“We have time,” she panted when she dragged her mouth from mine.
“I’m not fucking you against the door our first time.”
“Good, because I don’t really want to hear that.”
The sound of my sister’s voice caused us both to freeze.
Emmerson dropped her head to my chest and laughed.
“I don’t find this funny. We’ve just been cockblocked by your folks and now my sister,” I said as I stepped back and let her slide down my body.
Emmerson leaned up onto her toes and kissed me. She pulled back and gave me a brilliant smile. “I don’t want our first time to be rushed either.”
“Ugh, for fuck’s sake, let me in and stop with this already,” Hailey shouted.
Spinning around, Emmerson opened the door and Hailey pushed her way in. Mike followed with a smile on his face that said he’d overheard us as well. He stopped in front of me and said, “About damn time.”
“Do you know our mother and father have been calling me since six this morning? Mom couldn’t sleep last night. She said she had this weird feeling something happened to you.” It was at that moment my sister paused and then tilted her head. “Holy shit, did you get into a fight last night? Your nose is all swollen and you have a bruise under your eye.”
I reached up and touched under both eyes, flinching when my fingers skimmed the left one.
“Emmerson gets a little mean in bed,” I deadpanned. Mike lost it laughing, and Hailey’s mouth dropped open in shock.
After a punch on the side of my arm, Emmerson walked over to her suitcase and started to grab some items of clothing.
“I don’t know if I want to be overjoyed or grossed out knowing the two of you are, you know…making out and shit,” Hailey said with an utterly confused expression on her face. “I mean, I’m happy you finally both admitted your feelings for each other and all. So, wait, how did you really get hurt? I just heard you say you haven’t had sex yet.”
“We haven’t gone that far…yet. As far as Landon’s nose and eye, well, let’s just say I stood up at the same time he was bending down,” Emmerson answered Hailey with a smirk.
When it dawned on her what Emmerson meant, Hailey took a step back and gagged. “I do not need any visuals! I hate you, Emmerson! Ugh, gross. Oh my God. I’m never going to be able to look at you again, Emmerson. You gave my brother head! This is honestly something I could have gone the rest of my life being blissfully ignorant of.”
“Ah, fuck. You just put it in my head now, Hail,” Mike complained.
“I didn’t give your brother head while I was on the floor. I fell out of bed when I was admiring his penis. I gave him head when he was on the bed after I nearly broke his nose.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying not to laugh when I opened them again and saw Mike’s and Hailey’s mouths dropped open. They stared at an oblivious Emmerson as she gathered up all her stuff and turned around to head into the bathroom.
“What?” she asked, looking at the two of them and then back to me.
Hailey drew in a deep breath. “From this point on, I’m going to pretend like I don’t know you and my brother are messing around. I’m going to be in the dark, like our parents are. And you, Emmerson Wallace, will never, ever, for as long as you live, talk about my brother’s—” Hailey shuddered as she closed her eyes and forced out the next words—“penis again. Like, never speak of it again. For the love of everything holy on this Earth, I beg of you to promise me this.”
Emmerson’s cheeks turned red as she realized what she had word vomited. Trying not to laugh, she looked at my sister, crossed her heart, spit on her hand, and stuck it out to Hailey. “I promise never to speak of your brother’s—”
Hailey held up her hand to stop Emmerson.
“Right. Never again.”
“Good,” Hailey stated as she spat on her hand at the same time as Emmerson. They pressed them together as they laced their fingers.
“That’s so gross. I have never understood why two grown women still make promises like this,” I said, snarling my lip.
“Fuck off, big brother.” Hailey dropped her hand, wiped it on her jeans, and then went to grab Mike’s hand.
He held his hands up and shook his head. “I love you but not enough to touch Emmerson’s spit.”
Hailey sighed again and made her way to the door. “Y’all better hurry up. We have to meet our folks in fifteen minutes, and you both look like you’ve only slept for an hour. If you’re going to play this game,” Hailey said, turning to face us, “you’re going to have to learn to hide the fact that you’ve been doing…whatever you’ve been doing all night. Otherwise, our parents are going to see right through you both.”
Mike nodded but had a wide smile on his face as they walked out the door and shut it. I looked at Emmerson, who was now standing in the doorway to the bathroom.
“I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes. Is that enough time to look normal?” I asked.
She nodded. “See you in ten.”
I got to my room, jumped in a quick shower, changed, and then rushed back to Emmerson’s. The entire twelve minutes, I never once stopped smiling. I never dreamed I could be so damn happy.
Emmerson
“WHAT DO YOU mean, People wants to interview us?” I asked Landon as we sat in Cup of Joe coffee shop in downtown Waco.
He glanced around, making sure no one was eavesdropping. “They want to interview us about how we went from friends to lovers to engaged.”
I shook my head. “You mean friends to engaged to lovers?”
Landon rolled his eyes.
“I hope you said no.”
“I did; I told Heidi that this was why I stepped away from the spotlight. Privacy. That you were going to document stuff on your Instagram, and that was all they were getting from us.”
I sat back in my chair and sighed in relief. “Good. I don’t think I could do an interview like that knowing we were…”
My voice trailed off. It had only been two days since the charity dinner, and it felt like our worlds had been turned upside down. It was starting to get confusing. We needed to play the couple in public, but we weren’t really playing because we were dating, and when we were with our families, we had to play the role of best friends pretending to be engaged and not dating.
“What are you doing for dinner tonight?” I asked, giving him my most innocent of smiles. Since we’d gotten back to Clifton, we hadn’t had a chance to be alone again, and I knew Landon was as anxious as I was to find some time for just the two of us.
“I believe I have a date with my fiancée.”
I let my smile grow wider. When I got back home, I had called Bryce Reynolds to cancel our date. That had been awkward, since Landon and I were supposed to be engaged. So I had made up a story about how we’d taken a break, but realized we simply couldn’t be without one another. He bought it.
“By the way, we need to put a ring on it,” I said, holding up my ring finger.
Something moved over Landon’s face, and he squirmed around in his seat as if he’d suddenly gotten shy. “I’ve sorta already picked something up.”