“I heard you,” I say on a confused laugh. “But I’m still wondering why you’re acting so…”
“So…?”
“I don’t know…different.”
“Different?” he questions and shifts on his feet. “I’m not different. I’m…chill. I’m cool. I’m Ace motherfucking Kelly. I’m your best friend who hasn’t changed or had realizations or anything. I’m—”
“Leaving the bathroom so I can take a shower?” I cut him off with a smile.
“Yeah.” He runs his hand through his dark hair, grinning as he does. “That.”
“Perfect.” I squeeze his shoulder and spin him around, patting his butt lightly to send him toward my bedroom. “Don’t worry, buddy. I won’t be long. Just a quick rinse-off and I’ll be done. I won’t even wash my hair.”
“Ace!” my dad’s voice booms from downstairs. “Why don’t you come to the kitchen and eat some lunch with us while Julia gets ready?”
It’s my father’s obvious attempt at keeping things PG between Ace and me. Even though I’m in college and Ace and I have been best friends our whole lives, Kline Brooks doesn’t take any chances when it comes to his daughters.
Ace just grins. “Looks like I’m being summoned.”
“Yep. And while you enjoy chatting it up with the Brookses,I’m going to attempt to take the shower I’ve been trying to take for the last thirty minutes.”
He hovers near my bathroom door for a long moment. He searches my eyes, and he opens his mouth like he wants to say something.
“What now?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “Did you forget how to use stairs?”
“Nah.” He grins, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Just making sure you didn’t forget this is supposed to be a quick shower and not one of those long-ass hour-long showers you take when you have to shave your legs and shit.”
“Rude,” I say, already laughing. “This is a precision operation. And it’s not my fault I’ve been interrupted like three times. Or that you’restillstanding here.”
“Fine, fine.” He backs away, hands raised. “But if you’re not downstairs in twenty, I’m sending Evie in here with a bullhorn.”
“Trust me, Evie has already done enough damage today.”
He winks. “You say that, but no matter what Evie tries to throw at you, I’m certain you’ve survived worse.”
The trauma of the dick pics flashes behind my eyes, and I shake my head. “Ace, you don’t even want to know what Evie just tried to throw my way.”
“It can’t compare to that time you gave yourself bangs with kindergarten scissors and blamed it on me.”
“Hey now!” I point an index finger in his direction. “I was five, and you dared me to.”
“And I thought you looked cute when it was all said and done.”
“All said and done?” I question on a laugh. “My mom lost her mind when she saw that my hair looked like a mushroom.”
“But you were a cute mushroom.”
“Out,” I say, giving him a playful shove toward my bedroom, and he starts to head on his merry way.
“I’m going to check on Luna 2.0 real quick. And…” He turns back one last time. “Don’t forget to sing loud enough for me to hear you downstairs. You sound like dying sea life, and it calms me.”
“Leave, Ace.”
“Going, going.” He shoots finger guns at me. “But if brunch turns into a Kline Brooks’ interrogation, I’m throwing you under the bus.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less.”
As I shut the bathroom door, I hear him mutter through the wood, “You’re lucky I like you so much, Lia.”
