to shut up about it. If I didn’t love her so much, I’d probably punch her the next time I heard about the guy.
Lukas goes around and formally introduces himself to the group while Brooke hurries into the kitchen to find him a beer. I watch in amusement as he gets to Maxen, offering him his hand.
Maxen shoots to his feet, takes the guys hand and gives it a swift shake before letting go as quickly as possible. “I, uh… I’m going get out of here,” Maxen announces to the room with a slight cringe mixed with an awkward grunt.
“K,” Nate says, giving him a slight nod of his head, hardly bothering to look up at the guy. “See you later, man.”
And just like that, Maxen is out the door.
Lukas drops down into the vacated seat Brooke had climbed out of earlier and gets himself comfortable while making small talk with my boys. Not two seconds later, Brooke returns from the kitchen with an open beer and hands it to Lukas before dropping down into his lap.
