Always Remember (Memories) (15 page)

“Informative,” Lexy comments nonchalantly. “I absolutely know who that is, obviously. You were so clear in your explanation.”

“That…
thing,
your brother used to sleep with.”

“Again, that leaves me with a large choice, but since we saw Heidi on Saturday night, I
’m gonna go out on a limb here. What’s she done?”

I put the egg fried rice down. “
I… I… I just… Whore.” I finish, slamming the drawer shut.

“Again with information overload,” Lexy mutters.

“It’s a damn good job you’re my best friend, Edwards, or I’d have to kick your butt for using a pro level of sarcasm on me.” I point a fork at her. “Pro level is my level, and you’re getting too damn good at it. I’ma have to do something about that,” I muse to myself.

Lexy grins. “You rub off on people, Jen. It
’s not my fault if I’m nursing some Jen-tude.”

“Jen-
tude? What, for the love of all things smutty, is Jen-tude?”

“Its attitude only you can pull off. Therefore, Jen-
tude.”

I nod. “I like it. We
’ll keep it.” I wink as I sit down. “Anyway. Whorebag ex-girlfriend – whatever we’re calling her these days – tried to tell me she was with your brother Saturday night.”

“And have you spoken to Bing?”

I catch my tongue between my teeth. “I know she wasn’t with your brother. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?”

“Please.” She puts some food in her mouth, and looks around thoughtfully as she chews. “Heidi is an asshole.”

“Politer than I’d use, but yeah, we can use that.”

“What would you – you know what? Don
’t worry.”

I laugh. “Anyway, what I
’d call her isn’t important. The point is I’ve just come out of a shambles of a relationship, haven’t I? Because essentially, that’s what it was in the end with Carl. A shambles, right?”

“Right.”

“And I’ve kinda rushed into another relationship.”

“Right. But you wanted this.” She frowns. “Didn
’t you?”

“Well, yeah, obviously. I
’ve only been making googly eyes at the lobster head for the last year and half.” I roll my eyes. “But this relationship has barely begun, and already it’s like I’ve stepped into a soap opera.” I sigh, poking food around in the plastic tub. “I don’t want the bullshit that goes along with this, Lex. I don’t want the jealous ex with constant rumours, I don’t want the constant doubt over whether or not the vindictive bitch actually means what she says.

“I just want Bing. Me and him, no fuss, no drama. Just crazy nights out, crazy nights in, and crazy days to fill it all in. Because that
’s us – we’re both crazy, and that’s why it works.” I look down at the table, heaviness settling in my stomach at the thought of it
not
working. For the last year and a half, he’s wormed his way into my life and my heart. He hasn’t taken Carl’s place – he’s taken the whole damn lot of me. “I don’t want there to be any drama unless we make it ourselves. I just want us.”

Lexy is quiet as she mulls over my words. She knew it already – of course she did. She knows me better than Daniel Radcliffe knows the character of Harry Potter. She knows all my fears, all my hopes and dreams, but my feelings about her brother aren
’t something I’ve ever fully opened up about. Sure, I’ve dropped hints, I’ve been obvious, and we’ve had small conversations about it, but this is different.

This is me admitting I want the kind of love she has with Alec. This is me admitting I could have found it. With Bing.

“I think you have to stop worrying about what other people say. Face it, Jen,” she says quietly, looking at me. “People are always gonna try and put you down. No matter how good or bad you do in life, there will always be someone there to pull you down. If you let them, then they’ve won. Don’t let her pull you down. As gross as it is, I like you and Bing together. You make each other happy in a crazy kinda way I’ll never understand – but you’re happy, and that’s all that matters to me. Don’t let her jealousy and rumours stand in the way of what you have, or even what you could have.”

I nod slowly, closing my eyes.

“You aren’t her, Jen,” she continues. “I’m damned if I can work out what has my brother so enthralled-” I open my eyes and glare at her. “-But something has. When we were in Devon, Mum said to me that everyone has a bada bing person. I was Alec’s – I was the one person to change his life and make him re-evaluate everything he thought he knew.” She smiles softly and it’s full of love. It’s the kind of smile you see on your grandparent’s faces. It’s the kind of smile that shows a timeless love.

“You are that person. You know that.” I flick some rice her way.

She swats it away. “I do know that.” Her brown eyes meet mine. “But do
you
know that you’re my brother’s bada bing person?”

“How do you know that I am?” I narrow my eyes.

Lexy smiles at me, a cheeky, playful smile, and shrugs a shoulder. “Basically, I know it because I’m the shit.”

My pursed lips transform into a smile, and I let out a giggle. Trust her to the only person to take me from angry, to sad, to happy, all in the space of twenty minutes.

She exaggerates a wink to me across the table, snapping a bite of prawn cracker off.

Some things in life are priceless – and true friendship is one of them.

“Okay, did you use my hairspray?” I yell, looking around the bathroom.

“Why would I use your hairspray?”

“For your sexy just-got-out-of-bed look.”

“So you agree I have sexy hair?”

“I
’m not sure hair is something I could describe as “sexy,”” I reply dryly. “Perhaps soft, or messy, or even silky. Sexy, not so much.”

Bing leans against the doorframe, that sexy smile on his face. Yes, the sexy smile that matches his not-sexy hair. “Why? You agree the rest of me is sexy.”

“I don’t remember ever saying that. Aha!” I extract the hairspray from a cluster of cans behind my pot plant. “How did that get there?”

“Because you
’re scatty?”

“I
’m not scatty, Samuel. I’m just always in a rush, so forget where I put things.” I shake the can and begin spraying it on my hair. “And that was a rhetorical question. That means you weren’t supposed to answer it.” I put the spray on the sink.

