Chapter 3
Eli
“S he said ‘no?’” Finn looks at me incredulously. Eyebrows to the ceiling kind of incredulity.
“Ya, bro. I guess it’s just not meant to be.” But he’s shaking his head before I can finish the thought.
“No, no, no. I’ve seen the way she watches you. There’s no way she’s not interested. Maybe you didn’t really ask her out.”
“Trust me, Twinderella, I asked her out.”
“What did you say? Word for word.”
“‘You wanna go on a date?’”
“Well, maybe she was distracted. Didn’t hear you.”
“I had her locked between my arms, dude. It was a clear no. She doesn’t want to date one of her friends.”
THWAP!
“What was that for, Finn?”
“You’ve been friendzoned? After all of this? Nope. I won’t have it.” We’re about to walk into the photoshoot with Summer, and Finn is looking more and more like he just ate those sour candies we used to devour as a kid. The ones he hated, but he’d compete with me to eat anyway.
“She told me no. I can respect that.”
“Sure. Ya. Mhmmm…You can respect that, or…and just hear me out…you can ask her out one more time like a badass.”
“Whatever—”
“Seriously. Show her that you’re not interested in being friends—”
“I dunno. I do like the friendship.”
“You’re telling me you can live with only the friendship?”
“That’s the thing. It really feels like this time I can’t live without the friendship.”
“Shit.” He heaves out a sigh so heavy I watch his oily chest puff out and deflate. Ya, we’re oiled up. This is utterly ridiculous, but there’s not much I wouldn’t do for her. I tried to hold out and say no, but when she showed up on her own to ask me, I caved. Fast.
“You have to ask her, Twiniffer. Just one more time. Do it right. Do it big. Then if she says no, back off.”
“Maybe.”
THWAP! He clipped the back of my head this time, and even though I really don’t want to say it, it slips out. “Watch the hair, dude.” The hair and makeup artists spent like an hour on this and more for my sake than theirs, I really don’t want to go through that again.
“Let’s go.”
And we walk into the firehall turned studio, me smoothing my hair. Big, bright lights. Shiny firetruck in the background. Right smack dab in the middle of it is the girl of my dreams. Summer’s there with two cameras clipped to her body in leather harnesses. A third camera rests on a tripod.
This is professional.
And—
“Shit!” I say just as I trip over a taped cord on the ground. Yes. It’s taped, and yes I still tripped. I was distracted by Summer. I grab onto the nearest item that looks stable. A tripod. Bad idea.
It crashes to the floor.
Everyone looks over.
“Uh…not a cool prank, Eli,” Graham says, not having witnessed the trip.
“Damn. Obviously I didn’t mean to do that,” I ground out, feeling like more of an idiot than I’ve ever felt in my entire life. And I’ve done some stupid shit. Glued quarters to tables as a prank because I thought that was hilarious at the time. Almost decapitated my friend after setting off fireworks. Hunted Big Foot. Really, not sure why Summer would say yes after reading that killer list.
Speaking of the angel. Summer’s by my side. Not sure when that happened. Her bright and bubbly voice is reassuring me, “It’s no big deal. I shouldn’t have left it there right in the middle of the room.” Trying to hide it, her face cringes as she stoops to pick it all up. Ya, she’d be terrible at poker.
Brushing off the camera, she flicks on the power. “See, it ummm…still works.” She flicks it off before the screen even displays anything.
“I’ll buy you another one.”
“No. Don’t worry about it. It was old anyway.”
“I’ll get you a new one.” Not waiting for her reply, I bend down to pick up the tripod. But when I maneuver its legs to stand up right, something must have caught in one of my suspenders pulling it away from my skin without me noticing because all I hear is a loud SNAP! And then my own voice screeching, “OW!”
My suspenders just snapped back my bare chest. That fucking stings.
But something warm is rubbing my nipple. That’d be Summer’s hand.
“Oh my God, Eli. That must have hurt.”
Shit. It did hurt.
“That’s gonna leave a mark,” she murmurs while still rubbing her hand over my nipple, up and down my torso where the red welt shines brightly. Her hands move softly. But the real mark that’s being left isn’t from the suspenders.
I grab her wrist.
“I think you should stop doing that.”
Her caramel brown hair falls away from her face as chocolate brown eyes peer up at me through her long dark lashes. All natural. All beautiful. Fucking delicious. Yup. I’m definitely gonna ask her out again.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, as if rubbing my oily body in front of a whole room full of people is just a normal thing to do.
“Nothing,” I grumble, feeling the heat from every angle about now. “Just—” I clear my throat “—I’m gonna need you to not touch me right now.”
“Oh.” Her perfectly round lips look—
“And that’s enough,” I say loudly. “Let’s get this shoot on the road.”
“Okay. Eli can you—”
“I’m gonna need a minute. Shoot Finn first.”
Like really. Because he’s the one who put the idea in my head that I should ask her out again, and now I can’t get past that.
Finn’s up. Leaning against the truck, flashing smiles, winking. The guy’s comfortable. We’re twins, and actually very similar to each other, but he’s way more natural in the limelight than I am.
Nolan’s next, and he’s so eager to be captured on film that he’s taken double the time Finn took. I see Summer snap another shot and look around. She shies away from confrontation, and I can easily read her signs. It was like that from the first moment I met her.
When she rushed into the bar, it was obvious that she needed something. She was in a crisis. And I wanted to be the first one—only one—helping her.
“Nolan,” I shout. “She’s got every angle of you. Twice. You’re done.”
“I don’t think she got the thumbs in my pocket—”
“Dude. She got that one. Three times. You’re out.” I throw my thumb to the back wall.
As he walks by her, he says, “Maybe we can get a few private photos later—”
“Nolan,” I growl. “She’s not interested.”
“Maybe she is,” he says to me while he winks at her. But he doesn’t follow through on the offer. Jackass.
Summer tosses me a look over her shoulder and mouths, thank you .
After she shoots Graham, who remains neutral throughout, I realize it must be my turn.
“Okay. So maybe just…umm…” she nibbles on her bottom lip. “Grab that hose and sling it over your shoulder.”
“Like this?”
“Mmm…ya.” Those two little sounds target my groin.
“Maybe don’t scowl.”
“I’m not.”
“Maybe don’t cringe.”
“I’m not.”
“I’m seeing the scowl,” Nolan calls from the back of the room. Little Fucker.
“And I can see that cringe. It’s like you just drank day-old coffee by mistake,” Graham confirms, unhelpfully.
“Fuck you both.”
“Oop. Eli’s mad.”
No shit, Finn. I’m oiled up lugging a giant hose in front of the girl I want to be with, and I’m surrounded by idiots.
“Finn, jump in. Let’s try something,” Summer instructs my brother.
Next thing I know, we’re back to back, then side to side, doing awkward poses.
Summer looks down at the screen on her camera. “Not bad, you guys, but I still need some good ones of Eli on his own—”
The fire alarm goes off. Literally saved by the bell. I knew I loved that show.