Dirty Thoughts - Megan Erickson Page 0,62

I think I can overcome this.”

Cal threw up his hands. “For God’s sake—”

“John Hughes is not an actor.” Jenna’s voice wobbled, like she was speaking at his funeral. “He’s only one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.”

“Breakfast Club . . . Ferris Bueller’s Day Off . . . Weird Science!” Asher’s voice cracked at the end.

They were both still clutching each other, staring at him like he had leprosy. He rolled his eyes and stalked into the kitchen for another beer. “You guys are ridiculous.”

“We’ll pray for your Hughes-less soul!” Asher shouted.

BY THE TIME the credits to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off rolled down the screen hours later, Asher was asleep between them on the couch. His head lolled on Cal’s shoulder, his legs stretched out in front of him on the floor.

Cal leaned his head back on the couch and turned it to face Jenna. “Okay, so consider me educated on the body of John Hughes’s work.”

Jenna laughed, the hair on top of her head bobbing. “And what do you think?”

“I really liked that last one.” Pretty in Pink had not been his favorite, but that Ferris guy was cool as shit. “Remember our Senior Skip Day?”

Jenna smiled but looked at her hands in her lap. “You were such a bad influence.”

He reached across the sleeping teenager and tugged a piece of hair that had escaped from her bun. “That day was worth it.” They’d been eighteen, so close to graduation they could taste it. And in love. They’d spent the whole morning at River’s Edge, hanging with friends, and then spent the rest of the day in Cal’s bed, wrapped up in each other until Jenna had to go home.

They’d talked about the future then. How Jenna was going to go to college and come back when she graduated. He’d wanted to propose then, claim her, keep her from leaving him for some smart, rich guy. But she’d assured him she’d come back, that they’d get married and buy a house and have those kids they’d always talked about.

And then, two weeks later, those dreams were gone with one punch to her brother’s face.

Cal rubbed his eyes, wishing he didn’t remember all of it. But he did. He looked at Jenna again. She wasn’t smiling anymore; now she was watching him, her lips parted, her eyes a little wet. “That day was worth it.”

His arms still rested along the back of the couch, his fingers brushing her shoulder. He didn’t want to move, didn’t want this moment to end, because in a minute, Jenna was going to get up and go home. She was going to shatter this brief illusion of family, this glimpse at what Cal’s life could have been like.

Could it still be like that?

Jenna blew a breath out and lowered her feet to the floor. “I should go—”

“You could stay.” The words were out before he could stop them.

She froze and stared. “What?”

“You could stay. It’s late and . . . I can sleep on the couch. You can sleep in my bed.” And wasn’t that just a trip down memory lane? Last time she’d been in his bed, they’d had sex.

Her eyes widened. “I . . . don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Shit. Shit. No, it wasn’t. So he watched as she stood up, as she fixed her hair, as she slipped her feet into her flip-flops.

When she walked behind the couch, her fingers brushed the back of his head, the touch prickling his scalp. “Good night, Cal.”

Then his front door opened and shut. Asher grumbled in his sleep, snorted, and then quieted.

Cal’s heart ached.

Chapter Twenty

WHEN JENNA AND Asher pulled into the parking lot of the garage, Cal was leaning on the wall outside, hands in the pockets of his overalls, something white dangling from his lips. Jenna thought at first that it was a cigarette, but then he gripped the stick and popped a lollipop out of his mouth.

Even with a red lollipop, Cal looked effortlessly cool.

Jenna took a deep breath, wishing that it would get easier every time she saw him instead of harder. Cal worked one Saturday a month, and Asher had suggested they bring him lunch. The kid had already hopped out of the car, bag in hand from the local deli. “We brought you lunch!”

“What the hell did you do to your hair?” Cal’s voice boomed across the parking lot.

Jenna grinned and stepped out of the car to follow the newly blue-haired Asher.

Cal was staring at the kid’s head