“Wait, so he just let you move in with him?” Ellie asked.
Getting up to refill my coffee cup. “He bought me the plane ticket.”
Looking up, I see both of them giving me a weird look as I lean against the counter facing them. “What?”
“Your best friend’s younger brother bought you a cross-country plane ticket so you could move in with him?” Ellie finally answers.
“Yeah.”
“Did he have a crush on you growing up or something?” Lacey asks, laughing, but I can see a hint of something more than simple curiosity in her eyes.
“No, I told you we grew up together. We used to joke around that I was the sixth Jones kid,” I answer back, not understanding what they’re getting at.
“Honey, you don’t find it weird that your best friend’s younger brother paid for you to move in with him?”
“Not at all, we practically lived together when we were kids.” I can see where they’re coming from; I’ve heard all of this before. At first, people wondered if I’d end up with Lincoln who was a grade ahead of me in school, then it was Lawson, who was two years behind me in school. No one has ever thought of me and Levi though, the baby of the family, or me and Liam, the oldest. I have to say though, it does get old.
“So you’re telling me he doesn’t want to sleep with you?” Lacey bluntly asks. “Ellie here was beating around the bush, but that’s what we want to know.”
“Oh my god, no! Is that seriously what you think is going on? He’s six years younger than me! Practically a baby!” I say, laughing. “Oh my god! You girls are too funny.” Is that what people are going to think of me when they learn that I live with one of the Calgary Rockies hotshot young players? “Me and Levi? Are you nuts?”
“I think the lady protests too much!” Ellie exclaims with a wag of her eyebrows.
“Is that what you guys think? That I would move across the country to get laid by my best friend’s younger brother?” I ask with my own eyebrow raised.
“I’m sure you could use some hot sex,” Ellie offers behind her coffee mug.
“You’re right on that one. The girl should definitely be getting laid,” Lacey tacks on, then turns to me. “Even at twenty-three you can’t tell me that Levi isn’t someone who you know would rock your world, even for a night. I mean the guy drips sex,” she finishes with a matter-of-fact look.
Blushing, I answer with finality, “Not happening.”
“Then why are you blushing?”
“Truth? It has nothing to do with Levi. When I told Summer I was getting divorced, the first thing she said was‘Finally, now go get laid.’I can’t say she was totally off base with that, and the last thing on that list is Hot-Life-Changing-Sex,” I say, feeling my blush deepen and a sweat start to break out as I look away.
“What list?” Lacey asks.
“When I was packing to move, I found an old Bucket List Summer and I had made when we were about fifteen,” I quickly explain.
“I’ve always wanted to make a Bucket List! I wanna know everything that’s on that list! Who knew we had a little wild kitten on our hands!” Lacey shouts as she stands and shakes her ass.
“Damn girl! What else is on that list!” Ellie tags on.
“Trust me . . . the list is pretty mundane. Embarrassingly mundane . . .”
“Then let’s spice it up!” Ellie says.
“Show us and let us be the judge.”
Sensing that they aren’t going to give up, I go get the list I’ve been carrying around with me from my purse.
I come back to the kitchen table, and I see Ellie with a pen and paper, and before I can ask, she looks at me and says, “I like crossing things off a list, okay? Plus, we’re writing this list down, adding to it, and planning on how to cross some of them off. So start listing so I can get everything down.”
“All right, so remember we were fifteen when Summer and I wrote this up. Maybe I should explain these as I go through the list.” Handing them the list, I give them the same explanation I gave Levi a few days ago.
“Not a bad start; a little safe, but half of these are easy to do,” Lacey comments after looking over the list a few times.
“I’ve never been to a baseball game! I’ve always wanted to but have just never gone!” Ellie exclaims, pulling out her phone. “Let’s see what game we can easily get tickets to! Wait what’s the best team to go watch? Or should we pick a city we want to visit that has a baseball team? This is why I don’t plan these things! Too many options!” she continues with a sigh. She’s actually putting thought into this, not just trying to help me cross things off, but she‘s actually trying to make this fun and plan things out properly. I’m usually the one to plan things for other people, not the other way around. Again, I’m thrown by how foreign it feels to have someone want to do things for me.
