I press my lips together and stare down at my plate while he gets up. I brush away that deflated feeling that pings through my chest.
He’s cynical and he thinks fairy tales are make-believe stories for children?
Enter Ellie.
We may not end up together, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help him lighten up a tad in the meantime. He said it’ll be easier to live together if we’re friends, and I intend to become his actual friend...not just his best friend’s little sister.
He returns with his plate of food that’s mounded with more calories than I eat in a day and sits. “So, friend, which football team do you scream for on Sundays?”
I raise a brow. “The Aces?”
He chuckles and shovels in some eggs. “Right answer, but I doubt the sincerity when it sounds like a question.”
“I’m not actually a football fan,” I admit.
He looks at me in horror, like he didn’t know such a creature actually existed.
What can I say? I’m a freaking unicorn.
I glance around to make sure everyone else is out of hearing distance. “Probably also the reason why I didn’t know who you were the night we met.”
“Ah, yes, it all makes sense now. Everyone knows Luke motherfuckin’ Dalton.”
I laugh. “What position do you play?”
“Wide receiver.”
“So the same as Josh?” I ask.
He nods and raises a brow. “Impressive that you know that. Do you even watch the games?”
“I do,” I say. “But, like, I have them on. I wouldn’t say I pay attention to them. I guess I’ve just been around it my whole life. Josh has played since peewee league and my parents dragged me along to every game. I think I rebelled a little and decided from a young age that I just didn’t care. Then he had to go pro and put my knowledge of the game to embarrassing shame.”
“I’ll teach you,” he says.
“I don’t want to learn,” I fire back.
He laughs. “You’re so...feisty. It’s charming, hilarious, and hot all at the same time.”
“Getting a little close to the line there, friend,” I warn.
“Touché. My apologies. But I will impart some knowledge on you whether you like it or not.”
“Fine,” I challenge. “Then I’ll teach you not to be such a cynical non-believer of fairy tales.”
“So what do you do while the game’s on, then?” he asks.
I laugh. “Usually I work. Now that I don’t have a job, I’ll probably read.”
“Let me guess...something where they all live happily ever after?”
“Naturally,” I say lightly. He’s teasing me, but I refuse to be embarrassed for liking what I like.
My dad clinks a glass with a spoon to get everyone’s attention. “Thank you all for being here this morning,” he begins. “Josh and Nicole are ready to open their gifts. If you could all take your places, we can get started.”
I glance at my plate. I’ve barely eaten anything, favoring instead the conversation with the hot guy sitting next to me. But maid of honor duties call.
Luke’s shoveling in the sausage left on his plate, so I shovel in some eggs before I head over to Nicki. She hands me a pad of paper and a few pens. “Write what the gift is on the back of the card. The paper’s for notes if you need to make any or if we can’t find a card. And thank you.”
“Of course. Happy to help.” I repeat the words Luke texted to me last night after I thanked him for saving me in the pool. I sit back in the chair by my food, lonely now beside Luke’s half-empty plate. He’s talking to my mom in a corner of the room.
He comes back and sits to eat some more.
“What’s your job here?” I ask.
“Help move the heavy stuff.”
We watch as the happy couple tears the paper off wineglasses and kitchen utensils and picture frames. It’s all the standard, cliché stuff they registered for even though they already have everything they could ever need due to my brother’s healthy paychecks. But, according to Nicki’s mom, everyone likes to bring a present to a wedding, so they still registered.
Once it’s all over and my hand is stiff from writing every gift on the back of every card, it’s time to check out of this hotel and the room where I was banged up against a window by Hot Luke.
And that means it’s time to move in with my new roommate.
CHAPTER 15
The presents are split between five different cars, and we’re all heading back toward Josh and Nicki’s house to help unload before I move into Luke’s place.
I still can’t believe I’m doing this.
My heart thumps harder and faster with each present we unload. I’m getting nervous about actually moving in with him. Before, it was just this abstract idea set sometime in the future.
It’s real now. And it’s happening.
It’s a temporary solution, but it’s not like I’ll move out in a few days. I don’t even have a job yet. I haven’t even looked for a job yet.
And it’s not just all that making me nervous.
I recall him saying something about someone named Pepper. I’m still wondering who the hell that might be and whether the hell I’ll get to meet her today.
Once everything is unloaded and we’re standing in the driveway after saying goodbye to all the parents, who headed back to the hotel for a day of relaxing by the pool, Josh grins at me. “You ready to see your new place?”
I raise a brow, and Luke walks literally across the street and holds his arms out wide in a driveway that leads up to another stately mansion.
First things first. What the hell does a single guy need a house like that for? It’s as big as my brother’s.
And second, well, when Josh first told me his friend lived across the street from him, I sort of assumed he meant across a major cross street...not literally ten steps away. Not where he could look out his window and have a peek into Luke’s place if the blinds are open.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding about across the street,” I say.
“Close enough to hear the construction on our renovations that’ll surely start at the crack of dawn, but far enough that you won’t be able to hear Nicki and me banging it out before we head to Fiji.” Josh shoots me a smirk.
“Gross, Josh,” I say, wrinkling my nose.
He grins and holds up his hands innocently. “Let’s get you moved in.”
It doesn’t take much—just rolling my two suitcases across the street, really, which I could do by myself, but Josh and Luke each take one.
Luke opens the heavy wooden front door, and I hesitate on the front porch.
“You need anything else?” Josh asks beside me. Clearly he’s anxious to get back to his new wife, who’s probably already naked on their kitchen counter or something even more disgusting I don’t want to think about.
I shake my head.
“All right, then. You two have fun, and if you need anything, I’ll be busy across the street so find someone else to bother.” He laughs and Luke flips him the bird just before he turns to walk away. He flips it back. “I love both of you,” he says as he runs back across the street to his house.