Bro Code(23)

“So much for not being alone together,” I mutter under my breath, just loud enough for Barrett to hear. When he turns his head toward me, I can tell that his cheeks are missing a bit of their usual color, and his eyes are drawn with dark circles around them. But God, I didn’t think anyone could have flu symptoms and still be that gorgeous.

He’s wearing that same pair of sweatpants that I so gracelessly pulled off him in the parking lot just a couple days ago, and there’s not much I wouldn’t give to reach over and slide them down again. I sink farther into my end of the couch, literally holding myself back.

“Hey, we’re both adults,” he whispers. “I think we can act like it.” The control in his voice insists that he has every intention of behaving, but the flicker in his eyes says just the opposite, and that semi-bulge in his pants, yeah, there’s that.

The question is, can I control my emotions and my libido spending a night alone with him? I gently bite my lower lip, thinking it over, and Barrett lets out a quiet groan, making no secret of the fact that he’s letting his eyes trace my figure, lingering in all his favorite places.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I hiss.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re gonna strip me naked and take me right here.”

The flicker in Barrett’s eyes grows to a full-blown flame. Tonight is going to be nothing but bad news.

“Got the mattress!” Nick bursts into the room, with the deflated air mattress.

I leap off my spot on the couch to help get things set up, relieved to escape the sexual tension, at least for now.

Nick and Barrett work on pumping up the mattress while I pull the cushions off the couch, trying to dismiss the innuendo of the term “pull-out bed” from my head.

“I’ll grab us some pillows and sheets,” I volunteer. No one has to ask me twice to get out of this room for a second.

“No,” Nick stops me. “No going upstairs unless you want Mom to unleash another cloud of disinfectant on you. I’ve got it.”

He bounds out of the room and up the stairs, leaving me and Barrett alone again. I don’t dare turn around to look at him, trying to focus on lining the couch cushions up in a perfect stack in the corner of the room.

I can feel his eyes on me, but I think I know if I turn around I might pull him onto that air mattress and ride him until we’ve deflated the thing. Luckily, Nick comes back downstairs, his arms piled high with bedding, before I can entertain the thought for too long. Mom steps in behind him, walking slowly and deliberately to not spill the two mugs of the mystery concoction that she’s holding.

“It looks like you guys are gonna be all set down here,” she says, surveying our sleeping arrangements. She sets the mugs cautiously down on the end table before backing out of the room, away from our germs. “See? You’ll be just fine. And if you drink all that up while it’s still hot, you’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”

I grab one of the mugs and let the steam warm me. Just smelling it seems to open up my sinuses. Maybe not all of Mom’s ideas are quite as bad as this Ava and Barrett slumber party. Three sips later and I’m already feeling like a new woman. “You oughta bottle this stuff, Mom,” I say between sips.

“Well, make sure you finish it all before you go to sleep. Which should be soon! We need you all better for the party. C’mon, Nick, let’s get out of this petri dish.”

Mom and Nick say their good nights from a distance before heading upstairs, but not before Mom makes us swear again to drink all of our tea. Once they’re gone and it’s just Barrett and me again, my stomach starts fluttering, and it has nothing to do with being sick.

We're alone for an entire night. It’s silent for a good long minute. I pick at my cuticles, trying to resist my long-abandoned nail-biting habit. What do we do next? Just go to bed, I guess? How am I supposed to sleep when all I want is for Barrett to keep me up all night? Congestion be damned. Are we really going to sleep in separate beds or…?

“So, I’ll take the air mattress?” he finally offers.

Well, that answers that.

“Yeah, if you want, that’s fine,” I say, dodging his gaze and scrambling to grab a few pillows and blankets from the stack Nick brought down. It looks like Barrett wants to behave after all, which I know is probably the best choice.

I get to work setting up my bed, keeping the conversation to a minimum. Talking has brought us down dangerous roads before, and I’m doing my best to pump the brakes, since I know it's what he wants.

We busy ourselves with gulping down Mom’s magic tea and take our respective turns brushing our teeth in the downstairs bathroom, keeping the conversation to the occasional “excuse me” as we pass each other, both of us keeping our hands to ourselves.

Once I see that he's settled onto the air mattress, I hit the lights, stumbling through the darkness till I find the pull-out bed, which squeaks and groans as I climb in.

Alright. Time for sleep. Aaaaaand, do your thing, Sandman. A few minutes pass and still nothing. I’ve been feeling sick and sleepy all day, why do I have to be wide awake now?

I toss from one side to the other, but it’s impossible to get comfortable when I know that temptation himself is lying just a few feet away. I’m not sure how much time passes when Barrett finally whispers into the dark, “Are you sleeping?”