Page 15 of The Bro Date (Best Bros Forever #2)

CHAPTER TWELVE

SHANE

I t’s been over a week since I started my new catering job at Coastal Cuisine, and I think I like it here.

Glenn and his wife have been extremely welcoming.

I’m so grateful that Toby hooked me up with this opportunity, but I’ve had to work more hours than I normally would each day this week in order to get up to speed with my new responsibilities.

That, paired with classes, means I haven’t seen Toby all that much.

To be honest, I feel a little guilty about it after our kiss.

He’s an overthinker, and the last thing I want is him spiraling into a panic attack.

It’s Friday night, and I’m home late after a sweet sixteen party where I monitored the food tables and kept them stocked while also being harassed and hit on by over a dozen teenage girls. It wasn’t ideal, but the tip sure as hell was.

When I step inside, I find my roommates sprawled on the couches in the living room with an action movie playing on the TV.

Toby looks up from his phone with a smile on his face. “How was your night?” he asks politely.

“Teenage girls,” I reply, deadpan.

Jake hisses. “Yikes, man. I know they ate you alive. You’re too pretty and too broody.”

I turn unamused eyes toward him. “That suplex is calling your name,” I warn.

Jake cackles, and Spencer tosses a throw pillow at his face. “Leave the poor man alone, he’s clearly been through enough tonight.”

I glance at Toby, whose attention is on his phone, thumbs flying across the screen.

Who the hell is he messaging?

I thought I got through to him.

“I’m taking a shower,” I grunt, slipping off my work shoes by the front door. I make my way upstairs and go straight to the bathroom, locking myself inside.

The water feels incredible, loosening my overworked muscles and crowded mind.

I can’t stop thinking about Toby talking to random guys that treat him like shit.

He’s downstairs at this very moment, smiling at his phone and possibly arranging to meet up with someone.

I can’t let that happen. The urge to protect him burns like fire through my veins, making my blood boil at the thought of Toby getting hurt.

After thoroughly rinsing out the deep conditioning treatment that Daija got me for Christmas, I turn off the shower and wrap a towel around my waist. I slip out of the steamy bathroom and head to my room, quickly applying some lotion before throwing a pair of gray sweats and a white T-shirt on.

Roughly scrubbing the towel over my head, I leave my hair messy and damp, jogging down the stairs to join my roommates.

They’re right where I left them, Jake and Spencer staring at the TV like a couple of zombies, while Toby is still engrossed in his phone.

I grit my teeth, walking over to the love seat and plopping down right next to him with my entire weight.

Toby topples into me, dropping his phone to the ground. “ Shane! ” he cries, reaching for it.

The phone lands face up by my feet, so I lean down and snatch it up, catching a glimpse of the message thread before Toby rips it out of my hands.

“ Shane! ” he whisper-shouts. “Stop trying to look at my conversations. God , you are such a stalker!”

“Conversations, as in plural?” I ask cynically. “Are you talking to more than one guy?”

Toby huffs, folding his arms across his chest and refusing to answer the question.

That wasn’t a no.

“ Why the hell are you back on Grindr? ” I hiss, glancing over at Jake, who’s now stretched out on the couch snoring, and Spencer, who’s fixing a sandwich in the kitchen.

I thought I got through to him after our kiss. I know I’ve been focused on learning my new job and proving myself to Glenn this week, but what the hell is this bullshit about a second date that I just saw?

None of those guys are good enough for him.

I need to show him what he deserves. Prove it to him.

The thought hits me full force, leaving me with no other option.

“I’m taking you out on a date,” I declare, not caring what our roommates or anyone else will think.

“You . . . what? ” Toby asks incredulously, uncrossing his arms and blinking slowly.

“I’m going to plan something special, take you out next weekend, and show you how a real man should treat you. Then you can delete that stupid app.”

Toby’s amber eyes flare with lust, flicking to my mouth. We haven’t kissed since the night I rescued him from the bar and that fuckboy Landon, but I can tell he wants to.

“Okay,” he agrees, his smile slowly growing until his dimples pop out. “I’ll go on a date with you.”

What the fuck am I doing?