Bing coughs, waving his hand in front of his face. “I know what a rhetorical question is, Jennifer. I went to school, you know.”

I turn to him, mischief in my grin. “I don’t think sex school counts.”

He saunters into the bathroom, stopping in front of me. He looks down at me, his brown eyes burning into mine, and his hot breath flutters across my cheeks. I feel my body heat up, my blood pumping around my body quicker as my heart pounds a little.

Shit the bed, he isn’t even bloody well touching me! He must be a sex god reincarnated. It’s the only explanation for his crazy ass sexual voodoo he pulls.

I swallow, and his lips curl upwards. “Sex school not necessary, Jennifer,” he whispers huskily.

I inhale, putting a hand on his chest. “Debatable.”

He takes my hand
, slowly lowering it. He slides his hand onto my hip, cupping it, and leans his upper body into me.

Ice. Ice. I need ice. Someone.
Anyone?

“Want me to prove it?”

Can’t breathe. Oosh. “You’re okay,” I manage, knocking his hand from my hip. “Really. You’re all right.”

He smiles slowly, his eyes shining. “Sure about that?”

“Yep. Sure. Perfectly.” I mutter, grabbing the hairspray again. “One. Hundred. Percent.” Sure I’d like it to be proven, that is.

He chuckles low, and I suppress the shiver that
’s threatening to run through my body. His hand closes around mine, and he pries the hairspray from my grip. His fingers slip between mine, his palm hot, and I catch my bottom lip between my teeth. My eyes flick to our hands and how dainty mine looks encompassed in his.

His other hand rises to my face, his thumb tracing down my cheek to the dent below my ear. It ghosts along my jaw, tracing the shape of it, and finally settles on my lower lip. He tugs it from between my teeth gently, and the pad of his thumb strokes across it.

My eyes rise to his, our faces inches from each other.

“You know it
’s you, don’t you?” he says softly, uncertainly.

I nod silently, unable to form any words.

“I mean it, Jen.” He cups the side of my face. “Whatever she tries to say, it’s all lies. Even if she hasn’t said it yet, I can tell you it’s a lie.” He dips his face towards me, resting his nose alongside mine. I let my eyes flutter shut, feeling the realness in the moment.

“I know,” I whisper. “But that doesn
’t mean-”

“Don
’t. Say. It,” he orders in a hushed voice. “I just got you, Jen. I waited for too long to have you, but I do now, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let her get in between us. I told you, didn’t I? I told you that if anyone doubts us, if you ever doubt us, to come to me.”

“Yes.”

“Then do it. Come to me, babe. Don’t let her get under your skin. She’s nothing to me. She never was anything. Not like you.”

I run my free hand along his arm until it rests on his hand cupping my cheek. “What am I, Sam?”

“Everything, Jen. You are everything. Don’t ever doubt that.”

I tilt my face slightly, pressing my lips against his. He kisses me gently, creeping his hand around to the back of my head. I let my arm drop to his waist and grip his top, bunching it in my hand. His lips move across my own slowly, words unspoken with each little kiss.

“Come on,” he says reluctantly. “We better go. If we’re not at home soon, Lexy will kick our asses.”

I sigh, stepping back from him. “I can
’t believe she’s making us have a date night.”

“We could always say I
’ve been suddenly struck down with a deadly disease and need immediate nursing?” The grin on his face is infectious, and although I swat his arm, I’m smiling.

“Unfortunately for you, Samuel, the nurses outfit is in the wash,” I tease, strolling past him and grabbing my coat. “So I
’d have to do that particular job completely and utterly naked.” I open the front door, and hear his footsteps against the wooden floor. I turn to look at him, and he fake coughs. He puts a hand against the wall.

“Jen. It
’s no good. I’m too ill to go,” he croaks.

I laugh, grab his coat, and throw it at him. “Not today, sailor.”

He follows me out the door. “You wouldn’t happen to have one of those outfits, too, would you?”

~

“If I knew all we were doing was watching a movie and eating a shit load of crap, I would have come in my onesie,” I grumble.

“You have
a onesie?” Alec looks at me across the room.

“Of course I do. It has penguins on it. Why are you surprised?”

“I have no idea.”

I chuck some popcorn across the room at him. “Living in the city has given you an attitude, surfer boy.”

“Oh, and it hasn’t given you one?”

“I always had an attitude. It was just highly supressed in Devon. Lilac Bay wouldn
’t be able to handle my badass.”

“Jen, babe, I don
’t think anyone can handle your badass.” Bing sits next to me and I swing my legs up.

I beam at him. “Finally, someone who appreciates it.”

Lexy snickers. “I’m sure it’s your actual ass rather than your badass that my brother appreciates.” Bing nods in agreement, and I kick him.

“You could at least pretend,” I mumble. He laughs, resting his hand on my thigh.

“Okay.” He winks at Lexy. “I appreciate your badass far more than your ass.”

I blink at him, pretending to be affronted. “What the hell is wrong with my ass?”

Alec laughs loudly. “Walked straight into that one, mate.”

Bing digs his fingers into my leg lightly. “You wouldn
’t be surprised if I told you how often that happens,” he says dryly.

I shrug a shoulder at Lexy and she smiles.

“I can imagine.” Alec looks at us, amused.

“What are we watching?” Bing directs the question to Lexy.

“Bridget Jones’ Diary.” She holds up the case. The guys groan in unison, and I woop.

“Win!” I yell happily. “Colin Firth… That accent. Oh,
Lordy.” I fan myself.

“It
’s a British accent, Jen. You have a British accent.” Alec frowns at me.

Both Lexy and I glare at him.

“I have a common accent. Colin Firth has
the
British accent. The one that makes your knees go weak and your heart go all racy. It’s like…”