“Fuck me,” he muttered, turning off the lights. He hadn’t expected Noah. He never did.
“I can’t be waking your ass up every time you have to be somewhere,” Lily said over Alec’s sleeping form. “This isn’t high school. Or middle school. You’re a grown man, Alec, even if you’re mentally stuck at six years old.”
He frowned, though he had yet to actually open his eyes. “Why invest in an alarm when I have your delightful voice waking me up every morning?” he asked before finally snapping open his eyes.
“I have to work and you have your skate, which Jack is already ready for,” Lily pointed out. She was in her Mom-stance – arms crossed over her chest, eyes narrowed, mouth curled into a tight line. Alec rolled his eyes and Lily took one of his pillows and threw it in his face. “You know what Seraphina Hanson wants from you. You need to be on your best behavior right now.”
“Yes, Mom.” Alec knew it was a low-blow; Lily was protective and always had been. Hell, he had grown protective of her, now that he found out what had happened to her and the fact that she was dating his best friend. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about it and preferred not to think about it.
“I wouldn’t have to treat you like a child if you stopped acting like one,” she pointed out. “Now, go shower. You smell like ass.”
“If I smell like ass, what does Jack smell like?” he grumbled, throwing his legs over the side of the bed. Without warning, another pillow hit his face. “Okay, I probably deserved that one.” He grunted as he forced himself to stand up. He reached his arms over his head, stretching the kinks out. He shifted to the left, the right.
Lily rolled her eyes, reminding him so much of their mother that he had to look away. He cleared his throat.
“Be a doll and make me some coffee?” he asked, flashing her what he hoped was a charming smile.
Lily flipped him off and turned, heading out of his room. He glanced her way, opening his mouth to shout something when he caught sight of a familiar figure. Noah.
Fuck.
He totally forgot about her. Which was weird because he couldn’t sleep because of Noah and why she was really there in the first place. For the briefest of seconds, there was a vulnerability on her face. In his entire time that he had known her, he never expected to see her look that way. Noah was stubborn and hard as nails. In other words, she was a pain in his ass. But looking at her now, she looked soft, worried. Or maybe that was what he was reading into the way she chewed her bottom lip, the way her eyes were wide like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop. But what was she worried about? Why did she look so pale? She was playing with her hair like a nervous middle school girl about to talk to her crush.
Alec sat up more in bed, everything he was about to say to his sister dying on his lips. Instead, he caught Noah’s eyes. She immediately looked away and dropped her hands from her hair and slid them in her back pockets.
He furrowed his brows even further, a wrinkle appearing over his brow. He shook his head. This was taking too much of his attention. He should be more concerned with his conversation with Seraphina and where he stood on the team. He pushed him to stand and headed into the shower. Unfortunately, Lily took the master bedroom which came with the attached bathroom, forcing him to step down the hallway and use the shared bathroom.
Except it was occupied.
“You have got to be shitting me,” he muttered, running his fingers through his hair.
He knocked on the door and then shifted his weight, glancing at the door. When nothing happened, he heaved a sigh and knocked again.
Still nothing.
“What the hell is going on in there?” he asked to himself. He pressed his ear to the door to see what was going on. He didn’t want to interrupt and he definitely didn’t need to listen to natural bodily functions, but he had to get in the shower if he was going to make it to the skate on time. Granted, he knew that taking a shower right before a practice canceled out the shower, but still. Lily was right. He did smell like ass.
Running water.
Someone was taking a shower?
Who the hell would be taking a shower? Jack and Lily had their own, and with the way they’d been going at it, Alec wouldn’t be surprised if the two shared one.
Gross.
Had Noah hopped in the shower that quick?
“Hello!” Alec called, knocking again. “Other people have to get in the shower.”
“Well, other people have to wait,” a muffled voice called back.
He narrowed his eyes. It was Noah. Of course, it was. Damn that girl and her ability to ruin everything. Now, Alec had to wait to shower. Although, maybe showering could be put on hold. It would go against his current routine, but maybe he needed to do that. Maybe, with everything going on, he needed to do things differently.
He huffed a breath and pushed off from the wall. Instead of hanging out in the hall like some weirdo hoping to catch a glimpse of Noah naked, which he definitely didn’t want to do, he meandered into the kitchen where Jack was
