Kendall #3
Josie wasn’t a delicate and fancy kind of girl, so she’d shot down my idea of sophisticated little finger sandwiches, lamenting about wanting real food instead.
I’d bitten down on my tongue and manfully held back a wince when Rhys was sent out to obtain what she’d chosen, returning to the house with buckets of fried chicken, mountains of biscuits, and a smorgasbord of the accompanying sides.
It was her day. She deserved greasy fried chicken if that was what she wanted.
When I got around to the point where I’d be welcoming my first child, my baby shower would have tea and an array of adorable little finger sandwiches with cucumber and smoked salmon and herbed cream cheese.
If I ever got to that point in my life. Rhys would make a great dad, though I was sure it would take me years to convince him of that.
Pushing it from my mind, I decided to focus on the tasks at hand.
Mom had organized a bunch of really cute games for the guests to play, and then we watched Josie open gifts. She loved the stuff Rhys and I had picked out, tearing up various points throughout and then complaining about her heightened emotions before scrubbing them away.
When all the mandatory stuff was done, people mostly just milled around and socialized.
Some in the house, and some in the back yard, where there were already intensely competitive games of cornhole going on.
It wasn’t a true gathering around here until the boards and bean bags were dragged out of the garage.
I hovered around the kitchen, throwing away empty containers and straightening up, pridefully eyeing how few of my cupcakes were left on the trays I’d arranged them on.
When Rhys came in, snagging one of the remaining chocolate ones and taking a giant bite, I leaned back against the counter, eyeing him.
“What are you staring at, Sparkles?” He asked, giving me a sly look as he licked a bit of frosting off the side of his thumb.
“Nothing,” I responded, blinking my lashes at him innocently.
The kitchen was empty except for us, but there were people all around us, chatting amongst themselves.
Lowering my voice down to just barely audible, I hooked my thumbs into the belt loops of my cutoff shorts.
“I saved a couple of those at the house, just for you.”
He grinned, giving me one of those looks that made me feel all gooey, the ones he didn’t give out too often. The ones that made me feel like I was the only other person in the world, and certainly the only one he was interested in.
“You’re spoiling me,” he murmured. “I’m getting lazy in my old age.”
I snorted, shaking my head. He woke up early most mornings to go for a run, and would still drive 15 minutes out to the nearest gym sometimes to keep up on his weightlifting.
But he’d already told me that if he ended up actually staying in Cherryvale, which he absolutely was going to if I had anything to say about it, he was likely going to invest in some home gym equipment.
I wasn’t going to complain about that. There was nothing I enjoyed more than worshiping his perfectly carved, washboard abs. Well, almost nothing.
“You look good to me,” I responded softly, and he smirked, flirtatiously cocking an eyebrow.
He reached down for the hem of his shirt, presumably to lift it a bit and let me have a little peek at what I’d probably be running my tongue over later, but let it drop as the sound of footsteps on the ceramic tile of the kitchen sounded from behind him.
Thankful he was facing me and not the entrance to the room, I tore my eyes away from Rhys and put them on Josie.
“Having fun?” I asked, and she nodded, a bright smile plastered on her face. It was definitely worth all the effort we’d put in to see her like that.
“Yep! Just coming in to get another glass of that strawberry lemonade.”
“Yeah, I love when Mom makes that stuff,” I agreed, watching as she stuck her cup in the little ice machine slot of the fridge.
“Ah, I’m gonna… Yeah,” Rhys said, before making a not-so-graceful exit out of the kitchen and through the sliding glass door into the backyard.
He was always so obvious when he was trying to hide something, which was sort of unfortunate for our situation.
But at least I’d know if he was ever hiding something from me.
Josie watched him retreat, then turned to me as soon as he was gone.
“Down, boy,” she warned me teasingly, shaking her head.
“What do you mean?”
“I saw the way you were looking at him. You think your new beau would appreciate you drooling over another guy like that?” She asked, but I could tell she was joking.
“There’s no beau,” I reminded her. “And I wasn’t drooling.”
“You were absolutely drooling, but I get it,” she said easily, shrugging a shoulder. “Rhys is totally your type, to a T.”
She only knew Rhys was totally my type because I tended to go out with guys that reminded me of him. But I’d decline to mention that particular little fun fact to her. I blinked innocently, raising my palms in a gesture of surrender.
“Guilty,” I admitted lightly.
“Too bad he’s not into guys,” she remarked with a laugh, before tilting her head. “Well, actually no. Even if he was, Benji would probably die if you guys did anything. Can you imagine?”
“Ah, nope,” I answered, forcing out a chuckle. “He probably would.”
She headed back out with her lemonade, leaving me alone, my stomach churning with anxiety. I’d never really lied to Benji before. Not since I’d come out to him when we were kids. Ugh, was I the shittiest friend in the world?
Things between Rhys and I were under wraps for now, but…
That wasn’t how things were going to stay forever, at least not according to my master plan.
Would Benji end up hating me for messing around with his brother?
I loved Rhys and I needed to be with him, but Benji had been the constant in my life for as long as I could remember.
He’d been my rock when I’d had basically nothing and no one else.
As fate would have it, just as I’d decided to slink out from my hiding spot in the kitchen and rejoin the herd, Benji exited the bathroom in the hallway just before I could walk past.
“Hey,” he greeted me happily. “I haven’t gotten to talk to you all day.”
“Yeah it’s been kind of hectic,” I agreed, forcing a smile onto my face.
“What’s wrong?” He asked instantly, his brows drawing together as he scrutinized my expression.
“Nothing!”
“Yeah, you can BS everybody else with that fake smile bat your eyelashes crap, but not me.”
Taking in a deep breath, I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. “Really, it’s nothing.”
He stared at me for a few moments, before lightly shaking his head. “Come sit down with me for a minute. I want to talk.”
Somewhat reluctantly, I let him drag me over to the living room and onto the loveseat, where we’d spent an innumerable amount of hours watching movies and playing video games as kids, before he’d gotten a TV for his bedroom.
“Tell me what’s going on in your head,” he ordered, the moment my ass touched the cushion.
I paused for a moment, considering. I hated lying to him, but I didn’t have a choice in the current moment.
Being open about what was going on would destroy my relationship with Rhys, and it wasn’t fair to out him, anyway.
I would never do that to anyone. I decided if I couldn’t talk about the one specific thing that was happening in my life, I’d at least be open about the other stuff.
“Well, you know I’m really happy for you and Josie and everything. But, I guess… I can’t help but feel a little jealous, too.”
Benji let out a breath, his shoulders slumping down like he was a deflating balloon. “Aw, Kendall… This is all going to happen for you, too. And, you know, you won’t have to serve fried chicken when you have your party.”
I laughed, putting my palms over my eyes. “You could tell?”