His eyes finally opened and the brightest, yet deepest shade of blue stared back at me. “No,” he said. “And even if you were, I wouldn’t know. You were my first kiss, too, Brookie. Besides, I’m asking because I need to know how deep I dug my grave just now.”I was his first kiss, too.
While I knew everything about my best friend, there were things we never talked about. Like kissing.
I laughed while my hands clutched tighter around his shirt. “Very deep.”
He nodded to himself. “Well, so another kiss won’t hurt, right?” Reece smiled at me and stroked a thumb over my flushed cheeks. “You’re so cute when you’re blushing.”
“You can kiss me whenever you want,” I said and regretted it immediately. I pressed my face right against hischest, groaning in embarrassment.Why are you so stupid, Brooke?
His arms wrapped around my body and held me in a tight embrace. “Like a permanent consent pass?”
“A what?”
“A few months ago, Colin told me there’s a permanent consent pass for kissing, but I think it comes with marriage.”
1
BROOKLYN
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROOKIE!”
I internally rolled my eyes as my ten-year-old brother shoved his present into my hands. I didn’t even have a second to wake up yet. All I wanted to do was go grab a snack. Trust me when I say that I fully planned on going back to bed to wallow in self-pity.
The thing was, I loved my birthday. It was one day of the whole entire year that was dedicated to meonly. With a family as huge as mine, birthdays were aconstantoccurrence, especially in September. My father always made sure all four of us felt special on our birthdays.
So, what made today different?
The Brooke from two days ago was jumping with joy at the thought of her birthday, but today-me would’ve rather been left alone altogether.
Just two days ago, I gave Dad a huge list of last-minute items I wanted for my birthday party, and despite the huge eye-roll I was met with and the groan in protest, I knew he got right to it. Today was my twentieth birthday, a pretty special one. Twenty-one was more special, but I liked twenty.
And still, the pain in my heart that had been there eversince my boyfriend and I broke up was ruining all the excitement for me.
For the longest time, I thought Reece and I were endgame. I bet so did everyone else in my family, his family, and anyone else who was around us. We grew up together and started dating when we were thirteen. And everything was great… until it wasn’t.
I didn’t know what happened, but at some point, occasional fights became frequent, and frequent turned into daily. No matter what we did, every time we resolved one problem, another occurred.
I honestly couldn’t tell you when those problems started or what they were even about. As it seemed, everything was against us, and though I agreed that taking a break from our relationship was the best decision, it didn’t hurt any less.
Could you blame me? Reece had been there from the moment I could sit up straight. He was my only friend for the longest time imaginable. How could I not love him?
Losing him as my boyfriend also meant that I lost my best friend because he was everything to me. Heiseverything to me.
The worst bit, I’d still see him daily. Luckily not at school, but at home.
No, he didn’t live with us, but my father and his three best friends somehow decided to move into one apartment building together, and a couple of years ago, they all moved into separate houses on one street. We were still neighbors. Next-door neighbors.
Reece moved in with his older brother a year after we started dating because their parents moved to Spain. He could’ve left with them, but he wanted to stay here with me.
He helped Lily with the kids whenever Colin was gone,and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make Reece just that tiny bit more lovable.
Urgh. Shut up, brain.
I still lived at home, too, because honestly, I might have been a tad too afraid to leave yet. Also, why would I move into a college dorm or find an apartment—in the middle of New York City, mind you—when I had a perfectly fine bedroom here at home?
“Brooke?” Elliot tapped my shoulder a couple of times, then waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you there?”
“I don’t know, am I?”