The last thing I would ever want to do is ruin this friendship. Toby’s all I have. The best thing in my life.

The Crescent Bay Botanical Garden is about forty minutes away from campus and right on the ocean. Besides acres of beautiful plant life and an orchid observatory, they have a beer garden, nature trails, and a wildlife preserve. But most importantly, there’s a butterfly house.

“I’ve been planning our date in my head all week,” I admit, and Toby smiles over at me from the passenger seat of my pickup truck. We’re still parked in the driveway, getting ready to start the short trip. “I have a clue for you.”

Toby beams, sunlight flooding the truck and illuminating his golden irises. “What is it?”

“Close your eyes,” I tell him, and he listens. I lean over and open the glove compartment, grabbing the purple origami butterfly I made last night and holding it in my palm. “Open your eyes,” I whisper into his ear, eliciting a cute little shiver from him.

Toby smiles wide, picking it up to inspect it. “Hmmm. A butterfly. Are we going on a picnic?”

“Nope. Guess again,” I reply with a small smile, feeling carefree and light. Placing my arm behind Toby’s headrest, I twist in my seat and back out of the driveway slowly. The fact that he stares at me the whole time doesn’t go unnoticed, and my smile only grows.

Toby clears his throat. “Um. A hike through wildflowers?”

A deep chuckle rolls out of me. “No.”

“Gardening?”

“ What? No,” I laugh. “There will be no chores on this date.”

“ Ooo! I got it,” he says confidently. “A nature museum.”

“Close, but no cigar.”

“What? Ugh. I give up,” Toby says with a pout, sinking into his seat and staring out the window.

Keeping one hand on the wheel, I reach over to give his thigh a reassuring squeeze.

It just feels right.

“So are you really not going to tell me where we’re going?” he tries again.

“Nope, but snacks are in the back and drinks are in the cooler,” I inform him, glancing over to catch his dimples appear.

“Oh, sweet.” Toby digs through the bags in the backseat. “Teriyaki jerky and gummy worms. My favorite road trip snacks.”

“Grab me a Dr Pepper,” I ask, happier than I’ve been in months.

The drive is easy, and soon enough, we’re pulling into the parking lot of our destination. Toby’s face lights up in recognition.

“Oh my God, we’re going to see the butterflies!”

Before we visit the Butterfly Bungalow, we stop at the Orchid Observatory and walk through the humid greenhouse full of rock-wall waterfalls, climbing orchids, hanging moss, and a plethora of other exotic plant life.

It’s beautiful here, and I know Toby agrees because he’s taking photos of nearly everything.

“Are you ready to see the butterflies now?” I ask, throwing an arm around his shoulders and tugging him close. “I mean, they are still your favorite insect, right?” I tease, giving him a playful squeeze.

“Actually, yeah. They are, you asshole,” he chuckles, fake elbowing me in the side and making me laugh.

I keep my arm around him as we walk down the path to the greenhouse where the butterflies live, observing the beautiful plants, flowers, and water features along the way.

“Hi! I’m Lettie. Welcome to the Butterfly Bungalow,” a small woman with bright orange hair greets us.

“Step in here, and I’ll go over the rules.

” She smiles kindly, opening a curtain of plastic strips.

“Okay, the rules are simple. Keep the curtains closed so no butterflies escape. Do not touch the butterflies. If they land on you, that’s okay, of course.

Stay on the path and watch your step. We have a lot of caterpillars as well, and we don’t want any squished.

There are nectar sticks in small bowls; be sure to grab one before you enter the bungalow.

And most importantly, have a great time! ”

“Ready?” I ask Toby, lifting my arm from around his shoulders and grabbing two sticks with small sponges on the end.

I hand one to Toby, and we step into a tiny bustling world full of colorful butterflies, flowers, and cute little green caterpillars.

We start slowly, watching our step as we begin walking the circular, looping pathway through the bungalow.

“Whoa,” Toby says in awe. “This is so freaking cool.”

I smile at the enthusiasm for science and bugs that he’s had since he was a kid.

A butterfly suddenly lands on my stick, its tiny tongue sucking up the nectar.

