Never noticed the immense crush I had on him.
If he hadn’t, I hoped Autumn hadn’t either.
Momentarily, I contemplated putting my jeans back on, but comfort won out over glamour. Max would never see me anyway; he was holed up in the study with his friend. I could hear the noise of their video game through the door. Online games had never appealed to me.
I stepped into the bathroom and dug my toothbrush and toothpaste out of my toiletry bag. I squeezed a dab of toothpaste onto the brush and vigorously began brushing my teeth, trying to rid my mouth of the chili taste and replace it with a fresh minty one.
Midway through, the door to Max’s side of the bathroom swung open, and he dashed in, one hand already unzipping his pants.
“Oh, shit, sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was in here.” His hand froze in midair as he laid his gorgeous eyes on me.
Mentally, I cursed myself for not locking the bathroom door. The shared bathroom between Autumn and Max’s bedrooms was fraught with danger every time I stayed over. I had to remember to lock both doors not to be caught in an awkward situation. Like now.
“S’okay,” I mumbled through a mouthful of toothpaste, feeling a little dribble over my lips. Real classy, Soph, real classy. Bet he can’t wait to get his hands on you now.
Max stepped towards me, until he was only inches away. The hand which had been about to unzip his jeans reached over and swiped the toothpaste away from my bottom lip.
Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. It was the first time he’d ever touched me. The slightest brush of his thumb over my skin had me breaking out in goose bumps. If I wasn’t careful, I’d be drooling even more.
“You had a little…well, you know.” His mouth curved up into a smile. “And if you don’t mind, I’m desperate to take a leak.”
Jolted out of my reverie, I nodded. “Sure, yes, of course, give me a sec.” Turning my back so he couldn’t see me spit, I quickly finished cleaning my teeth, wiped my mouth, and got the hell out of there.
“Thanks, Soph, you’re an angel.” Max beamed as he slammed the door shut in my face.
I stared at the whitewashed wood for several seconds, trying to gather my thoughts. It was the longest time we’d ever spent in each other’s company without anyone else around. All two minutes of it. And me with toothpaste all around my mouth, Max desperate for the bathroom. I cringed.
What a perfect meet cute.
“Sophie, where are you?” Autumn shouted up the stairs. “You’re missing the start!”
“Coming!” I called back. I stashed my things back in her room and scampered down the stairs, not looking to see if Max was behind me. “Sorry, your brother needed the bathroom.” I rolled my eyes as if exasperated by his actions.
“Ugh, gross, sorry you had to see that. Now can we watch the film?” Autumn’s eyes were firmly fixed on the television, not giving the interaction between Max and me any attention.
For the next hour and a half, I barely saw the screen in front of me. All I could think about was the exchange with Max. In the grand scheme of things, a two-minute conversation where he basically wiped toothpaste off my face hardly counted as the big love affair of the century. But a girl could dream, right? If Autumn had her way, it would only ever be a dream.
Once the film had finished, we went up to bed. With the lights out, under the pretense of trying to get to sleep, Autumn quizzed me again about which boys I was interested in.
Thankful she couldn’t see me in the dark, I finally relented. “There is someone…”
“I knew it!” Autumn crowed. “It’s Jimmy Lucas, isn’t it? I’ve seen the way you look at him in math class.”
“Ugh, as if!” I chewed on the inside of my cheek. Jimmy Lucas had recently joined our school year as a transfer student. I’d been assigned to showing him around. While he might have been good looking, all golden hair and growing muscles, he could barely string a sentence together. I preferred to be able to hold a conversation with someone I liked.
She went through a list of guys in all of our classes, ticking them off on her fingers as she did so. With each one, I shook my head or made some comment. Then she started naming players on the football team—even the seniors who I would never even consider crushing on—finally landing on Max’s best friend, Joshua.
“Close…” I twisted my ponytail around in my hand, staring at the ceiling, glad Autumn couldn’t see my face.
“Oh my God, Soph! Brianna will kill you if you went after him!”
Our friend Brianna Ashurst had the most obvious crush on Joshua. She followed him around like some kind of puppy dog. If I’d have been him, two years older than her, I’d have given her the immediate brush off. However, Joshua seemed to entertain the attention. A part of me thought if I hung around with her often enough then Max might see me too.
“No, it’s not Joshua.”
The light suddenly came on, and I blinked at the brightness.
Autumn had a hand to her mouth as the penny seemed to have dropped. “Sophie Hale, do you have a crush on my brother?”
I sucked in my lips, picking at a thread on the quilt. Anything to avoid looking directly at Autumn.
“Shit, you do, don’t you?” She shook her head, as if trying to shake the thought. There was a pause. “You do know you couldn’t date him, don’t you? I mean, if he were to ever think of you as anything other than his little sister’s annoying friend.”
“I’m not annoying!”
“That’s what you think.” She made a face. “I’m serious though, Soph. I really don’t want you getting hung up on my brother. You realize you can’t ever date him. That would be too weird.” She shuddered as if to
