4. Brenna
4
brENNA
I think I’ll die now.
Pulling the covers tighter around me, I remind myself to breathe, even as my lungs burn from holding on to my last inhale. I just can’t seem to let go. Death really does seem like the better option.
Maybe even the only option. Because really, where does one go from here? It’s certainly not looking Milo in the eye. Not after he just saw me like that .
And now I have to live with him for the rest of the summer. Fuck me.
I crash backward, the mattress swaying under the force of me, dread surrounding me. I don’t know that I’ve ever been this embarrassed in my entire life. And that’s saying something, because I have done some seriously dumb shit.
The chirp of my phone cuts through my pity party, and I blindly reach for it, my heart racing. Chances are it’s Brandt, letting me know he’s on the plane and headed west. No, he would have texted me for that. It’s probably my mom, making sure that everything is good.
But there’s also the possibility that it’s Milo. Telling me…I do n’t even know. There are all sorts of things he could probably say—and nothing that I can come up with in this moment is good. All of it is awkward or mean or lands me living back at my parents’ this summer.
Still, I need to answer. So here goes.
I glance down, and the whole world settles as my best friend’s face flashes across the small screen. Just Mell. Thank God.
“Hi!” I greet, maybe a little too cheerfully.
“Hi,” she answers back skeptically. “What’s wrong?”
I sigh, finally exhaling fully, my muscles thankful for the release. Rolling off the bed, I grab Sherlock off the floor, holding down the power button until the little LED shuts off, hoping like hell the sound of him doesn’t travel through the phone. Let’s not add to the awkward.
Sorry, Sherlock, you might be furloughed for a bit…
“Nothing. Why would anything be wrong?”
Shit…
“You sound weird.”
“Nope, all good here!”
“Bren…”
Nothing…it’s nothing…just my older brother’s sexy as hell bestie walking in on me getting off. It’s nothing…
For a second I think about telling her. Spilling all the tea and wearing my mortification proudly. She is my best friend after all. She knows all my secrets. Hell, maybe she’d even know what to do to make this whole thing less…humiliating.
“You caught me as I was about to get in the shower, that’s all,” I lie. “So, you’re talking to me naked.”
“Weirdo.”
I laugh it off. If she only knew the half of it. “You know me.”
“Anyway, Brandt left today, right? So time to kick off hot-girl summer? ”
“Yup, left this morning. And I do have to study, you know.”
I shake my head. I love Mell and her commitment to endeavors, but I think she’s going to be disappointed in my fun levels thanks to the amount of time I’m going to have to devote to my study guides.
“Yes, but one night out won’t hurt. Then you can get your study on.”
Okay, she has a point.
“Whatcha thinking?”
“The Giddy Up? Dust the boots off and find some stranger to push you around the dance floor?”
“Is that Jon approved?” I question, wondering what exactly her husband would think of that. Especially considering that’s how they met.
“Notice I said push you around the dance floor and not us .”
Laughing, I grab a towel from the closet and wrap it around me, perching on the edge of the bed. I’ll make it down to the bathroom in a moment, but I don’t dare sit here naked now. Just in case.
“Fair.”
“Friday work?”
I start to respond, then stop. Shit. I agreed to help out at Pour Decisions on Friday. It’s one of the busier nights at the bar, and even though Milo insisted that he and Ben could handle it, I promised I would be around just in case. I can’t go back on that. Unless now he doesn’t want me to.
“I promised I’d help at Pour Decisions Friday. Saturday?”
“Can’t Saturday—promised Mom I’d go up to Atlanta to see a show with her.”
Oh, damn it.
“Next weekend?”
“That’s the military wives’ retreat up in North Carolina I agreed to. I actually leave Sunday from Atlanta to head up there and don’t get back until next Sunday.”
I sigh, slumping my shoulders as I readjust the towel. “We are not off to a good start.”
“I’ll just come hang out at the bar. We’ll make it work. Besides, don’t they have a new guy working there? Is he cute?”
“Ben? He’s like twelve.”
“He can’t be twelve; he’s serving alcohol.”
“Mell, it’s Ben Edgar. Lauren Edgar’s little brother.”
“Oh.”
I press my lips in a line, nodding my head, her short response understood perfectly. Hickory Hills is a small town, where everyone knows everyone. To Milo, Ben is nothing more than a local kid home from college. To Mell and me, he’s the annoying little brother of a classmate who used to chase us around, trying to snap our bras.
“Okay, so that’s a no go, but we’re still going to kick this off right. Showing you off behind the bar!”
“Whatever you say.”
“Go shower. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Hitting the end button, I toss my phone to my side, working up the courage to get up off the bed. I need a shower—there are no two ways about that. Not to mention, at some point, I will need to leave this room. I want to be completely sure that the coast is clear before I do so. Nothing wrong with that, right?
Right.
Hot-girl summer is off to a rough start.