Just Before You Go

“What—What are you doing here?” I stumbled through my thoughts.
“Surprising you,” Luke smiled. “Are you going to let us in or…?”
“Shit, sorry,” I half-laughed, stepping out of the way to let them in.
Jimmy had managed to get himself upright at some point in the interruption. He was looking a lot like a deer caught in the headlights. Luke’s eyes wandered over my shoulder and to the messy-black-haired man on my couch.
He raised his eyebrows, “What’s going on here?”
I rubbed at my neck anxiously, “You have interesting timing as always.”
I led Luke and his stranger girlfriend around to the living room where Jimmy stood to be introduced, whether he’d wanted to be or not.
“Jimmy, this is Luke—my brother.”
“Hey man,” Jimmy smiled, shaking my brother’s hand.
I was trained to watch my brother’s judgement. His eyes traced from Jimmy’s hand up his arm to his face—he tried to hold back his very obvious concern.
“And who’s this?” I asked, desperate to get the attention away from Jimmy for even a second.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Luke chuckled. “This is Grace. Grace, this is my sister, Aria.”
“I’ve heard so much about you!” she beamed at me happily—maybe a little too excited.
“Good things I hope,” I said awkwardly.
So much awkwardness in my house that night.
“Of course,” she giggled.
“Well,” I clapped my hands together, “I don’t know what the proper protocol is for hosting guests at two in the morning….So…”
“Our flight was delayed,” my brother told me, sensing my curiosity.
Grace added, “And they cancelled our hotel reservation because we were late!”
“It’s been a rough night,” Luke finished. “I knew you were working tonight, figured you’d still be up.”
“I’m up,” I said through grit teeth.
I gestured to Jimmy as subtly as I could to get the fuck up and come with me.
“I’m going to make coffee,” I decided out loud. “Because who doesn’t enjoy some caffeine-induced insomnia?”
Jimmy followed me into the kitchen—which still wasn’t exactly far from my apparent guests. I lowered my voice as much as I could possibly manage.
“I’m so, so sorry,” I rushed quietly. “I had no idea—”
Jimmy put his long finger to my lips, “It’s all good, lady. I’m friendly.”
“Are you?” I joked.
“Let me help,” he smiled at me, soothing my worried spirit. “I can definitely pour water into this machine. I’m expert level at all things.”
I dumped some grounds into a filter and waited as Jimmy slowly—painfully slowly—poured the water into the back. I clicked the button and wanted to hide out until the coffee had brewed.
“This is a normal thing with you, huh?” Jimmy grinned from ear to ear. “Forcing coffee on people at all hours of the night?”
“Apparently,” I groaned. “This was not what I’d had planned for the evening.”
He neared me, “What did you have planned? Huh? Huh?”
“Stop that,” I giggled, pushing him away a little.
“I’m going to make friends!” Jimmy told me before spinning around and skipping back to the living room.
I bit at my fingernails nervously as I watched him seat himself next to Luke and immediately start making conversation. They looked so strange beside one another. Jimmy was a creature from the darkness and Luke was well-groomed, shaven. But Jimmy was adorable and my heart felt a little full.
I decided to be brave and just ride out the evening since apparently Jimmy wasn’t going to bail. If he could get through it, I could get through it.
“You were a cheerleader?” Jimmy cackled in my direction.
I gasped, “Lucas!”
“What?” he laughed. “You were!”
“That doesn’t mean you have to tell people!” I groaned.
“I’m having trouble picturing you cheering for a sports team,” Jimmy grinned up at me.
“It wasn’t a pretty picture,” I whined.
Luke snorted, “It really wasn’t.”
Grace sat awkward, her hands folded perfectly in her lap. She looked even more out of place than Jimmy did. Since I didn’t really want to participate in the regaling of my childhood, I made a move to be friendly to my brother’s new love interest.
“Ever been to California?” I asked her.
She shook her head, “No.”
“There’s a pretty great beach just down the street from here,” I told her. “You guys should go check it out tomorrow.”
“I’ve never seen the ocean,” she said, almost sadly. “I really want to put my feet in it.”
“Ocean is good,” I nodded awkwardly. “As long as you don’t find a shark.”
She stared at me the way everyone stared at me when I brought up sharks. It was a real concern I held any time I was near the ocean’s waves. Sharks.
“What is with you and the sharks?” Luke laughed, chiming into my awkward conversation with his lover.
I shrugged, “They eat people.”
“You’ve watched Jaws too many times,” Luke scoffed.
I challenged him, “You’re telling me that if a shark was headed for you, you would not panic?”
“I would absolutely panic,” Luke smirked. “That doesn’t mean I’m afraid of sharks though.”
Jimmy was watching me with a dumb smile on his face. I assumed that meant I was entertaining. My shark fear was real though, so I didn’t really get the humor of it.
“Whatever,” I gave up. “We should still hit up the beach tomorrow.”
“I’m in,” Luke smiled. “Will you be joining us, Jimmy?”
Jimmy shrugged in the weirdest way, “I wouldn’t want to … impose.”
“Hardly an imposition,” my brother soothed. “I’d like the chance to get to know the guy my sister has over at two o’clock in the morning.”
“Lucas!” I choked.
Jimmy grinned, “He isn’t wrong.”
“In my defence,” I started weakly, incredibly embarrassed, “I wasn’t expecting extra visitors at this time at night.”
“Any friend of Aria’s is a friend of mine,” Luke said happily, sending me a lazy wink.
I rolled my eyes.
“Well,” Jimmy announced, slapping his hands against his knees, “as much as I’d love to be a part of this family reunion, I should probably let you guys catch up.”
“You don’t have to go,” I said politely.
He waved me off, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I frowned.
We were always being separated. Why did the universe hate me so much? What had I done so wrong in my past life that I’d become so cursed?
“It was nice meeting you guys,” Jimmy smiled kindly before rising to his feet.
I walked him to the door and slipped outside into the night behind him, pulling the door firmly closed behind us. He lingered.
“Have I mentioned how sorry I am?” I half-laughed.
Jimmy smiled so widely that my heart exploded, “It’s all good! It’s cool to meet your brother. He seems like a nice guy.”
“He is,” I nodded. “But his timing is less than stellar.”
“You aren’t wrong,” Jimmy grinned, taking a step closer to me.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked.
He nodded.
He took another step closer; my body tensed up.
“You’re sure you don’t want to stay?” I mused as he drew dangerously close to me.
He shook his head, “Full house in there.”
My eyes locked themselves on his. How badly I wished in that moment that my brother hadn’t randomly shown up on my doorstep…
“Once they’re gone,” I said lowly, “we’re going to have to finish up where we left off.”
“No kidding,” Jimmy smirked before planting his lips on mine.
He kissed me so sweetly that I nearly lost my balance. It wasn’t hungry like it had been before—it wasn’t laced with desire or expectations. It was just…sweet.
I was swooning.
“Get back to your family,” he smiled as we parted. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Notes

Short and sweet.

xx