Suddenly the half-eaten biscuit on my plate needed to be eaten immediately. I shoved the entire piece into my mouth to avoid the conversation my brother was trying to edge into. I'd had talks about boys with Eli in the past, and they never ended—or started—well. "There's nothing going on between us. We're just friends."
Because we were.
Eli made a noise that sounded like “hmmph” deep in his throat. It was incredulous and disbelieving. Then he asked the question to prove it, his attention back on his band mate. "Gordo, do you think I'm blind?"
Gordo shook his head.
"Gaby, do you think I'm blind?" he asked.
"Not blind, just dumb.” I smiled.
He shot me a frown. A moment later, he threw his arm over my shoulders and started shoving his plate away with his free hand. "Flabby Gaby, that kid is in love with you."
In love.
With me?
I leaned forward and tried to sniff his breath. “Are you still drunk?”
But my brother kept talking before I could keep going. "Anyone with eyes and ears knows that guy thinks you shit out Lucky Charms."
Gordo and I burst out laughing.
"Is that a good thing?" I asked him.
Eliza shoved my face away with his palm, ignoring my commentary again. "And I think that you love him, too."
The noise that came out of my mouth sounded like a hybrid “moo” and squawk at the same time. "I—,” I slammed my mouth shut before opening it again with a sputter. “What? We haven't even—we haven't even—”
That didn’t help the situation any because Eli threw his head back and laughed from deep within his throat. That huge, bellowing laugh that could cause an earthquake. "Gaby, remember when you swore you were in love with Reiner Kulti? But you'd never met him? If he would've shown up at our door, you would've sold your soul to the devil to be with him."
I nodded because it was the fucking truth. If that happened now, I'd kick the retired soccer icon to the curb, but ten years ago? I would have totally been a teen mom.
"You know that day you were sick?" Gordo asked me in his quiet voice from across the table. When I nodded he continued, "He looked miserable the entire day. He kept asking once every hour if we'd checked on you. If anyone had made sure you had something to eat. Blah, blah, blah."
The words settled onto my skin, my pores absorbing them slowly.
"And he's always talking about you. ‘Gaby said this, Gaby said that.’"
Eli shook his head in disgust. "What killed me was that a few days ago, this girl—"
"That girl!" Gordo exclaimed, knowing exactly whatever girl my brother was referring to.
"This girl," Eli settled his hands in front of his chest, leaving enough space so that two melons could fit. "This girl that looked like a Victoria's Secret supermodel came up to him, and she was pretty much raping him with her eyes from the get-go. She's telling him what hotel she's in, what room number is hers, and he's just in his own fucking world.In his own fucking world. Like he wasn’t paying any fucking attention. When she left, all the TCC guys were like ‘Dude, hit that!’ What did he do? He shrugged.” My brother shook his head like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his own mouth. “You don't shrug when somebody that hot comes onto you."
Gordo nodded in understanding.
But my brother wasn’t done yet. "So Julian tells him, ‘Sacha, she's so fucking hot. Do it.’ And this guy," he snickered, shaking his head. I couldn’t tell whether it was in disappointment or amusement. "He tells him, ‘She is hot, but she's not my type.’"
"That girl was everybody’s type," Gordo added. “Even I would have thought about going to her hotel room.Youwould have messed around with her, Flabby.”
I opened my mouth to make a comment about Gordo being attracted to a woman for the first time in his life, but Eli apparently needed to keep going. "And I knew it! I fucking knew it right then, and everyone else knew it right then. This motherfucker is in love, but then he seals the deal when he said, ‘I'm not interested.’"
Gordo looked like he was in church as he threw his hands in the air. "Every human being would have been interested."
"So, my point is, Flabby. That guy more than likes you," he finally finished. “Quit being dumb and worried and all shy and shit because we all know you’re really not, and get on it. ”
I was reeling. My heart felt like it could beat through softened butter. I remembered, I remembered all too well his mouth on my shoulder. On my jaw. Oh God.
