My Brother's Best Friend Read online

  “Anytime. I’m here for you, CJ.”

  “I know and I love you for that,” I said.

  Devin just smiled warmly. “I love you too, Chris. Don’t ever forget it.” I knew he meant it only as a friend. But a friend’s love was all I truly needed while I said goodbye to my parents. I let him lead me back to the cars, all the time his arm wrapped around me, holding me close to his side.

  We reached the cars and he tilted my head to look into my eyes. “You okay to drive?”

  I smiled. “Yes. Thanks for caring. I’ll be fine. Are you coming back to the house?”

  “No, I told Mitch that work texted me and wanted me to come in. So I figure I better not show up around the same time as you. Besides, all I’ll want to do is hold you.”

  “I wouldn’t mind,” I said, hugging him.

  “Yes, but I’m pretty sure Mitch would figure something was up, and then Emily would have a coronary.”

  I groaned, “Emily. I forgot.”

  “We’ll figure something out. Give it a few days. I’ll come up with something.” I assumed he was just talking about how to keep it a secret. I wasn’t really sure what he meant but I was too tired to ask about it.

  “I’ll make sure you get home safe, but still, drive carefully.” He leaned down and kissed me softly.

  “I’ll try.”

  He shook his head then opened my door. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

  I climbed in and buckled my seat belt. “Okay. Bye, Dev.”

  I pulled out of the parking lot and sure enough Devin followed me all the way back home, honking as he drove past. I waved and climbed out of the car and headed up the pathway.

  “I’m back!” I yelled as I opened the door.

  “We’re in the living room,” Mitch shouted.

  I set my things down and walked into the living room, only to find Emily sitting down with Mitchell and Megan.

  “She knows?” I asked, taking the recliner Devin and I had sat in together just a few nights ago.

  “Yeah, we just told her,” Megan said.

  “What did you say when you found out?” Emily asked.

  I thought about what she really was asking and I sighed. “I said I hated the idea and that they should have waited to come back to have the wedding.”

  Megan was about to say something, but Mitch wisely stopped her.

  Emily straightened a little. “Well then, I’m happy for you guys. I think it’s awesome that you two got hitched. Can I go to my room now?”

  “Sure,” Mitch said. “We’re going to order out. Is there anything you want?”

  “Just get me a salad,” she said as she stood up and left the room.

  “How did you know?” Megan asked, referring to Emily’s reaction.

  “I know my sister. What I like, she hates. What I want, she has to have it first.”

  “I don’t—” Megan began.

  “She’s not like that with you. At least she hasn’t been so far. So don’t worry,” I told her. “I really am happy for you though.” I stood up to head upstairs.

  “Hey, how was your appointment?” Mitch asked.

  “It was fine,” I told him. “And if you don’t want to order out there should be some leftover casserole in the fridge. Either way, I’ll be down later for dinner.”

  I walked up the stairs and spent the rest of the evening reading my book for my English class and answering text messages.

  Hey, beautiful. What are you doing?

  —————————————————-

  Sent from a guy bored out of his mind

  Haha. At least you can’t die from boredom.

  I’m just reading for class. Something I

  should have started Thursday or even last night.

  I think in this case you can die from it,

  but now my mind is actively remembering

  everything we did last night.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from someone who wants you

  Okay stop, this is not fair. You can’t just

  make me want you and not do anything

  about it. We’re talking about something else.

  How come we can’t do anything about it?

  —————————————————-

  Sent from someone who knows every inch of you

  Because my sister is in the room right next door. So what

  are you doing besides making my life harder?

  Thinking about you.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from someone thinking about you

  Dev, stop. I’m going to turn my phone off

  if you continue this. Now tell me why you

  texted me.

  Fine. I’m stopping but only because I’m bored.

  I’m sitting in my apartment because I told

  Mitch I had to go to work.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from Mr. Bored

  I’m sorry. That’s my fault, I guess. I shouldn’t

  have asked you to meet me.

  No. I’m glad you asked me. I'm glad I could be

  there for you. I worry about you, CJ.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from a guy who cares about you

  Thanks for caring. And if it makes a difference,

  it has been a couple hours. I think you could

  safely come back over.

