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Chapter Twenty-Five

Kinsley

“Can you drop me to the library on your way to work in the morning?” I call out to Jesse from the bathroom. “I want to surprise Soph; I’ve unintentionally been avoiding her.”

“You do suck at this friendship thing.” He winks as he rounds the door and sits on the bench next to the sink.

“What’s the go with you two anyway? She’s never here, did that double date lead to any solo ones?”

“Maybe if you were a better friend, you would know the gossip.” Jesse wiggles his brows and I know he’s deflecting off of the topic. Interesting. How much do I want to push him on this? I decide to stay silent, giving him the option to elaborate. Through the mirror we make eye contact and he’s pouting. Such a baby.

“Come on, spit it out.” Turning to face him, I give him all of my attention. “Do we need to sit down with a tub of ice cream and spoons to have some kind of deep and meaningful here?”

That gets a laugh out of him. “I thought we were the beer and pizza type?”

“You’re deflecting again!”

“Give me a break, I can’t take you seriously with that.” He points at the facemask I just applied. “Stuff on your face.”

He has a fair point, it does look ridiculous. “Fine, why don’t you go order us a pizza? I will wash this off and then I can whip your ass in Monopoly whilst you bring me up to speed on the gossip I clearly missed.”

“That’s my girl!” he whoops and hollers, bouncing his way out of the bathroom and I hear a pitter patter of paws running up the hall. “Let’s go Lou! Pizza time!”

How a woman will ever pin him down is beyond me. I will personally congratulate whoever does; this boy is a handful. He talks to the dog the same way I talk to myself. I wonder which one is more crazy? Take your pick, Kinsley. Hmm, actually maybe a dog would be nice. I wonder if Tanner likes dogs? He has always been fine with Lou-loo.

Taking out my phone I send him a message, no time like the present.

Me- Do you like dogs?

Tanner - It depends …

I laugh whilst typing out my response.

Me - Depends on what?

Tanner - The owner

Me - If it was me?

Tanner - Then, yes. I love dogs.

Bubbles pop up again, and I wait to see if he says anything else before I respond.

Tanner - Are we getting a dog?

First he drops the girlfriend bomb on me in front of his sister, and now he is asking if we are getting a dog. A warm blush climbs up my neck and over my cheeks whilst butterflies swarm in my stomach.

Tanner - You’re blushing, Pip.

Note to self, don’t leave Tanner on read. He will continue to message you until you reply. I take a silly selfie, still with my face mask on and press send.

Me - I can’t see any rosy cheeks …

Tanner - Tell Jesse I always knew he had a killer skincare routine, and bring some of that home for me too.

Home, he did it again . These little words and gestures; he probably doesn’t even realise what he is doing. I am most likely just overthinking again, but he’s breaking through the barriers I have always had so firmly in place. I respond with a laughing emoji and a heart.

Patting my face dry with a towel, Jesse’s words from Friday night ring in my ears, ‘I don’t think he would run, Kins. I really do think you could tell him.’ God, I wish that were true. Even if it were, can I really tempt fate by finding out? If Kyle and Jesse were right, if these guys are intertwined deeper into my family than I thought, I need to keep Tanner as far away as possible.

There is a knock at the door and Lou-loo barks. I swear by the sound and speed of his footsteps Jesse is running excitedly to the door. Wrapping myself in my dressing gown, I attempt to seek comfort in its warmth, grounding myself with the familiar fluffy material.

In the lounge, Jesse has pillows scattered on the floor either side of the coffee table, Monopoly set up in the middle and more beer and pizza than we will be able to consume. I wonder if he realises it’s a Sunday night? Why he decided to become a teacher when he could never turn up to school on time is beyond me.

“Better than ice cream and two spoons, right?”

A slither of guilt bites at me. “We should have invited the other two over, don’t you think?”

Jesse pins me with a look of disgust. “To our games night? I think not. Jeez Louise .” At the sound of her name, Lou-loo barks and I laugh. “No, Lou-loo, not you. It’s a figure of speech.” She cocks her head to the side. “Never mind,” he mutters, waving her off and she huffs, lying her head back down on the floor.

“Okay, well, if we are really doing one of our old school game nights, we are playing by the old rules.” I challenge him with my brows high.

“Oh, you are on, Fallon.” He sits down on one side of the coffee table and cracks a beer. “Each time you land on a chance card, instead of picking it up, you get to ask the other person a question. Deal?”

I nibble my bottom lip. “I’ve got nothing to hide from you Jess. You’ll get bored … I on the other hand have loads I could ask.”

Jesse smirks playfully. “Roll the dice, Meadow.”

Jesse

I roll a five, moving the little silver dog forward until I find that I’ve landed on a chance square.

“Buckle up, Meadow.” Kinsley rolls her honey-coloured eyes whilst stuffing her face full of pizza. “Let’s start with something easy,” I say, even though all I want to do is hit her with some hard truths about opening up to Tanner.

“Okay, I’ve got it. Your first kiss?” I smile coyly, knowing full well this will embarrass the shit out of her. Somehow she manages to swallow her mouthful without spitting beer everywhere before her face turns bright red.

“Jesse!” she gasps. “You already know the answer to that!”

Kinsley hides her face behind her hands, shaking her head. “Leroy Morgan, seventh grade … It was a dare, okay?”

When she peeks out from behind her hands my head is tipped back and I can no longer contain my laughter. “The poor guy, he had the biggest crush on you. Don’t know how you could ever be so mean,” I tease.

“Yeah, yeah. Just you wait.”

We go around the board twice more, and I consume another four beers by the time Kinsley finally lands on a chance.

“Finally! I was almost going to give up,” she giggles, the alcohol making her giddy — as per usual. “I want to know everything!”

“That’s not how this works, Meadow. Ask me a question.”

“Did you and Sophie go on another date? After the double date. I mean — actually, I need to rephrase. Have you guys seen each other outside of our group catch-ups?”

“No.”

“No?”

“That’s what I said …” I pick up the dice, but Kinsley grabs my hand.

“Hey, I’m not finished my turn yet!”

“One question Kinsley, that’s all you get.” She pouts and I consider what I could tell her so she will drop it. If I don’t tell her anything, she will quiz Sophie tomorrow. “Soph is awesome and we get along great, but we both kinda just friend-zoned each other straight off the bat. It’s no biggie, Kins.”

Her brow furrows, I study her face not knowing what direction she will go next. She almost looks defensive. Oh no. Kinsley is a little more than giddy from the alcohol and she thinks Sophie has given me the cold shoulder, this isn’t going to go down well.

“What is wrong with her? Has she not seen — Let me call her, don’t worry, Jess. I will fix this,” Kinsley continues to ramble to herself whilst looking for her phone. The phone I have just now tucked under a pillow. I won’t let her embarrass herself on my watch, especially when her assumption is so far from the reality of the situation.

“Just take your turn, otherwise I’ll call it a night. One of us has to get up for work in the morning.”

“Isn’t it your turn?” She raises one brow in question. “Someone has had one too many.”

“Fine, one more turn but if I don’t land a chance, I’m out.”

Without the liquid courage I wouldn’t be able to ask her the question that comes out of my mouth next. Let’s hope we end the night without tears. I cross my fingers behind my back for luck. “Are you ever going to let Tanner see all of you?”

She bites her bottom lip, her mind going straight to the gutter. “Fuck, Meadow,” I growl. “That’s not what I meant.”

Seeing her like this, so free and happy, I decide to drop it. I run my fingers through my hair. “Let’s just call it a night.”