“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” I shift on the bed and sigh as the skirt rides up. “Can I borrow your shirt?” I ask him, trying not to stare at his rugged chest. “I can sleep in that. It will be more comfortable than this dress.”
“Sure.” He points to the couch and the stack of folded clothes, and I get off of the bed.
As much as I feel self-conscious, being here, I am also really happy. Luke has always been my closest friend. He knows things about me that I can’t even remember.
“Do you remember the time I came over to your house and forgot my PJs and had to sleep in your Spider-Man suit?”
“I don’t think you had to sleep in it.” His lips twist up in a smirk. “You chose to sleep in it out of all the clothes I had offered. I was so annoyed.”
“I know you were.” I laughed. “You were glaring at me the whole time.”
“I thought you were going to take away my powers.”
“What powers? Climbing up the side of buildings?” I giggle as I grab ahold of his shirt. “Close your eyes. I’m taking my dress off.”
“Close my eyes? Would a boyfriend have to?—”
“Luke!”
“They’re closed.” He lies back on the bed. “So, as you change, let’s discuss our backstory. How did we figure out we were in love?”
“One night, we were watching a movie on the phone together, and you said, ‘This love story reminds me of us,’ and I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and you said, ‘It reminds me that I love you and want you and think you’re the best woman in the world.’”
“Nope,” he grunts from the bed. “I am not going to sound like a simp. There is no way in hell that I would say any of those words, and my family knows it.”
“I think it sounds so romantic.”
“Mia Bishop, could you ever imagine me saying that?” He laughs loudly. “This love story reminds me of us? Um, no.”
He pretends to throw up, and I can’t help but laugh as I button up his shirt. It’s not super long on me, as it stops mid-thigh, but it is big, loose, and soft. It also smells of Luke, like the ocean and lemon mixed together.
“Maybe not the old Luke, but the new super-romantic Luke, yes.”
“Let’s not get carried away, Mia.” He yawns loudly, and I head back to the bed. “Where is this food?” he asks.
I notice his eyes are wide open. Did he even close them? Did he see me taking off my dress? His eyes follow me as I walk, and I can see the way he’s looking at my thighs as his shirt lifts up every other step. Thank God I have on underwear. Never have I been happier about the fact that I am not one of those girls who likes to go commando. I can’t even imagine what would happen if Luke were to see the jungle growing down there. He’d probably laugh. Which reminds me that I need to shave or get a wax. Just in case.
Just in case what, Mia?the Goody Two-shoes in my head demands to know.
For swimming at the beach. In a bikini.I don’t want to find myself renamed as Mia, queen of the Amazon.
“Earth to Mia.”
“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking that it should be here soon. Anyway, if you don’t like my backstory, what do you suppose we tell people?”
“I was thinking something along the lines of you calling me in the middle of the night with a secret and begging me to call you, even though I was at work and?—”
“You’re always at work.”
“Exactly, and I stop in the middle of a meeting and?—”
“How would you be in the middle of a meeting in the middle of the night?”
“Touché. Okay, fine, you call me in the middle of the day while I’m in a meeting, begging me to call you.”
“That sounds like a you move, Luke, not a me move.”
“Anyway, Mia. You beg me to call, and I walk out of the meeting, worried that something has happened to you, and you tell me that you can’t hold it in any longer, and you absolutely must tell me what’s on your mind.”
