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“Let’s parrrrrty” she says, dragging out the r.
Aubrey suddenly looks sheepish, and I narrow my eyes at her.
“Gorgeous, what did you do?”
Aubrey steps as close to me as she can before answering.
“I may have told the girls we could all go back to the barn after the game,” she says, while snaking her hands around my shoulders.
“I’m never going to be able to tell you no, am I?” I say, and run my thumb across her bottom lip while she gives me a bright smile and shakes her head.
I cover her mouth with mine again.
“Are you guys going to make-out all the time now?” Madison asks.
“Yes,” I say, quickly before kissing Aubrey one more time gently as she giggles.
“You’re not mad that I invited them are you?” she whispers.
I look her directly in the eyes and my heart squeezes seeing the panic in them. I sometimes forget the life she’s lived. The fear she’s endured for so many years. I take her chin in my fingers to make sure she’s looking at me.
“Absolutely not. Aubrey, the barn is your home now. You can invite anyone you want, whenever you want.”
Would I have loved to be alone with her? Of course. But I could never deny her anything she wanted. Ever. So me and the guys go to the locker room and change out of our gear and shower while the girls head to the barn ahead of us. Jesse, Ender and I all have to pile into Jesse’s clown car since the girls have mine.
“Dammit,” I shout when I bang my knee trying to squeeze in.
“Hey, don’t hurt Popeye!” Jesse shrieks.
“You named your car Popeye?” I deadpan.
“Don’t–” Ender tries to say before Jesse interrupts him.
“Yeah. Because, like Popeye, he looks little but packs a punch!”
I just stare at Jesse as if he’s recently grown a second head. He stares back at me, smiling like everything is perfectly normal.
“Did you know–” Jesse starts.
He then proceeds to tell me the agonizingly boring history of the Popeye cartoon the entire drive back to the barn.
“Make it stop,” I grumble-yell when I scramble out of the clown car once we get back to the barn.
“Oh, you made fun of Popeye, didn’t you?” Madison says as she tries to contain her laughter.
I give her a dirty look, which only makes all the girls laugh harder.
The night proceeds like any other Saturday night. We all sit around the television that’s playing reruns of some sitcom. Taylor has claimed the oversized chair for herself as usual, not even letting Jesse sit with her even though she’s so small in the big chair you could fit two Jesse’s on it with her. Madison and Ender are curled up together on the love seat. Even though they’ve officially been together now for months, they still can’t keep their hands off each other. Jesse is sitting on one side of me on the big couch, playing video games, and Aubrey’s on the other side. Her backs against the arm of the couch so she can face the rest of the group. Her legs are laying across my lap. She’s still wearing my jersey, but now with a pair of sweatpants.
If I had it my way, none of our friends would be here right now. If I had it my way, I would have ripped every piece of clothing off Aubrey hours ago and left her in just my jersey. Then I would have kissed her from her toes all the way up each leg until I got to her hot, wet—.
Aubrey jerks her leg and it pulls me from my daydreaming.
Oops.
I had been absently running my palm on the soft fabric of her pants and when my mind ran away from me I guess I let my hand drift further up her thigh than I had intended. Aubrey’s eyes are wide but I can see a hint of a smirk on her lips. I lean forward and whisper in her ear.
“Sorry, gorgeous. I was daydreaming and my hand took on a life of its own.”
