Courtney lives off campus in a really cute apartment right next door to a used bookstore, so she doesn’t have to go home during breaks, but flies out when she has the chance.
“I’m all about family time, but three days was plenty. I can only do so long at a Bishop family reunion.”
“Weren’t Jackson and John there?” Those are her super hot twin brothers.
“Yes, but Jackson brought his girlfriend, and John was super busy showing the new foreign exchange student around the farm.” She rolls her eyes, and I laugh. “Plus, Toby will be back soon, so I figured I’d come back early and wait for him.”
“Wait for him meaning I won’t see you until school starts because you’ll be shacked up next week.” Toby is her high school sweetheart that she bangs every chance she gets.
She drops her bag on the kitchen table and sighs. “I’ll text you when he lets me up for air.”
“Please, spare me the details.”
She purses her lips and shakes her head at me. “Sometimes I wonder how the hell you even managed to lose your virginity.” Her mocking tone doesn’t go unnoticed even though I know she’s only teasing.
“On my back with my legs behind my head, thank you very much,” I sass right back.
Her eyes trail down my body, studying me. “Speaking of being on your back, you have sex bruises all over your thighs and arms.” She arches a brow. “Care to explain?”
I pinch my lips together and turn away from her, walking toward the living room.
“Viola Annabelle Fisher,” she scowls in a motherly tone, following quickly behind me. “If you’re getting laid, I deserve to know.”
I sit on the couch and grab the remote. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She sits next to me, focusing her attention on my legs. “It looks like thumb bruises to me. So not only was it sex, it was really hot, rough sex.”
After a moment of silence and not answering her, she grabs the remote out of my hand, forcing me to look at her.
“Fine, I got laid. Happy?”
The corner of her lips curls up. “Not as happy as you should be.”
I roll my eyes and look away again.
“C’mon, I have to pee.” She grabs my hand and pulls me up with her. “You can tell me all the dirty details.”
“I’m not telling you about my sex life while you pee!”
“Oh, so now you have a sex life? I want all the details.”
She drags me into the bathroom with her, not minding that I’m right in front of her as she drops her shorts and sits.
“You know you aren’t in hillbilly country anymore.”
“Oh please. You’ve seen my bare ass before. Peeing is nothing. Don’t be a prude.”
I burst out laughing because she’s absolutely ridiculous. She flushes, washes her hands, then checks to see if anything is in her teeth.
“So what are your plans tonight?” she asks, leading us out of the bathroom.
“I’m going to watch a few bands.”
She turns and looks at me as we make our way into the kitchen. “Oh, like a date?” she inquires, digging around in the fridge. “With Mr. Rough ’n’ Dirty Sex Machine?”
Courtney has absolutely no filter. It’s one of her many pleasant qualities.
“No, and it’s not a date, so you can join us if you want. It’d probably make things less awkward anyway.”
She shuts the fridge door, empty-handed. “I’d love to be your third wheel, but I’m already exhausted from flying all day. Can I take a rain check?” she asks, opening up the cupboards and shuffling cans around.
“Between two grown men, you’d think there’d be something to eat in this house.”
“There was.” I chuckle. “They scarfed it all down.”
She laughs, shutting the doors and giving up. “Well you better get dressed then. I’m starving and will stab someone soon if I don’t get some food.”
“Damn. I forgot how crazy you get when you’re hangry.”
She laughs again, following me into Drew’s room and starts chatting about her horrible flight from Dallas and the many delays she experienced. She looks at the perfectly made bed, and I hear her sigh.
“What I would give to be in that bed with your brother for just one night. I’d totally use my weekend pass on him.”
“Gross,” I say, secretly thinking about being in Travis’s bed and what happened here hours earlier. “What the hell is a weekend pass?”
“A sex pass?” She arches her brow. “A free pass to have sex with one person one time while in a relationship.”
“That’s not really a thing,” I say. “Is it?”
“It’s a thing, but most couples wouldn’t be okay with actually following through with it.”
“Well, even if you did want to follow through with it, good luck getting him away from Mia long enough to strip your clothes off.”
“I wish he’d break up with her already. She’s not even his type. Controlling. Snobby. She’s probably never worked a day in her entire life. And her laugh. Her laugh is terrible,” Courtney goes on and on, turning her head while I change. “He’s too good for her.”
“Maybe so, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they got married.” I put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and turn around to see her leaning against the wall with her palm pressed against her chest.
“My heart couldn’t take it,” she says dramatically. “I’ll be a wedding crasher then. I don’t think I’d hold my peace.”
“I don’t think you’d be invited.” I laugh.
“Hence the crasher part…” She smirks.
I shake my head and smile. “I’ve missed your level of crazy. It’s nice to be with my people again.”
“Good, then I better be your plus one if they do.”
“Obviously. But just for the record, I would love to have you as a sister-in-law.”
She smiles as she walks down the hallway to the living room. “Sign me up! I would fuck your brother so damn good. I mean, given that I was single.”
“Ew. Just no. Don’t ever say that word with my brother in the same sentence ever again.” I laugh and lock the door behind us. I swear she says stuff like that just to watch me cringe.
The top is down on the Jeep, and the sun is lazily hanging in the late afternoon sky. The engine roars to life, and Courtney turns the radio up as loud as it goes. We are rocking the typical college girl stereotype—in a Jeep, listening to hip-hop—but I don’t mind. I’m really happy she’s home to be my personal distraction until Drew returns. Maybe she’ll pull the plug on whatever is going on between Travis and me.
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket, and when I grab it, I see Travis’s name flash across the screen. Courtney takes notice and smiles.
“What does he want?” She lifts an eyebrow at me, and when I don’t answer, she speaks again. “Hello? Since when were you two on texting terms anyway?” She knows how I feel about him and has heard many hours of my hatred for him. I turn my head away from her, hoping to hide the evidence that’s all over my face. She doesn’t need to see the blush across my cheeks to know it’s there.