Page 9

9

Liam

S tassie had to be joking.

Something about us returning to our childhood homes had made a part of my brain assume that high school rules still applied. No sleepovers. No closed doors. No funny business. A.k.a, I would sleep in my room in my parents’ house and Alana would sleep in hers. I had spent the drive from the airport thinking of ways to repeat the physical contact we had before her dad interrupted. I wanted to get her to soften against me again, like she needed me to keep her warm. The thought of her pressed up against me had me trying desperately to not get hard in the backseat of her father’s car. It was safer if we slept in separate houses.

But I’d been an idiot who forgot who had raised us: Parents who hadn’t had a ‘no closed doors’ policy because they trusted us to make smart decisions. We’d just pretended in high school they were stricter than they were so neither of our houses became the default party, or worse, hook-up, spot. If they had trusted us as teenagers, then why wouldn’t they also trust two fully-fledged adults ?

“That isn’t necessary, Mom,” Lenny said firmly.

“Don’t be silly, honey. There is no need for you two to sleep in separate rooms in different houses if you’re together now. Unless the idea of sneaking around is what—”

“Mom! We don’t…that’s not…we’ve not…”

If I wasn’t feeling similar to Lenny right now, I would have found it cute how flustered she was getting.

“We are taking things slow. I really think it would be best if we were in separate rooms. In different houses,” Lenny tried again.

“If that display at the airport is taking it slow then I want to know what full steam ahead looks like,” Stassie teased.

My eyebrows drew together as I tried to figure out what that meant. A quick look at Lenny confirmed she was just as confused.

“What are you talking about?” Lenny asked. Stassie pulled her phone out of her jeans and slid it over to her daughter.

Lenny picked it up slowly and her nose scrunched. I leant forward to see what she was looking at and realised that Rob had sent photographic proof of our blossoming relationship. That was why our mothers had been so excited on the porch, waiting for us. That picture had captured something, a palpable heat that was evident through the screen.

I usually had a sixth sense for knowing when someone was taking a photo of me—people weren’t as subtle as they liked to think they were, but I had not noticed this photo being taken. Given that it had been ninety minutes since I’d held Lenny against me and I could still feel where her body had slotted in against mine, it was unsurprising that I had been so unaware of my surroundings. But still, I’ d had no clue.

Lenny’s head tilted forward, and she pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a deep sigh before she handed her mom’s phone back to her.

“Fine, we’ll sleep in my room.”

It was only when she started to leave that I caught up with the fact that we had lost that battle. I offered a weak smile to Stassie and mumbled something about being right back to my mother before I hastily followed Lenny. Noticing, on my way past, that my dad seemed rather bored with the whole thing.

She was at the bottom of the stairs, trying to figure out the best way to get her suitcase up them.

“What the hell are you doing?” It came out harsher than I intended. I was doing a lot of that today.

“I can’t believe we didn’t see that coming, to be honest,” she said to her suitcase.

“Why did you agree to it?” My voice was softer now.

“It was either agree to it or deal with them assuming one of us was sneaking the other into the house in the middle of the night like we’re fucking teenagers. And let’s be real, I am too lazy to do any kind of sneaking around, so our parents would be keeping an ear out to see if they can hear your hulking body creaking about from A to B. And it wouldn’t go unnoticed if they heard nothing. I know you were quick on the ice, but I don’t think that speed translates to stealth-like behaviour. At least this way we can control something in this shit show.”

I hated that she was right. They would expect us to sneak around, especially with the illusion of passion Rob had captured. We had houses with squeaky floorboards and staircases that didn’t have it in them to be quiet when you wanted them to be. It would be obvious that neither of us was trying to take part in a late-night rendezvous.

I hoisted my duffle onto my shoulder and nudged Lenny out of the way, grabbing the handle of her suitcase and carrying everything upstairs. I didn’t need her to tell me where her room was. I’d been there often enough.

I paused when I opened the door to her room. It was almost exactly the same.

“The Jacob poster is gone,” I commented as I settled our stuff in the corner of the room. I heard her laugh quietly and she opened the door of her closet, pulling out a rolled-up piece of paper.

“It was up until about three years ago when Kai came here to meet my family and insisted I took it down. I don’t know why he cared so much. We didn’t even sleep here. But he wouldn’t stop questioning how I ever got laid in high school if I’d expected boys to deal with the extra eyes on them.” She never brought people to her house. I was probably the only person outside of her family that dealt with the extra eyes. They hadn’t bothered me.

I reached my hand out for the rolled-up poster. She quirked an eyebrow but handed it over. The blue tac was on her desk where it always was and then I was putting Jacob back where he belonged.

“Do you not find that weird? Kai couldn’t get over how weird it was,” she asked. I shrugged.

“I got used to it. It’s weirder that his eyes weren’t following me around the room. Besides, I always found its presence reassuring, it meant I could sleep well knowing that the vampire wasn’t going to sneak in and watch you sleep.”

“Why do you remember that in such detail?”

“Because it was all you read for what felt like an entire school year and then you made me watch the films so many times. I could probably still recite them all ,” I replied. I wasn’t mad about it. I liked that she had shared that with me. Her running commentary was what I remembered most.

“You’re welcome.”

“I will say, I was always surprised that you went werewolf over vampire when you, too, like the cover of darkness.”

“It seems like more effort than it’s worth to be a vampire. Besides, who wants to be around someone with the skin of a killer?”

“Bella.”

A bloom of pleasure unfurled within me when Lenny laughed.