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Dean narrowed his eyes and straightened his spine to his full height…which still left him dwarfed by his older brother by several inches. “First of all, she’s my best friend, not my girlfriend. Guys and girls are capable of just being friends, ya know. The three of you are a bunch of assholes for saying otherwise. And second, I’m going out with Jenny Taylor’s younger sister.” He smirked at his older brother. “You remember Jennygs, right? The girl who shot you down?”
Connor rolled his eyes and huffed away, but not before Dean caught the stain of crimson on his cheeks.
His phone chirped to attention and he looked down to see Jillian’s name flash across his screen. How could his brothers possibly think he liked her? It wasJilly. “Hey, Jillybean, what’s up?”
“Hey, Sparky, listen up. They just released the last season of our show to stream. I’ll talk Frieda into making Black Forest cake…”
In spite of all his assertions to Connor, he had a small moment of hesitation before telling Jillian he had plans with another girl…even though he wasn’t entirely certain why. “Sorry, Jilly, I can’t tonight. I have a date.”
He winced as he added the final part, not sure why he felt the need to say it and not sure why it was a big deal.
This is just Jilly. She’s barely even a real girl.It was a mantra he’d repeatedly said to his brothers, but never before really had to tell himself.
She quickly switched gears and everything between them went back into normal territory. “Oh, who is it? I need information here, Sparky. Name, rank, social security number. First date? Second date? And where are you taking her? Your unromantic ass better pick somewhere decent.”
Just like that they slid back into their normal back and forth banter, he threw thinly veiled insults at her mother and she desperately tried to attack his healthier than normal ego.
“Hey, I expect a call to let me know how this goes. I’m placing bets on this being another who can’t manage to deal with you.” Her giggle shone through the cough she tried to cover it with. “I barely make it through some days.”
He huffed, only barely keeping his own laughter in check. “All right, all right. I get it. It’s national give Dean shit day.”
“If I didn’t, you’d think you had some sort of terminal disease that was making me be all nice and sweet to you. Besides, if you play your cards right, I’m sure your hot date tonight would be more than happy to kiss your emotional boo-boos and make them all better.”
After a few more good natured back and forth jabs, he disconnected the call and prepared for his date, ignoring the still uneasy feeling in his gut and the tendrils of Jillian that wrapped around his mind and refused to let go.
He was on the final button of his robin egg blue shirt when he realized that it had been a gift from Jillian and he had a brief erratic thought that maybe his subconscious was trying to tell him something. But he just as quickly dismissed the idea for the pure bullshit it was.
Although maybe it wasn’t total bullshit if he found himself comparing Alana to Jillian. Each time he’d wrangle his disobedient mind into control and focus on his date, but sooner rather than later, he’d find himself thinking about his best friend once more.
Jillian would never talk through a movie.
And she wouldn’t force him to share food over dinner.
And she most definitely wouldn’t hang on his arm and feign fear during a decidedly unscary part of the movie. Hell, it was an action film. Who in their right mind would find that scary?
Nope, Jillian would be punching his arm and telling him he’d be far too big a weenie to tackle the stunts being played out on the big screen. And most likely drop an ice cube down the back of his shirt.
As he dropped Alana off at home and drove home he decided he would definitely need to go back to see it again with Jillian. And possibly scratch movies off the list for dates unless he found a girl as cool as her to go with.
***
Jillian
Eleven Years Earlier
Jillian tossed a piece of popcorn at Dean with a grin. “How was your love connection?”
He shrugged and took a long drink from his water, beads from the glass falling on his shirt. “We’re going out again next week.”
An unexpected blow connected with her abdomen at his words. Dean had dated before, way more than her, but this time it all hit her differently. She worked to keep her tone even, and even happy, while on the phone with him, but she’d been in a foul mood all evening.
Hearing that this was all happening again wasn’t what she’d expected…and for some strange reason it really wasn’t something she was thrilled about. “So you had fun?”
“I don’t know about fun.” He looked over at her with a smirk just as a petty, verbal sparring match broke out on the screen in front of them with three female contestants trading barbs and slurs, all in the name of fake love. “Girls are weird.”
She shoved an elbow into his ribcage. “Hey, rude. I’m a girl, you know.”
He nudged her with his shoulder. “Barely. You’re my Jillybean. You know you’re different.”
