“Surgery,” Will echoed, pointing at Charlie.
“You can pick the takeout,” I told Charlie. “But I get to pick the show.”
They grumbled their consent, and Will joined Charlie on the couch. They settled in for the long haul. I turned to Jonah. “Are you going to stay and hang out?”
He narrowed his gaze at the back of Will’s head in thought. “I was planning on it. But I don’t want to get in the way.”
I took my pillow out of his hands. “It will be just like old times. We’ll have aHighlandermarathon and order Mountain Dew and a pallet of Doritos.”
He cracked a smile. “All right, I can get on board with that.”
Our fingers brushed when I reached for my overnight bag, and I had the crushing feeling that my brothers had just interrupted something significant.
Or maybe they’d saved me. I was still undecided on our make-out session. Was I happy Jonah had finally kissed me? Or had it even been intentional?
What if I was some kind of drunken accident? And he was planning to pull the big brother card again?
I was also too afraid to examine my own mind and figure out which way I wanted things to go.I’m not sure I can cope with another broken heart. I wasn’t sure I could face another rejection from Jonah. Especially after knowing howgoodwe are together.Shove it down, Eliza. Spiral any other time than when your apartment is full of your brothers. And the sexy man causing the emotional somersaults.
“How about Golden Palace, Liza?” Charlie shouted from the couch. “Hot and sour soup is my comfort food.”
Mine too.Golden Palace was my all-time favorite Chinese restaurant. And Charlie’s. Sometimes he came over for supper just so we could order from there. “Perfect,” I yelled back, already pulling up the app and readying my finger to take orders.
“Eliza wants aHighlandermarathon,” Jonah told everyone as we walked into the living room.
I laughed at my brothers’ outraged responses. “I was kidding.”
“Thank God,” Will huffed, full of his usual snobbiness. And apparently in denial of his absolute addiction to that saga as a little kid. He might have conveniently forgotten, but I wouldnever.
Charlie, somehow pulling off that samereclining kinglook he’d perfected at Will’s yesterday, said, “If we’re going blast from the past, I voteStar Trek.”
Jonah walked around to the front of the couch and plopped down directly in the middle. My brothers had sprawled all over the right side, which left few options for me. Thanks to the gigantic size of my couch, nobody sat too close to someone else. But now I suddenly regretted that. At least if we’d been forced to squish together, I could have come up with an excuse for sitting right by Jonah. Or on his lap—either way. But thanks to my high-maintenance style choices, it would be obvious and a little awkward if I sat down directly next to him.
“Movies or show?” Will asked in regard toStar Trek.
“Next Generation,” Charlie suggested mildly.
Jonah and Will booed him. “Is this about your Captain Picard obsession?” Jonah asked, throwing a pillow at him.
“I don’t have a Captain Picard obsession,” Charlie defended.
“You totally have a Captain Picard obsession,” Will and I said in unison, and then laughed.
“I vote for the new movies,” I threw out.
Jonah snorted. “Only because you have a thing for what’s his name.”
“Who?” Charlie demanded. “Why is it okay for you to have an obsession and not me?”
“Because my obsession is Chris Pine,” I said promptly. “And that’s normal. Expected even.”
“I vote for movies too,” Will put in very authoritatively. Then shot us a side glance. “Not because of Chris Pine.”
There was a beat of silence before Jonah threw out a low-key, “It’s totally because of Chris Pine.”
We all laughed, and there was this sharp, surreal moment when I felt transported back to our youth. It was just the four of us again. Goofing off and making fun of each other while we watched movie marathons and played video games and survived our childhoods side by side. And it was perfect.
In the end, it was that moment that made me choose the far left side of the couch, with plenty of distance from Jonah. Jonah and I would sort ourselves out, but right now this wasn’t about the two of us. It was about the four of us. And that was okay.