  I better not. If I do, I’ll just want to take you

  upstairs and make love all night. And I’m pretty

  sure that would tip off everyone.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from a guy who misses you

  Yeah, that wouldn’t be good. Though I doubt I

  could keep my hands off you myself. So I’ll

  just see you another time.

  Oh, about that. After dinner, you need to

  excuse yourself for dessert. I told Larissa

  and Zach that it was your birthday, so just

  tell Mitch and the others you have plans with them.

  I still can’t believe how well you and Larissa get on,

  it’s like you’ve known each other for years.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from Top Secret Head Quarters

  Haha. Okay TSHQ, I’ll plan for it.

  Where should I meet you?

  I’ll come by and pick you up. So just go

  with the others in Mitch’s car and I’ll

  text you when you should come out.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from TSHQ

  You make me smile, Dev. I’ll have my phone handy,

  waiting for your text. You think I could sneak out

  tonight?

  Probably, but better not to risk it. We’ll see each other

  tomorrow. Just read your book and wait patiently.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from your other half

  Dinner is here. I’m heading downstairs. If you don’t

  hear from me again, know that I will really miss you.

  Don’t talk like that. You will find me speeding over

  there to make sure you’re okay. Just yell through the

  door. Don’t open the dragon’s lair.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from your knight in shining armor

  No damsel in distress here. I made it to the

  dinner table with all my limbs intact.

  Good to hear. Now make sure you make it

  back safely. The harrowing road has many

  dangers. Make sure you watch your back.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from Prince Charming

  Isn’t Prince Charming supp
osed to face the harrowing

  road without his princess? You’re the one who saves me,

  you don’t just text me and tell me to watch out.

  Well, my princess doesn’t like to be coddled by anyone,

  least of all her prince. In other words, I’m respecting

  your freedom. I'm a twenty-first century kind of prince.

  I’m there when you need me, not there to impose my

  dashing good looks and strong character on you.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from your respectful prince

  All right, I got to stop for now.

  Mitch and Megan aren’t sure who I’m texting.

  Tell them it’s your best bud Larissa.

  At least for now.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from Larissa

  Okay, Larissa. I just finished explaining

  to everyone who Larissa was, forcing

  me to say I went to work with you.

  Did you tell them you went because you wanted

  to see behind the scenes of the show?

  —————————————————-

  Sent from Larissa

  Stop with the whole Larissa thing. It’s not like they

  can read my text messages. It’s fine. Megan actually

  wishes she could see what you do.

  I told her it was boring.

  Haha. Very funny, CJ. I know you love

  what I do. I bet you could even convince

  Terry to give you a job working with me part time.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from Devin

  I do love your job. I think it’s amazing you get to

  record the tracks the cast sings. And you never know.

  I may just appeal to Terry to find a place for me there.

  Then you would be forced to see me all the time.

  That wouldn’t be too bad.

  I can see work not getting done on time though.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from someone who would

  be distracted by your presence

  Hmmm. That could be a problem.

  Maybe I’ll stick with the job I have already.

  Sounds like a plan for now.

  We can revisit this at a later time.

  What are you guys eating?

  —————————————————-

  Sent from a hungry man

  Lasagna from Cortina’s.

  Why don’t you go eat something?

  Aren’t there leftovers from last night?

  I’ll only be forced to remember what happened

  after dinner. I can’t even walk into my kitchen

  now without images of what we did on the counter.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from a man in pain

  Well, I can’t alleviate your pain. I’m at the dinner

  table with family and you know I blush easily.

  So stop talking about last night.

  I’m eating leftovers.

  It’s just not the same without you.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from an empty dining room

  Way to make me feel loved. Sometimes you’re too much, Dev.

  I’m signing off—I don’t mean literally since we’re texting not

  chatting online. But I have to finish dinner and read a book

  that needs to be read by Monday and that’s not going to get

  done if I continue to talk with you. So goodnight, Dev.

  Goodnight, beautiful

  —————————————————-

  Love, Prince Charming

  Chapter Twelve

  When I woke up the next morning, I thought I would feel different. I mean I turned 23, but it feels pretty much the same as 22. I don’t feel different. I don’t feel older. I just feel like myself, Christy Walsh.

  I slept in, but when I came downstairs I was surprised to find Megan had made a special breakfast for me. Well, I guess it was more like brunch now. “I tried to keep it warm. Hopefully it’s still good,” she said, biting her lip.

