We’re the only family around here that I know of who has drivers and chefs. I should be happy that I was lucky to have other people around, but having someone clean up after me has always just made me feel uncomfortable.
I flop onto my bed and call Clara as I get comfortable. She answers on the first ring and I smile as I hear my oldest friend’s voice.
“You’re back!”
“I am! I got back yesterday.”
“I heard you went to the bar last night.”
“Yeah, just for a little bit with Twyla. She wanted to do something to help me celebrate coming home.”
“You mean escape from your parents?”
“Pretty much,” I say, making her laugh.
“How are they?”
“Well, my mom was actually just talking about taking a trip to Los Angeles to see you. You know how much she misses you.”
“Pass.”
I laugh. She couldn’t sound less thrilled with the idea of my mom coming to see her if she tried, but I get it.
“Speaking of family,” Clara starts. My heart starts to pound in my chest.
I’ve never told her, but I’ve always had the biggest crush on her older brother, Kai. I’ve been in love with him for so long that I’m not even sure when it happened. I remember I was already head over heels for him one night when he comforted me after I had a fight with my mom. She had hired a personal trainer and made me miss a riding lesson to work out. I ran away, and Kai found me.
I remember blurting everything out to him as we sat on a fallen tree on the other side of the property. He wrapped his arms around me and just listened, letting me cry into his chest. Then he offered to sneak me into his house, telling me Clara, him, and his brothers could sneak me food, and I’d never have to work out ever again.
He made me laugh and feel beautiful for the first time in my life, and I’ve been hooked on him ever since.
Unfortunately for me, Kai is totally off-limits. He’s my best friend’s brother, and I could never hurt Clara like that. So, I’ve spent the last ten years pretending I don’t love Kai.
It’s been miserable, but I try not to dwell on the dull ache buried deep in my chest, right next to my heart.
I thought going away to college would make it easier to forget him, but it didn’t. I compared every guy I met to him. I dreamt of him. I even tried to stalk him on social media, but he never posts, so I was stuck staring at old pictures every time I missed him.
He has one picture of the two of us on his Instagram. It’s from one of the days when we went down to the lake, and we’re both laughing and grinning into the camera. His arms are wrapped around me, and I’m holding onto his wrist. We look like a real couple, and I used to stare at that picture whenever I was feeling homesick and imagine that things had been different between us.
“Kai needs a date,” Clara says. I blink, clearing the fog of nostalgia and heartache. Surely I misheard her.
“What?”
“My brother, Kai, needs a date,” she says slower.
“For what?”
“Some wedding. One of his old friends from high school is getting married this weekend. I just talked to him, and he said that he’s going to go alone.”
“Okay, so let him go alone.”
“To a wedding, Oakley?”
I frown, wondering why that’s such a big deal.
“He can’t; plus, he already RSVP’d and said he was bringing a plus one, so now the couple paid for that guest.”
“Why don’t you just go with him?” I ask.