It’s like I hear a record scratch in my brain.
Five minutes later, I’m walking out of the bar. Not with the hot woman from the bar, though. Because I found that she paled in comparison to the woman currently next to me.
“But I don’t wanna go home,” Mia is grumbling.
I don’t answer.
I barge into Mia’s room at eight the next morning.
“Morning, sunshine! We’re going to breakfast. A fancy one in the city. Leo’s paying. Let’s go.” I tell her sleeping corpse.
She’s lying on her stomach, face mashed into the pillow, her giant fluffy comforter draped over her body. I rip all the covers off her bed, something I used to do all the time when we were kids, but this time, I am pleasantly surprised by the sight of Mia’s slender, naked, very adult body, clad only in a pair of sensible cotton panties.
I only have a half second to take it all in, so I start from the top, at her shoulders, moving down the elegantly pale curve of her back, the long lines of her legs. To her gorgeous, lush ass covered by those panties. To the two dimples on top. I have the sudden and distinct urge to press my thumbs into them.What?
She is in the middle of screaming when I reluctantly throw the comforter back over her body.
“You were right,” I mumble. “We should probably revisit our Privacy Policy.”
“WE?!” Mia’s head pokes out from under the comforter pile, outraged. “I’ve never just barged into your room, ever, especially after Bathroom Incident?—”
“For someone who never wants to discuss Bathroom Incident, you sure like to bring it up a lot,” I tell her cheerfully. I walk back out the door, not thinking about how badly I want the image of her ass to be burned into my retinas. Trying like hell to stop thinking of Leo’s little sister and one of my oldest friendsandmy roommate as a sexual being. “I made coffee. We’re leaving in like forty-five minutes. Look nice. It’s one of those nice places downtown.”
“I can’t go. I told you I have to work today,” she says, voice muffled by the comforter that’s been piled over her head.
“Don’t you dare go back to sleep. Leo wants to see you, and you can be back home by eleven. Plenty of time to work. I have to be back, too—I have some sessions later.”
“Why do we have to go into the city?” she moans.
“Because then Leo will pay,” I grin.
Sitting at the same tiny table with Leo to my right and Mia to my left really puts things into perspective.
Now, with our knees all mashed together under the table, I am feeling the distinct impression that helping Mia get laid, seeing Mia in various states of undress in her bed, and maybe napping together under the most romantic fucking weeping willow tree in Brooklyn, are all events and activities that may have crossed some sort of line.
“This isn’t nice,” Mia scoffs at us. “This is just trendy and expensive. They just have, like, regular-degular eggs and avocado toast for thirty dollars a pop.”
“You pay for the ambiance, too, Meems,” Leo tells her.
“What ambiance? To feel like a swamp troll amidst the sea of supermodels here?”
I personally think she is the most gorgeous person sitting in this room, but I decide to keep that tidbit of information to myself.
“Well, I think it’s amazing,” I announce.
“That’s because half this room qualifies for the Blonde Brigade,” she shoots at me.
I frown.
Leo laughs. “She’s right, Elias.”
“Whatever,” I grumble.
“What’s up with you, Mia?” Leo asks his sister. “I didn’t get to talk to you much at the bar. How’s school?”
She thinks for a moment. I knee her knee under the table.Don’t talk about it.
“School is fine so far. Our principal isn’t great?—”
