“Not true. I’ve seen you get ready in ten minutes.”
I rolled my eyes. “I mean real girls.”
He didn’t respond, and when I looked up, he had a look on his face that I couldn’t place.
“What?” I asked.
He shook his head, breaking eye contact as he walked over to help me clean up. “You’re as real a girl as I’ve ever seen, Cam.” He reached for some beer bottles. “Here, let me help you with that,” he said before I could respond.
I waved him off, trying to will my heart to slow down. “I’ve got this. Go get ready for your hot date, mister.”
He scooped up beer bottles. “Too late. Already going.”
I chuckled and followed him into the kitchen, tossing beer bottles in the recycling before setting my armful of snacks down on the counter. Tyler turned on the water and picked up a sponge.
“Get out of here, Tyler. Go on!” I karate kicked him in the butt, and the bridge of my foot spanned one of his rock-hard ass cheeks.
He laughed and put up his hands. “Fine, fine. I don’t want you breaking any appendages trying to hurt me.”
“Ha, ha, tough guy.” I turned and made my way back into the living room as he headed toward his room.
By the time I’d cleared everything and had all but the fundido to deal with, he walked out of his room looking simply beautiful. His tailored shirt was light gray, sleeves cuffed just above his elbows, top button undone. Black pants and belt with a slate gray buckle that you couldn’t help but look at, even if it wasn’t anything special, just a small flash of metal around the line of his waist. He wore deep gray suede oxfords, and as they tread through the apartment and to the bathroom, I found myself frozen in place, watching him inspect his reflection through the frame of the bathroom door.
Something changed, shifted in that moment, and I realized I’d just covered up the fact that I cared about him in ways I wasn’t prepared to deal with. Maybe I’d been hiding the fact that I wanted him more deeply than the simple rules of attraction, knowing he could never really be mine.
Maybe I’d been wrong about everything.
He turned and caught me looking, smiling brightly as he made his way over to me, and I snapped back into action, grabbing the skillet and keeping my eyes on the remnants of the dip inside to avoid meeting his eyes.
“Don’t get into any trouble, you hear?” I said to my hands as I rounded up the dip with a spoon. “If Jack has to fly back to bail you out of jail, he’s not gonna be happy.”
He laughed as he scooped up his keys. “You wouldn’t bail me out?”
“Psh. I don’t have that kind of cash, Knight. Tell Adrienne I said hi.”
“All right, I will.”
I looked up, my hands stilling. “And Tyler?”
He was turned toward the door, his face angled back to look at me, eyes expectant.
“Have fun.” I smiled, lips closed, swallowing hard as I fought the feeling that I was sending him on a death march.
He smiled back, a crooked smile full of mirth. “Thanks, Cam.”
And with that, he was gone.
I looked into the cheese as if the configuration of sausage and tomatoes would tell my fortune like a soothsayer’s tea leaves. But I found no answers. So I sank into a chair at the table and ate it all out of spite.
Tyler
I left the apartment feeling like she’d had more to say — the sensation was so strong that I fought the urge to turn around and go back to talk to her. But Cam was Cam, and I was me. And she’d made it all too clear that the two of us were separate, even referring to me as her brother.
I shuddered at the thought. I had enough sisters to know for a fact that how I felt about Cam wasn’t even in the same universe.
On the walk to Adrienne’s apartment, I considered the last few days.
Last night I’d almost kissed Cam. I don’t know what had come over me. Maybe it was just being a little drunk, like I only needed a tiny break in my inhibitions to make a move. But she’d backed away. Laughed. Rejected me in the way only she could, in a way that didn’t hurt so much as it stung. All I could do about it was to pretend like it hadn’t happened, though I wished I had the courage to find that part of myself that wasn’t afraid and let it loose.
But she was her. I was me. And we weren’t together. She didn’t want me.
No, she wanted me to date Adrienne.
I puzzled over it all, tried to push it away and pump myself up for the date, but by the time I reached her apartment, I was still distracted, feeling distant, lost in my thoughts.
I should have been cheered by Adrienne’s smile. I should have appreciated the way she looked in the deep red dress she wore. I should have felt better when she hooked her arm in mine and we made our way to dinner.
But I didn’t.
Our salads had been carried away before she asked me if I was all right, and I took a sip of my wine, knowing I had to at least get my head straight enough to entertain her through dinner.
“I’m sorry. I’m fine.” I sat back in my chair, watching her across the flicker of the candle between us, doing my best at small talk. “Cam says you do cosplay?”
She smiled reassuringly. “I really just go because Sarah hates going alone. Too many creeps, she says. But it’s fun dressing up. She’s so into it, watches anime pretty much nonstop. She’s read more comics than I’ve watched Law & Order.”
I chuckled. “Well, if what you say is true, that’s impressive.”