“One large latte, please,” I ask, while putting my card into the reader and waiting for the beep, which confirms I’ve paid.
“It’ll be ready in a minute.” The barista gives me a smile.
I give her one back, “Thank you.” Moving through a crowd of people, I find my best friend Jess.
“I’ve got to get that spreadsheet turned in or else I’m dead.” She complains.
“Girl, same. This job sucks.”
“But it’s what we’ve always wanted to do, and they hired us together.”
“I mean, how could they not?” A smile appears on her face and on mine. “We’re a power duo.” I raise my hand and we high-five.
“Jenny and Jess.” Someone holds up two large coffees in the air so we can navigate the crowd towards them. “Here you go, guys.” Mark hands us our coffees. “I added a little more espresso.” He gives us a wink.
“Thanks, man. We really need them today.”
“Good luck, girls.” He calls after us as we walk out. We’ve been going to that coffee shop since freshman year of college, and now we’re four years out, living our best life at the worst marketing job ever. The cold city air hits us in the face. Our feet take control, and we mindlessly take the same route as we take every day.
“I’ve got something exciting to tell you!” Jess excitedly breaks the silence.
“Yeah?!” I start to get excited.
“Yeah!” She dramatically waits a beat before telling me the exciting thing. “Callum’s coming to stay with us for a little bit!”
“Beanstock?!” My heart quickens. We haven’t seen him in years. Once he went to college, he became this big-shot football player, so he’s been traveling all over, and of course, whenever he’s home, we can’t come and see him.
“The one and only!”
“That’s amazing! How long is he staying for?” Our pace quickens with our excitement.
“Mom said at least a month, but it could be longer. He’s in between teams, and Mom said that he can stay with us!”
“Yay!” The whole day at work, our mood never wavers. We get everything done in record time and even get extra work done. The clock finally strikes 5:00 pm, meaning we get to go home.
“Girls!” We both turn to see our boss standing in her doorway. “Can I see you real quick?”
Jess and I lock eyes. This could either be really good or really bad. “Sure,” I respond tentatively.
A smile breaks out on her face. “Don’t worry, it’s good.” Both of us let out a breath. We arrive at her door and wait for her to walk inside, but she just stands in the doorway. “I just want to let you two know that you’ve done so much for this company that I’m giving you two an extra week off this month.” She smiles brightly.
“An extra week?” Neither of us can believe what this woman just said.
“Yup. I expect you guys to relax and take it easy.”
“We will.”
“Good, now off with you two. I don’t want to see either of you for two weeks.” She points her finger at the two of us before waving us off. Jess and I smile, like toddlers, and practically skip out of there. We don’t say anything to each other as we run to our apartment. I’ve never opened the door faster than at that moment, knowing my adopted little brother was going to be on the other side. Jess and I push through the door, but I don’t see Callum anywhere. I just see a tall, handsome, some might even say hot, man standing in the living room. He spreads his arms wide, and a smile grows on his face. Something about that smile was very familiar; the more I study the stranger, the more a familiarity washes over me.
Jess surges forward and runs into the stranger's embrace, “Callum!!”
What? That’s no-, “Callum?”
“Jenny.” My name comes out of his mouth. Jess pulls away, and a smirk appears on his face.
“You-you’ve changed.” I look him up and down.
“You have to.” Something happens in the air between the two of us. He opens his arms again, and I run into them too.
“I’ve missed you,” I say into his chest.
“I’ve missed you too,” He replies into my hair. His arms tighten around my waist, and I feel every one of his muscles on my back.
“Ok! What are we going to do first?!” Jess asks excitedly, breaking the thing between me and Callum.
I step back and look at Jess. “How about a tour of the city?”
The first week goes by very fast. We filled every moment with touristy things. Going to the zoo, museums, and anything else we could find to do in the city. The second week, Jess went to see a friend in the next city over, which meant I was stuck with Beanstock. I wouldn’t use the word stuck though. Something about this older Callum is making me feel different than I’ve ever felt before. I push away those feelings, though, because he’s always been a brother to me, and anyway, he’s my best friend's brother, so that would just be awkward.
I hear a small knock on my door. Looking up, I notice the time on my clock reads 10:27 am. “Shoot,” I whisper to myself. “Come in!” I call.
Callum pushes open the door, holding a tray of food and a steaming cup of coffee. “Breakfast is delivered.”
I push myself up into a sitting position. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know, but you and Jess have been so wonderful that I thought I would make breakfast.” He places the tray next to me and goes back to the door.
“You’re leaving?” I give him my sad puppy dog eyes and jut my bottom lip out.
“I don’t want to intrude on your breakfast time. Plus, I remember when you wouldn’t let anyone in your room for at least thirty minutes after you woke up.” We share a chuckle over the memory.
“No, I’ve changed. Now all I need is five seconds.” We smile. “So will you stay? Keep me company?”
Callum stands there for a heartbeat before coming and sitting with me on the bed. We spend hours recalling memories. “I always remember having to race for food.”
“Oh my gosh! Yes! You would always block Jess and me off from the kitchen, so we would have to wrestle you for it.” As I laugh, my arm slips and I fall into his lap. Heat rises to my cheeks, and I quickly push myself up off his lap. “Sorry,” I say, looking down.
