On His Face - Tabatha Kiss Page 0,15
really my type.”
Heidi nods politely then turns away again, this time to stifle an adorable yawn.
“Tired?” I ask.
“It’s…” she composes herself, “a little past my bedtime.” She looks over her shoulder into the house. “If Jenna found herself a new boy toy, then I might be waiting here a while.”
“Why wait? I’ll walk you home.”
She straightens up the same way she did the first time I tried to do her a favor. “Oh, no,” she says, predictably. “I’ll be fine here. You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to,” I say. “I need to walk this buzz off, anyway. Shanty’s not too far, and…” I study her face. “I think we should talk.”
She blinks. After a quiet moment, she nods. “… Okay.”
I stand up and offer her my hand. She looks at it, her bright cheeks flushing softly in the dark before she takes it and rises off the stair.
“Yo, Heidi.”
She releases my hand and we turn around to find a guy briskly walking up the sidewalk toward the house.
“Hey, Bobby,” she says.
Bobby?
Who’s Bobby?
Before jealousy even gets a chance, the guy plows past us.
“Is Jenna in there?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Heidi answers.
“Thanks.”
He throws open the door and bolts right inside as Heidi takes her phone from her pocket.
I squint. “What was that about?” I ask.
“That…” Heidi smirks as she fires off a quick text, “was the sound of you dodging a massive bullet,” she quips.
“Ah.” I wince. “I suddenly feel terrible for Jack.”
She lowers her phone. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Jenna has a way of diffusing these things.”
I nod. “Then, shall we go?”
“I gave Jenna a head’s up that I’m leaving, so… yeah.” She smiles, nervous and adorable. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 9
Heidi
“So, I didn’t know that you were Heidi Newbury.”
I laugh as I stare at the sidewalk. A full block of nothing but silent steps, and Drew breaks the tension with that?
“I didn’t know that you were Seth’s best friend,” I say.
Drew nods. “He tell you that?”
“Yeah. He said you were a real shirt off his back type of guy.”
“Aw, shucks!” he says with a grin. “He oversold me!”
“He certainly did. You’ve been nothing but a big jerk to me since the moment we met.”
“My sincerest apologies,” he jokes. “He and I have been roommates since our freshman year.”
I raise a brow. “Really?”
“We lived in the dorms together, pledged Delta Xi together, made plans to go into business after graduation together…” He looks up at me. “But he’s never said anything about you.”
I shrug, not surprised. “We’re not close.”
“He said that.”
“He mention anything else about our family history?” I ask, embarrassed.
“Not much. Messy divorce. I don’t like to pry.”
“No, it’s okay. You can pry. I mean…” I clear my throat. “It was a long time ago, but… yeah. Messy would be the word.”
“You lived with your mom after?” he asks.
“And Seth lived with Dad,” I answer with a nod. “We still went to the same school, though, so we saw each other a lot. He was the popular jock type, I very much was not, and we…”
“Clashed,” he finishes.
“Nice way to put it. Yeah.” I look at him, our strides steady and equal. “He said you told him to apologize to me. For the stamps.”
Drew glances at my marked arm and nods. “I did.”
“Why?”
His expression changes, the answer obvious. “I don’t like seeing people hurt each other. Especially not people I care about.”
I give a brief smile as my stomach quivers with nerves. “You two must be really close,” I say.
Drew exhales. “Yeah,” he says. “We are.”
“So, then…” I come to a slow stop on the corner of Shanty Row. “We should probably cancel our date this week.”
Drew pauses a stride ahead and turns to face me. “You think so?” he says.
“I don’t think the first thing I should do here is get between my brother and his best friend. That’s a little more drama than I’m accustomed to…”
He nods once. “I don’t want to get between you guys, either. You seem to have a nice white flag thing going on right now.”
“It’s for the best,” I say, as much as I hate it.
“When you’re right, you’re right.” He looks down the street toward my house. “But please allow me to take you the rest of the way. If only to enjoy the last sixty seconds we’ll ever have together.”
I smile. “Sure.”
I step forward. Drew quickly matches my short-legged stride, perhaps to make the brief walk home last just a little bit longer.
“Maybe it is better this way,” Drew says as