Toby leans closer to get a better look. “That’s called the proboscis. It’s a coiled tube that unrolls to feed from flowers.”

“Like a straw?” I ask.

Toby giggles, making the butterfly fly away. “Yeah, basically.”

When the next butterfly lands on my stick, I call Toby over, slowly transferring it to his. I snap a couple photos for him and just stand there, watching the sheer joy on his face, and I realize I fucking love making him happy.

“This is a male monarch,” Toby whispers, his golden eyes analyzing the butterfly closely.

“How the hell do you know it’s male?” I ask, not really wanting to think about it, but Toby just laughs.

“It’s actually really easy. They have two black dots on their hindwings. See there.” He points to the bottom of the butterfly without getting too close, so I lean in, taking a better look at the little orange butterfly eating from Toby’s nectar stick.

“Huh. Sure does,” I murmur, impressed by his butterfly knowledge.

I take a few more photos of him before we get a selfie that we both upload to social media, tagging the location. Tate immediately comments how cute and happy we look, followed by Daija. I snort at Jake’s comment, asking why he wasn’t invited, and put my phone away, focusing on the date.

“Whenever you’re ready, they have a beer garden that also has iced tea and lemonade,” I tell him.

“Sounds perfect.” Toby smiles back at me, his cheeks flushed from the sun and the heat. “But can we walk around the bungalow one more time?”

“Of course, Tobes.”

I’m so glad he’s having such a great time.

We make another loop, and I find myself watching Toby instead of looking at butterflies. Toby identifies even more, taking a photo to document them. We finish our second loop and thank Lettie before leaving.

Toby and I walk over to the Beer Garden for some shade and a cool drink. A small, wooden bar is shaded by trellises filled with different plant life, from climbing vines to bright, exotic flowers.

“This is so cute,” Toby whispers as we make our way over, ordering two lemonades from the older lady behind the bar.

I buy the drinks, and Toby stuffs a ten into her tip jar. “Thank you, this place is so beautiful,” he says politely before we head over to a large gazebo with picnic tables.

“I’m having a really great time, Shane,” Toby says sweetly, before taking a sip of his ice-cold lemonade. “ Ahh. ” He smacks his lips. “So good.”

He leans forward and slips the map from his back pocket, pointing at where we are. “We’re here. And if we keep going down this trail, we’ll hit the snapdragons and then the Rose Garden.”

“Sounds good to me,” I say, enjoying the shade and the cool breeze.

Toby takes his hand off the map for a second, and the wind picks it up, blowing it off the table and onto the ground.

He turns around on the bench and bends over, his underwear peeking out of his jeans.

It’s not even a thong this time, just regular boxers, but I can’t stop picturing him in that tiny black G-string and imagining what he would look like in something colorful and lacy.

What in the actual fuck?

I’m not sure what’s happening to me. It’s like ever since Toby came out to me, I’ve been questioning everything about my own sexuality.

Because girls have always just been a means to an end for me, and the thought of another man putting his hands or lips on my best friend makes me want to destroy things.

I push the life-altering thoughts away because now is not the time to figure it out.

We finish our drinks and start walking toward the snapdragons next, taking photos with the bright pink flowers before we end our date in the Rose Garden.

“Wow. It’s stunning here,” Toby says in awe, spinning around in a circle for a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view. Towering rose bushes of all colors surround us, broken up by paved pathways and rows of arches looped and woven with even more roses.

The relaxing sound of flowing water from the many fountains, combined with bees buzzing, and the warmth of the sun, sends a shot of dopamine straight to my brain, happiness radiating from within me.

I glance over at my best friend, and judging by the dopey smile on his face, it looks like he’s experiencing the same thing.

Stepping into his space, I stare down at his lips.

Fuck. I want to kiss him right now.

The thought comes out of nowhere, and I immediately shut it down, stepping back from Toby and the second kiss we were about to share.

What if it ruins our friendship?

Having Toby in my life is too important to me, and I’m not willing to mess it up. The disappointment in his eyes is clear as day, but these new desires are something I’m not quite ready to face.

“Ready to head home?” I ask, not missing the flicker of disappointment.

Maybe I’m already ruining our friendship without even realizing it.