AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What is wrong with you?” I stomped my foot. “Are we really doing this right now?”
“Doing what?” He turned on the vacuum, and it blared to life. It was as if he was trying to drown me out, and I wasn’t sure why. So, I did what any sane person would do in that moment. I stormed over to the outlet, grabbed the plug, and gave it a good yank. Russ turned around as if he couldn’t understand why it suddenly stopped working. “I’m trying to clean, Willow. Stop being a child.” He grabbed the cord from my hand, and attempted to plug it back in.
“Me? You think I’m the child in this situation?” I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah. My brother shows up, and you get all cozy on the couch with him.” Russ flung his arms in the air.
“I was talking to him because you seemed to want to clean the kitchen. I was trying to not be rude, you know, like you were doing,” I shouted. I couldn’t believe this was happening. We were fighting about something, but I wasn’t sure what.
“Why don’t you go out on the deck? I know that’s where you’d rather be right now.” He pointed to the closed door. I’m sure Casey closed it when he heard the shouting.
I stepped closer to him. “I want to be with you. If I didn’t, I would have left weeks ago when I had the chance.” I stared up him, fire in my eyes. “Why are we fighting about something that never happened?”
Russ deflated right before my eyes. “I don’t know. I just know how you felt about him, and I just can’t…” His voice drifted off.
“Can’t what? Is this about Megan?” I tipped my head to the side and watched fear fill his eyes.
“How did you know about that?” he mumbled.
“Your brother told me. How come you didn’t?” I lowered my voice.
“Because it was nothing.” He turned away, and I thought I saw tears welling in his eyes.
“Seems like it was something to me.” I touched his shoulder, and he pulled away. He took a few steps, angrily rubbed his face, and then sighed.
“We met in college during freshman orientation. She looked a lot like you. I thought it was you when I saw her from a distance.” He leaned against the counter and cleared his throat. “When she walked up to me to ask for directions to the student union, I knew she wasn’t you. We kept bumping into each other that first semester, and I finally worked up the courage to ask her out. I figured if I couldn’t have you, then I’d take the next best thing. We did everything together, and after graduation, I asked her to marry me. I thought things were perfect. Turns out, perfect is in the eye of the beholder. She broke off our engagement at the beginning of the summer, and she’s dating my best friend from college.” He pounded the counter with his fist. “I came out here for the summer to gain some perspective on life,” he offered a half smile, “then I found you.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me about this?” I frowned. I hated her even more now.
“Because I realized over these last few weeks that she wasn’t the one. It’s you. You’ve been the one I wanted all along, and now that I have you, I didn’t want to ruin it.”
“So you clean and blame your brother instead? You’re such a guy,” I grumbled as I smacked his chest.
“I’ll make it up to you later.” He chuckled.
“But…” I wagged my finger at Casey, who was now peering through the glass of the slider at us.
“He showed up uninvited. He can listen and be jealous.” He laughed.
“Is it safe to come in now?” Casey stuck his head through the door.
“No, go away!” Russ growled, and Casey slipped back outside. He then turned his attention back to me. “We’re going to have some fun tonight at his expense. You game?” He grinned.
“Best prank ever!” I clapped my hands giddily. “I’ll go out there and bitch about you, and you get the vacuum going again.” I wagged my finger at the appliance in the corner.
“Deal.” Russ nodded as I stormed over to the slider. As I opened it up, Casey looked over and I turned to shout inside, “I don’t care what you think! There’s nothing going on!” I slammed the door shut and flopped down on a lounger.
“Going on?” Casey looked fearful as he spun to face me.
“He thinks I stuck around to wait for you. He thinks you’re here for me.” I flung my hand in the air and waved it around.
“Corrine really is at a baby shower,” Casey supplied before starting to go inside.
“I believe you,” I added. “He doesn’t.” I rolled my eyes. “Men can be so dense sometimes.”
“Fuck!” Casey hissed under his breath. “I shouldn’t have come.”
“Eh. He’ll get over it.” I leaned back and crossed my legs, attempting to relax. Casey was squirming just like we wanted; now I just had to keep up the ruse.