“No, you’re good.” I look up to see a small bit of red on his cheeks. It disappears in a second as his face lights up, “Oh! Remember that time you thought you were stronger than me? It was umm, right after I started football.”
“I still think I would’ve won.” Callum just got back from his first football practice and was gloating about how he tackled five guys to the ground. Jess and I had been playing softball for years now, so we were pretty strong. I got annoyed with Callum’s ego, so I challenged him to a wrestling match. I pinned him within ten seconds, but then he pulled an illegal move and tickled me. He then pinned me and held me there for three seconds.
“You do now, do you?” A bit of playfulness comes into his voice.
“I do. You pulled an illegal move.” I say defensively.
“I don’t think I remember that.” He puts up his hands defensively.
“You really don’t remember tickling me?”
“I think you want a rematch? Hmm?” Callum’s voice becomes playful with an edge.
“You know what?” I turn my full body to look him in the eyes.
“What?”
“I do because I think I would win.”
“If you think you can win, then let's see it.” He gets up off the bed and walks around to my side. I pull the covers off my legs. Callum offers me a hand, and I take it. We walk over to an open spot in my room.
“Legal moves only and no hurting, just pinning. Got it?”
He nods. “Got it.” We get into our stances and start to circle each other. Callum makes the first move, going for my legs, but I move them fast enough for him to miss them. I find the opening to push his back slightly to make him fall, but all he does is stumble slightly. “Ha. Nice try.” Callum goes for my legs again, and this time he grabs them, and I hit the floor, but before my head hits the hard floor, and puts his hand between my head and the floor, protecting my head. I do, however, get the wind knocked out of me slightly and only for a second, but it’s just long enough for Callum to pin my arms and legs. “One.” He breaths. “Two.” I squirm, trying to get out of his pin, but fail miserably. “Three. I win.” A smile widens on his face. I can’t help but smile back. His brown eyes glisten. I notice something in them, longing. For what I don’t know. He lets go of one of my arms and pushes some of my hair out of my face. “You really are quite beautiful.” Heat rises to my cheeks, and I go to try to hide them, but his hand lightly grabs my chin, bringing it back to look at him. I look into his eyes as he looks deep into mine. I feel the need to touch his hair. Watching as his eyes slowly go to my lips and then back up to my eyes, I feel mine doing the same. He starts to lean down, and I lean up until our lips meet. The kiss didn’t last too long, but it was the best kiss I’d ever had. It left me flustered, and that has never happened to me before.
“Hi.” I break the silence.
“Hi.” His voice is full and sends chills down my spine.
For the whole week, we spent time together like never before. We cuddle while watching movies, and we sit across from each other, holding hands and talking about anything. It has become the best week of my life. It all comes to a halt when Jess comes home.
“We didn’t think this through,” I tell Callum as I watch Jess pull into the parking garage.
“Nope.” He grabs my hand, and I turn to look at him. “I’ll tell her.”
“No, I’m her best friend. I’ll tell her.”
Jess opens the front door, and I welcome her with a hug. “How was Debs?”
“She was good. How was being stuck with Beanstock for a whole week?”
I laugh. “Um.”
Jess turns to me. “What?” She asks while nervously chuckling.
“I don’t exactly know how to say this, but ummm-. Callum and I are-” The words don’t come out, and my mouth becomes extremely dry.
“Callum and you are what? Just say it. You can tell me anything.” She grabs my hand. “You’re my best friend and I’m yours.”
“Ok.” I look down and then back up. “Callum and I are dating.”
Jess's jaw drops. “Yo-you an-and my broth-er are what?” She lets go of my hand and rubs her head with them.
“Dating.”
“How long have you two been a-a thing?” She asks tentatively.
“A week.” I squeak out.
“Wait, that means.” I see her brain thinking through what I just said. “You two got together when I left and didn’t even tell me.”
“I know. I should’ve called or even texted you, but it all happened so fast and we got swept up in the moment.” I explain to her.
Jess walks quickly through the house. “And where is the guy who is my little brother?” Her voice starts to rise with anger. “Callum! WHere aRe yOU?!”
He pops his head out of the guest room. “I’m sorry!” He calls. “I-I didn’t mean to not tell you.” I watch as Jess angrily strides up to him and slaps him across the face. I step back in shock. Jess and Callum have physically fought before, but she’s never slapped him like this before.
“My best friend!” Jess yells. “Callum! You kissed my best friend, didn’t tell me, and then had the audacity to not tell me till a week later!”
“I’m sorry. I truly am. I really like her, Jess. I do.” I start to blush, but hide it as Jess turns to me next.
“And you.” She points her finger angrily at me and starts to walk toward me. “You’re my best friend, and you got with him? I’m honestly disturbed. I thought you thought of him as a brother?” Jess’s voice was less angry, but there were still hints of it there.
“I did until two weeks ago. He-he’s just, I don't know.” I look past Jess to see him start to blush.
“I can’t believe you. It would’ve been different if you told me everything, but now I can't even talk to you.” Jess brushes past me and walks out the door, slamming it behind her.
Tears start to fill my eyes. Callum notices and walks over to me. He gently wraps his arms around me from behind and kisses the top of my head. “She’ll get over it. Everything will be ok.”