  I smiled at her nervousness. “Even if it was gross, I would still love it. You made me breakfast!” I went up to her and gave her a big hug. “Thanks, sis.”

  “You’re welcome.” I could hear the smile in her voice.

  I sat down and ate the breakfast prepared especially for me and didn’t let anything bother me, not even when Emily came downstairs and scoffed at the food.

  “I’ll just have my cereal, thanks.”

  I gave Megan a ‘don’t worry about her’ look because literally she only ever ate her special cereal—cardboard if you ask me—or salads. She snuck a few snacks here and there when no one was looking. I started noticing my stash of junk food grow less and less a while ago, but I never said anything. God forbid I be the cause of my sister’s death due to anorexia.

  Anyway, I learned awhile back not to ask questions and keep the cabinet stocked. The more stocked it is, the more Emily feels she can eat from it and no one will notice.

  “Thanks, Meg, I really appreciate it,” I told her once more as I got up to put my plate away.

  “I can get that for you,” she said, taking the plate from my hands.

  “It’s not a bother for me.”

  “But it’s your birthday. At my house on birthdays, my parents would cook breakfast and even allow us to skip our chores for the day. Mine was washing dishes. So please let me do this for you.”

  I smiled. “Sure. Is Mitch up?”

  “He went into the office for a few hours. He said he’d be back later and if you wanted we could do something before dinner since you have your time with your studio friends later.” I had told them last night that Larissa and Zach wanted to meet up with me after dinner.

  “Uh, I don’t have anything. I actually have to finish the book I’m reading for class tomorrow. It was my spring break assignment.”

  “What book?”

  “ Pride and Prejudice ,” I said. “I have an end-of-the-semester project to find a continuation or a ‘what if’ kind of book and explore the differences in language, imagery or characters. Basically I have to analyze the book I choose with the original.”

  “Sounds pretty interesting.” Megan smiled as she continued to wash the dishes. “Have you picked the book you’re going to read?”

  “I’ve ordered a couple that sounded promising and I’ll probably read them and choose one in the next month. But for now, I really have to go read or else I will not have it done by tomorrow.”

  “You have class after work, right?” Megan asked.

  “Yeah, every day of the week except Wednesday and Friday.”

  Megan nodded. “That’s a pretty packed schedule.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s not even a full load of classes. It will take me another two years to finish at the rate I’m going.”

  “Maybe now with both mine and Mitchell’s incomes, you could go back to full time and finish in two semesters.”

  I smiled. I wasn’t about to say I didn’t want to give up my good job and benefits to go to school full time. I was used to my packed schedule and I kind of liked it. More importantly, I didn't want to put that sort of financial pressure on them. “I’ll be upstairs,” I said, pointing toward the stairway.

  “Don’t forget to check your phone, it was beeping incessantly earlier,” Emily complained.

  “And you’re telling me this now? You could have told me earlier.”

  “Eh, I forgot.” She didn’t even look up.

  I smiled and shook my head before heading upstairs to check my phone.

  Hey Beautiful.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from Handsome

  Hell
o?

  —————————————————-

  Hello. Hello. Hello. (That’s an echo if you didn’t get it)

  Seriously, Chris. Come on, it’s like 11.

  You can’t still be sleeping.

  —————————————————-

  Sent from a slightly impatient person

  Okay when you get this just text me.

  I’m dying over here.

  Just be glad that I know

  you’re safe with Mitch or I would

  be over there making sure you were alive

  —————————————————-

  Sent from an obsessively protective guy

  Geez, Dev. I left my phone upstairs.

  And Emily didn’t tell me my phone

  had been going off until just now.

  Phew. I almost texted Mitch to ask you if you had

  seen my sweatshirt just so I could make

  sure you were all right.

  —————————————————-

  Sweet or annoying?

  I would say creepy, not annoying.

  Haha, just messing with you. I think

  it’s sweet, you care for my wellbeing.

  I do. So, are we good for dessert tonight?

  —————————————————-

  Eagerly waiting for a response

  It’s a go. I told them last night, so I’m free.

  M&M wanted to know if I wanted to do

  something before dinner.

  You should go do something. You’re probably

  just in your room reading for class.

  Go have some fun, it’s your birthday

  —————————————————-

  By the way HBTY

  Happy Birthday To ME! Haha.