Broken and Screwed (BS #1)(59)

“Hey, Alex.” Eric set me on my feet and bent so he was eye level with me. He gentled his voice. “You okay? You look upset.”

“Everyone is so damn worried about me,” I snapped out.

He straightened abruptly. His blonde hair was gelled at the tips; it gave him a wet/bedroom look. It seemed to make his blue eyes all the more smoldering and I could see why so many girls fancied him. With a loose white tee shirt over ripped jeans, Eric could’ve been a model.

And holy hell. When did I start noticing him in that way?

I cursed under my breath before I squared my shoulders back. “I’m sorry, Eric.”

“Hey, no problem.” He lifted his cup in front of him and raised his eyebrows. “I’m just here, drinking, hanging out at my place. Have you been here before? Wait, you must’ve.”

“Your seventh grade birthday party.”

His cheeks reddened and he made a point to drink from his cup. Then he coughed. “Yeah, that’s not embarrassing. We did our ‘seven minutes in heaven’ thing, didn’t we?”

I couldn’t stop a chuckle at that memory. We had been shoved inside, but it’d been the longest and shortest seven minutes of heaven in my life. “You kissed me on the cheek.”

“I did?” A wide smile appeared. “I was aiming for your lips. I was trying to be aloof and mysterious. Did it work?”

I shrugged, but my stomach fluttered as I remembered the feel of his cool lips. I’d been so excited. I had pulled Angie into the closest bathroom and squealed about my first kiss on the cheek. “I had a crush on you back then.”

His eyebrows shot up again. “You did?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I did. You were a big deal.”

Then he chuckled as he had more of his beer. “I can’t imagine I was that big of a deal.”

“You were the most popular guy in our grade.” Still was.

“Yeah.” He quieted, gave me an awkward look, and reached up to scratch the back of his head. “Maybe. No one could compete with your brother and Jesse.”

“They were a grade older.”

“I know, but I knew that all the girls liked those two. You included.”

A rush of heat went to my cheeks and I knew I was blushing too. Then I admitted, “I had the biggest crush on Jesse, all my life.”

“Yeah, you guys were close.” He frowned. “Didn’t he live with you guys at one point?”

I nodded. “Yeah, from eighth grade to the end of his junior year. His mom died and he moved in. His dad was always away.”

“I remember seeing him at your place all the time.”

My eyebrows lifted.

He hung his head slightly. He confessed, “Justin, me, and Troy rode our bikes past your house all the time. Troy and me had big crushes on you. Justin always wanted to see if Angie was over at your place.”

Warmth flared inside of me again. It was the good kind; it’d been too long since I remembered my past like this. It felt right. “Yeah, that’s right. Those two were always fighting and picking on each other.”

“Now look at them.”

“Yeah, I know. The first couple to get married, I bet.”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “Probably.” And then the mood shifted.

I grew tense, but the ends of his mouth dipped down. He looked tired all the sudden and he let out a breath of air. “Have you been okay, Alex? I know it might not be my place, you know, since the last time we really talked I ripped into you, but I still care about you. Are you okay?”

I held my breath and nodded. My throat had gone dry and there were butterflies in my stomach. I hadn’t felt like this since, well, since Jesse. Then I gulped again. My throat was so dry. I needed something to drink. I grabbed his cup from him and finished the rest of it. Then I shoved it back into his hand. He hadn’t moved.

“Oookay.”

I flushed. “I was thirsty.”

“Oh. Well, stay here. I’ll get some more beer for us.”

Panic took over and I grabbed his arm when he started to go. “Don’t leave.” I stopped, surprised at the fear in my voice. My hand fell away, but I couldn’t keep quiet. “Don’t leave. You’ll go. Someone else will come. I’ll feel weird. This is nice, right now. You and me. This is nice.”

“Okay.” He said it gently as he touched the back of my elbow. “We can go to my parents’ back patio and talk. No one should be out there. I’ll have someone get us something to drink. Actually, I think my dad has a liquor cabinet in his closet.” He gave me a sheepish look. “We’re not supposed to know about it since they don’t want us to drink, but we always did.”

“Of course.” I relaxed then and my knees were weak from the relief.

“Okay. Through here.” He guided me into a back master bedroom. “Hold on.”

I waited in the darkness as he moved away. Clothes hangers were pushed aside, he cursed, and then there was a loud thud on the floor.

“Eric?”

“I’m okay,” his voice came out muffled. “My mom’s got so many damn clothes. I can’t find the light switch in this stupid closet. Oh, here it is.”

Light flooded the room then and I blinked from the sudden brightness. But then as my eyes adjusted, I saw a king-sized bed with cream bedcovers. There was a desk area with a coach behind it and three shelves from floor to ceiling filled with books. A bathroom was in the corner and I could see marble on the counter top. The floor was made of cream mosaic tiles. When Eric emerged from another doorway, he lifted his hands as he wiggled his eyebrows. He had two bottles of Boones Farm.