Page 78 of The Other Brother

hell yeah

stay the night?

I swallow as I look at those three words. There’s a subtext lurking in there, I’m pretty sure.

sure

awesome

My heart’s beating faster as I stash my phone away.

I’ve never been a prude when it comes to sex. My motto has always beenif it feels good, why not do it?So my belt is sufficiently notched.

But my stomach is churning as I have a quick shower. Why am I so freaked out about taking things further with Cody? Maybe because he means more to me than all my previous hook-ups combined. I don’t want to screw things up.

“Where are you off to?” Mum asks as I head out.

“I’m hanging out at Oz’s place. I might crash there tonight,” I try to keep my voice nonchalant. There are some things parental units don’t need to know. And what I’m planning to do with her ex-husband’s son is definitely on that list.

“Okay,” Mum says.

When I pull up outside Cody’s house, I take a minute to compose myself. But no amount of deep breaths calms me down. My palms are acting like they’ve just invented sweat and need to get into high-level production straight away. I wipe them on my jeans as I walk up the steps of the porch.

Cody opens the front door before I have a chance to knock.

“Hey.” He’s dressed in jeans and a blue T-shirt. He tugs at the bottom of his T-shirt as he stands back and lets me in.

“Hey.”

We stand there in the hallway, looking at each other.

“Um, I’ll give you the grand tour if you want.”

I gesture with my hand. “Tour away.”

Cody takes me through the living room, dining room, and through to the kitchen.

“Do you want something to drink?” He hovers next to the pristine kitchen bench.

“Nah, I’m fine.”

He bites on the bottom of his lip as he leads me through another door and down the hallway into his room.

It’s much the same as the last time I was here. The bed is made, everything neat and tidy, i.e. the polar opposite of my room. Posters of musicians I don’t recognize are plastered on his wall. There’s also a large photo of a sunset over a beach on the wall opposite his bed. I don’t remember noticing it last time I was here, but then I wasn’t really in inventory mode.

“And this is my room,” he says redundantly.

“I’ve been here before, remember?” I say. “The night you were drunk.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. I mean, I don’t remember much of that night because I was out of it. But it was so good of you to get me home—”

I cut off his babbling by kissing him. Cody responds enthusiastically, our tongues sliding together in a way that’s becoming familiar. Familiar and oh so good.

We stumble back to his bed.

Last time I was here, I hesitated before taking off Cody’s shoes. This time, it’s all about clothes removal. Hurried, frantic removal of clothes so we can be skin to skin in record time.

Our kisses are messy and frantic.