“Ladies.” He offered Em a little nod and she bumped him with her hip.
“Now’s your shot to prove your friend wrong.” He looked at me, trying to hide his worried expression, but I saw it clearly. “Have fun, kids.” And with that she walked away, leaving Jay and me alone. Uncertainty still wavered in his eyes and I patted the now empty space beside me.
With hesitation he sat down and I didn’t even attempt to move away. He was still damp from the hose. Five minutes after they all arrived they turned the hose on one another and the yard was filled with a bunch of screeching weirdos running around. It was amazing and nothing like I’d ever witnessed before. They were just having fun, not caring what anyone else thought, just set free.
I loved it.
“Sorry.” Jay began to move away and I grabbed for his arm. My actions were so out of the ordinary but I refused to focus on them. “I’m still wet.” He grabbed his shirt and pulled it away from his body. The sound of wet material as it slapped back against his chest when he let it go made me laugh.
“A little water won’t kill me.”
Truth was I wanted him here. Close.
“What were you and Emelie talking about?”
Em was Emelie. And she was with Clayton. How I would keep them all straight was still a big question.
“Girl stuff.” No need to tell him that she called me out on my dumb moves from before.
“Anything I should know about?”
I shook my head, and though I could sense he wanted to ask me more, he didn’t.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jay
It’d been a couple of days since Ruby hung out with us. A couple of days filled with the guys and their women drilling me for details. Well, all of them but Emelie. She knew the story and I was thankful she’d chosen to keep it between her and I.
Two days of Ruby and I sharing random texts throughout the day and even into the night. She’d relaxed. I could tell by the way she talked and laughed when we were on the phone. She was less tense than before, less timid. Don’t get me wrong, that girl was still there, surely, but I was also getting a glimpse of the side of her that very few got the chance to see.
“Pepsi or Coke?” I heard her hmm, as if she were really mulling it over before she answered. “Babe, you shouldn’t have to think about it for that long.”
“What if I prefer Mountain Dew?”
“Then I say that you and I are a match made in heaven.” I could almost picture her smiling. Maybe lying back on her bed, her body tucked in under a huge comforter. Maybe she’s wearing nothing but a t-shirt and panties.
“Chocolate or strawberry?”
“A scoop of each.” I said this without pause and she laughed. “Why limit myself to just one? Hell, I say toss in some vanilla too, maybe some sprinkles.”
“Sprinkles? Really?”
“Just because I’m a guy I can’t like sprinkles?” There was a pause and again I knew she was smiling and I closed my eyes to picture it.
When Ruby smiled it reached her eyes, and damn if it didn’t feel like it knocked me on my ass each time. She was beautiful.
“I really should go to sleep, I have class in six hours.” She yawned and I looked over at the clock. We’d been talking for more than four hours about nothing honestly. From movies to music, colors to favorite cartoons, we’d just been bouncing from one topic to the next.
“Can I see you tomorrow?” I’d held out, wanting to take my time, but the truth was I wanted to be near her. “Lunch, coffee, walk you to class, whatever I can get.” A candy bar outside of the quick mart for all I cared, ten fucking minutes. Okay fine, ten minutes wasn’t even close.
“A movie.” Okay, not what I was expecting, but sure, we could do a movie again. “At your place?” Well, damn.
“You bring the movie, remember you get to choose this time.” I was still baffled by her wanting to hang out in my room. Talk about a one-eighty. “I’ll supply the tacos.” She laughed when I mentioned tacos.
“How about pizza?” The memory of her embarrassment when she looked down at her shirt the day of the mud wars and realized she couldn’t hide it was priceless.
“Fine, pizza, but I’m still gonna tell you how pretty you are.” More like unbelievably sexy and heart stopping gorgeous, but pretty would do for now.
“Is six okay?” she asked with another yawn and I felt guilty keeping her on the phone as long as I had.
“Six sounds good.” I couldn’t remember smiling so much. It felt odd but in the best kind of way. “Sweet dreams, Ruby.” She tried to respond but another yawn took over her words. Then a silence fell over the opposite end of the line and I sat quietly listening. The longer I waited the deeper her breathing became, accompanied by the softest of snores.
Again I smiled. I knew right then that I was sunk. Smiling because a girl was snoring, what the hell had happened to me?
***
“Hey Jay.” I looked up from the position on the floor near my television stand to find Isaac in the doorway of my room. “You expecting company?” I noticed the smirk on his face and my stomach instantly knotted.
“Why?” Standing, I tossed the controller to the DVD player on my bed and took a step in his direction.
“There’s a sweet little thing downstairs.” I tried to step around him but he sidestepped to
