9. Ella
9
***Ella***
I scoffed. “Don’t be disgusting.”
The sound of the door opening preceded the excited voices of Booth and Fisher growing closer. They came straight to the kitchen and they both smiled when they saw me.
Fisher came around the island and threw his arm over my shoulders. The weight of his arm and the warmth of his body reminded me how long it’d been since I’d touched another human. “Look who we found. I know that you live with us but I was starting to wonder if you’d left in the middle of the night.”
I looked up at him and rolled my eyes. “Who do you think keeps kicking your shoes under the stairs?”
Booth grunted. “Do you know how hard it is for me to get those out? I’m too big to be crawling into small spaces.”
Stealing a glance at his wide chest and shoulders, I made a sound of agreement. “I’m only sorry that I haven’t had a chance to see it.”
His mouth quirked up on one side. “You’ve got a mean streak, Ella. I like it.”
Vaughn had reached his limit of acting like a normal person. “Knock it off. Get your arm off of her, Fish. Booth, don’t flirt with her. Both of you, keep it in your fucking pants.”
Embarrassment struck fast and hot. I shifted away from Fisher and crossed my arms. “Have you ever tried just being human for a minute? You’re still the same little prick that you were all those years ago.”
Vaughn’s eyes flashed. “I knew you remembered me fondly.”
My phone chimed and when I looked down at the notification, I nearly threw the thing across the room. Looking up at Vaughn with a renewed fury, I stepped closer. “What did you do?”
He actually moved back a step. “What are you talking about?”
“Billy just texted me to let me know he saw that I liked one of his posts. I didn’t like any of his posts, Vaughn. I’m damn good about keeping my significantly smaller than yours fingers out of the way when I’m stealthily looking at a profile that I don’t want anyone to know I’m looking at. Did one of your sausage fingers hit like on one of his pictures?”
“What? No. Why would I do that?” He winced. “On purpose.”
I closed the gap between us and smacked his chest. “Dammit, Vaughn! Now he’s going to think that I’m still longing for him. Gross!”
“So, you’re not?” Fisher caught the death glare that Vaughn sent him and laughed. “Forget I asked.”
“Let me talk to him. I’ll make sure he knows you’re not still interested.” Vaughn’s face turned darker as he stepped closer to me. “Maybe I’ll pay him a visit anyway. He has it coming.”
“You know which Billy he is?” Booth ignored the look I sent him.
“Novak.” Vaughn’s answer caused Fisher and Booth to both go quiet.
One look at them told me that they held the same views on Billy as Vaughn. I could also see the looks of pity on their faces. Shame overpowered my frustration easily. “It seems that everyone knew the real Billy except me.”
“Yeah, I’m going to pay him a visit.” Vaughn blew out a deep breath and lightly squeezed my shoulder. “Tell him that you were showing your new boyfriend the loser you left for him and you accidentally tapped the like button.”
It was a stupid idea but I appreciated the thought. I forced a smile and shook my head. “I’m just going to keep ignoring him. And I don’t want you to go talk to him. No one knows I’m living with you guys and I’d like it if it stayed that way.”
“What is this feeling I’m feeling? No one has ever tried to hide me before.” Fisher gestured at his body. “Why would they? Why would you, Ella?”
Vaughn groaned but I spoke over it. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed but this campus is obsessed with football and the people who play it. I don’t want everyone hearing about the loser living with you.”
“Everyone already knows Fisher lives with us.” Booth grinned, making his dimples deepen.
“Bully.” Fisher walked over to me and booped the tip of my nose. “Your secret is safe with me. I don’t want the rest of the team suddenly hanging out here to get a peek. It’s bad enough that Booth and Vaughn are here with us.”
“Dammit, Fisher.” Vaughn pushed his friend away from me and frowned down at me. “He’s right, though. It’s already annoying as hell to make sure these two keep their hands to themselves. I’m not about to run defense with the rest of the team if they want to come ogle you, too.”
I heard my phone chime again and sighed. “I hate you right now, Vaughn.”
He grabbed my phone again and looked at the message. “And for no reason. It’s from someone named Natalie. Apparently, she’s very excited about going to the game with you tonight and thinks she can convince you to love it.”
I took the phone back. “Not going to happen.”
“If Natalie can’t convince you to love us playing, maybe I’ll put on a really good show for you tonight and maybe that’ll open your heart.” Fisher blocked Vaughn from hitting him again and laughed. “You’re so touchy about your little sis, V. Such a great big bro.”
I shuddered and beelined towards the stairs. “And on that note, I’m out of here.”
“Do you know if your friend has good seats?” Vaughn followed behind me. “I could get you right on the fifty-yard line.”
“Even if I knew what that meant, I’d say no. I don’t want to have to explain how I got great seats to a game I didn’t even want to go to. Thanks, though.” I flashed him a quick smile before hurrying up the stairs.
“You’ve got a sticky note on your ass, by the way.”
I groaned and moved faster. When I was alone in my room, I realized that I did, indeed, have a sticky note stuck to my ass. My shopping list had made it downstairs and back upstairs with me. Great.