Total pages in book: 15
Estimated words: 14190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 71(@200wpm)___ 57(@250wpm)___ 47(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 14190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 71(@200wpm)___ 57(@250wpm)___ 47(@300wpm)
Blush creeps on her face and neck, and she looks away. “No. I didn’t like them enough.”
The relief is so massive that I can’t help the smile tugging on the corner of my mouth. Allie didn’t sleep with them. That’s good enough for me.
Then, the reason for this conversation pops that small bubble of happiness. The other guy. The current problem. The one she’s planning to go out with. The one she wants to impress. Hard enough apparently to ask me, her best friend of more than ten years, to take her virginity.
Allie grabs another throw pillow and hugs it closer to her chest. Lucky pillow. Imagine getting squashed by those soft tits. My idea of paradise.
“So, will you do it with me? Please, Tris?”
Tossing my head back, I close my eyes, trying to make sense of my rioting emotions, trying to gauge how far I’m willing to go. “I don’t know, Bun.”
“‘Kay. I won’t force you.”
With a sigh, I cast her an amused glance. “I sense a ‘but’ there somewhere.”
“But I’ll go to every airshow with you if you say yes.”
“Damn. I forgot how much you like to play dirty.”
Her face splits into that mischievous grin I know so well. “Is that a yes? I mean, I’m good at taking photos and videos. Imagine having professional-level shots while watching the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels. Photos you can print, frame, and hang on your wall.”
“You know, you missed your calling as a lawyer.”
She giggles again and winks. “So, will you do me the honor of fucking me first? Or do you need me to get on my knees and beg?”
Even as I think about it, I know it’s a losing battle. I can never say no to Allie. She can ask me to jump, I’ll ask how high. She can tell me to walk over hot coals, and I’ll keep on smiling even with blistered and burned feet.
Allie always had this power over me—like when she wanted to sneak into the Seniors’ Ball as a freshman or watch the last full show even when her curfew was at 8 PM. I’ll always be here and do whatever she asks. If she calls me in the middle of the night and tells me we need to bury a body, I’ll show up in five minutes tops, complete with a tarp and a shovel.
It sounds pathetic, I get it. I’ve been in love with her since I was a fourteen-year-old, pimply, gangly kid who had bigger glasses than my face. Through the years, my skin improved and I gained enough muscles to fight off anyone who tried something funny with Allie. Only the glasses remained.
The day I realized I wanted her more than a best friend was when her cheerleading team won the championship, and, in full view of everyone, she ran to me and hugged me like nothing and no one else mattered. Like I was her whole world. For a moment there, it was just her and me.
Allie must sense she’s about to get her way again because she doubles down on her bribery. “I’ll even help you find that Air Force flight bomber jacket you’ve always wanted.”
I groan. “Bunny.”
I used to call her Bunny because of her two front teeth. She initially thought I was making fun of her, but I liked it. I still do actually. I love her smile. It’s pretty, so the nickname kind of stuck.
Allie sighs and begins to busy herself with inspecting her nails, which is funny because she doesn’t care about them. She’s a potter, so she rarely ever has her nails done. “I mean, you can say no and I’ll just ask someone else.”
Absolutely fucking not. “Fine, fine. I’ll do it.”
She smiles deviously.
Damn it all to hell. What have I gotten myself into?
“Listen, no matter what you say, don’t ever comment about her flushed, glossy skin,” Allie warns me.
We sit in my car, idling just outside her childhood home. Her ninety-year-old grandma, Lucille, is playing some kind of heavy metal music. “Why?”
“She started using Tretinoin or something, but she didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to use it every day. Now her face is irritated, so she’s irritated.”
My mouth curls upward, and I chuckle. Lucille is perpetually irritated. I’ve never seen her in any other mood. Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen her smile either. The woman has spent nine decades hating the world.
Allie sees me and grabs my arm, pulling me over the center console and closer to her. She weighs no more than a feather, but I let her think she can manhandle me like this. For someone who stands at a little over five feet, she can be intimidating when she wants to be. “I’m serious, Tristan. Don’t laugh or ask about it unless you want her to kick your ass to the curb.”