The WRONG Brother (Love You Forever #1) - Alexis Winter Page 0,84
back now, I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. And Piper deserves someone like Calvin who will love her whole heartedly, take care of her, and be there when she needs. There’s no way I’m going to screw up what the two of them have finally found.
But that also leaves me feeling a little alone. Before, I had two people to fall back on when I was bored or lonely. Now, those two people are together and when I’m around, I feel like I’m butting into their personal moment. I think the only chance I have at getting over Piper will be to find someone for myself.
Find someone who I could love and someone who could love me back. I mean, I’m twenty-five years old and I’ve never in my life been in a serious relationship before. At the time of the show, I couldn’t see myself with Piper or anyone for that matter. All I wanted to do was have fun. Go out drinking. Take trips and adventures. I didn’t want anyone holding me back from living my life the way I wanted. But now that Calvin and Piper are set to get married and they’re having a baby, it makes me see how stupid I’ve been. I wouldn’t be trading in one life for another. I would be creating more life, more to love, more moments to share with someone special.
It’s settled. I will force myself to grow up, to find someone I want to spend my life with. Being single is great and fun, but being alone sucks. Now that I’ve decided that I want to be in a relationship, where do I go to find one? That’s something I’ve always avoided before. It’s not like I can just run on down to Target and be like, uh, yes I would like one girlfriend, please? I can’t get online and order one from Amazon either. How do people meet people?
Ugh, I’m not even in a relationship yet and it’s already driving me crazy.
Either way, I don’t have time to think about it because I’m crashing some kind of dinner that Calvin and Piper have planned. I wasn’t exactly invited, but I heard them talking about it and her friend Riley. I figured if she’s going to be acting the part of godmother, I needed to be involved too.
I pull on my shoes and leave my apartment, climbing behind the wheel and making the drive over to her house. There’s a strange car in the drive when I pull up and can only assume it belongs to Riley. I smile to myself as I climb out and help myself into the house, and into the fridge where I grab two beers. I slip one into my pocket and open the other, taking a drink as I step out onto the patio. The three of them are already all on the patio, surrounding the grill.
I look her up and down. “Who’s this?”
Piper rolls her eyes at my bluntness. “Preston, this is Riley. Riley, Preston. He’s Calvin’s brother and my best friend since kindergarten.”
Riley looks up to me and this funny thing happens. I forget to breathe. I’ve never seen anyone like her. She’s beautiful with her sun kissed skin and chocolatey eyes. When the wind blows, a tree branch moves and allows the sunlight to hit her perfectly. Those chocolate eyes also have a hint of caramel to them. Her long, sleek black hair blows in the wind behind her like she’s in a damn shampoo commercial. I feel myself inhale trying to get a scent of her shampoo. Did I just sniff the air like a damn dog?
She holds out her hand to shake. “It’s nice to finally meet the man who broke my best friend’s heart on national television.”
My mouth opens but I don’t know what the fuck to say to that shit. She’s straight up calling me out. I look from her, to Piper, and then Cal. “Ummmm, I…” Yep, nothing. Still can’t think of anything to say.
She busts out laughing, showing me her perfectly, straight, white teeth. Yup, she’s perfect. “I’m just messing with ya. Relax.”
I feel the anxiety leave me in a wave, but have to sit down. I didn’t realize that I’d been holding my breath and now I’m feeling a little light headed.
Everyone takes a seat and Calvin reaches over to hold Piper’s hand. “Riley, we actually have something to tell you,” she starts.