“He’s not a little kid anymore. He won’t be trailing after you wanting to hang out with my older brother.”
I laughed. “You both did that. Constantly.”
“What can I say? You were cool. My idol.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you?”
“No. It’s true. I looked up to you when we were kids.”
I shook my head and drank my smoothie.
“I still do. Speaking of which, is there any chance of you mending bridges with Mum and Dad?”
“Nope.”
“It’s been three years. Don’t you think it’s time to extend an olive branch?”
“No. They know what they have to do.”
“They will never admit they were wrong.”
I knew that, but it still hurt.
“I’m sorry,” Dillon said. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. I miss you.”
“I miss you too. You can come visit whenever you like. Not while Jae is here. There’s not enough space for the three of us to squeeze in here.”
“I don’t know. It would be cosy.”
“No.”
“Fine. But I will visit soon. You can be my wingman. There must be lots of hot gay guys in London.”
“There are a few.”
“Oh? Does that mean you’re seeing someone?”
I put the smoothie down and rubbed the back of my neck. “Not right now.”
“Really? But you’re a catch.”
“You can shut up now before this conversation gets weird. Weirder.”
“Right. I’ve got to go and tell Jae you said yes. He’ll be so excited. Love you, Xander.”
“Love you too, Dill.”
I hung up the phone and finished my smoothie. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having my brother’s best friend here for a few weeks. It would be fun to show someone else around London. I needed to figure out where he was going to sleep and how I would keep doing all my social-media content, but first, I needed to shower and put some clothes on. Everything else could wait.
CHAPTERTHREE
JAE
I held up two jackets to get a good look at them. One was a cropped denim with frayed edging and diamantés sprinkled all over it. The other was made out of divine lilac suede.
“Maybe I should take both.”
Dillon laughed. “I’m not sure how you’ll manage that much luggage on the train on your own.” He lounged on my bed, leafing through a magazine while I struggled to decide what to take to London with me.
