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He wound my hair around his fist and shook his head. “Later. Talk later.”
41
***Jude***
“Where’dPoppysayshewas going?” I grabbed a beer from Sam’s fridge and settled on his couch. There was a good game on, but I felt restless. After spending so much time with Poppy I found myself looking for her every few minutes if she wasn’t with me.
Cyrus cracked his neck and drained the last of his own beer. “Dinner with Sara.”
Sam tossed Cy a new beer before sitting in his recliner. “I guess guy best friends didn’t get invited.”
“She said it was to talk about the last week of classes but she had that look in her eye. She’s talking shit.” Cy sounded cranky. “I’d pay money to hear what that woman says when we’re not around.”
I took a swig of beer. “What do you think she’s talking about?”
“Us. For sure.” Sam muted the game. “I mean, probably. Right?”
“It’s Poppy. She could be talking about our dicks or the cost of lumber. There really is no telling.” Looking out of the window behind his head, Cyrus frowned. “What did we used to talk about?”
“Poppy.” Sam and I both said it in unison.
I patted my leg and Bogie came right over. Scratching his head, I laughed at the state we were in. “Before, we just talked about what she was doing, if she was being safe, if she needed anything. She’s always been our focus.”
“And you two were too stupid to realize that you had feelings for her.” Sam rolled his eyes. “She’s had all of our attention since the first time we met her. How could she not?”
I shifted in my seat at the wordfeelings. I didn’t think he was wrong, but it scared the shit out of me to think of trying to take something with Poppy to the next level. The woman was allergic to talking about feelings. Plus, there were four of us involved. Was that even something that could be taken to the next level?
“Relax, assholes. Acknowledging that there are feelings doesn’t mean you have to go buy rings.” Setting his beer down, Sam looked at his phone and sighed. “I asked her to text me when she got to the restaurant. They decided to drive to that new place on the beach, the one Shane Oberlin’s mom opened. It’s a thirty-minute drive and you know how she drives.”
I groaned. “Are we old ladies? Jesus. I mean, we’re sitting here worrying and fretting for no reason. She’s fine. She’s not that bad of a driver.”
Cyrus stood up and grabbed his keys. “We’ll just drive by and make sure she made it okay.”
I was already halfway to the door. “Yeah, it’s not a big deal. We’ll just peek a little.”
Sam hadn’t moved from his recliner by the time Cy and I were at the door and on our way out. When we realized he wasn’t following us, we looked back at him and he laughed. “I just want to remember this moment. I’m making sure it’s burned into my brain really thoroughly. Two grown-ass men running out to gopeek a littleat our best friend. Our best friend who’s a perfectly capable woman, who has been taking care of herself for years without us peeking a little. She doesn’t need— Fine, let’s go. But if she sees us and gets pissed, I want it on record that I at least pretended to not want to do this.”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s been noted.” I looked down at Bogie who was looking up at me with his big eyes all wide and pleading. Halfway through wondering if he could understand where we were going, I had a realization. “Shit. I just realized that I’m drunk.”
Cyrus considered it and swore. “Yeah, I’m not sober.”
Sam held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I opened my first beer the moment the clock hit five.”
“I have an idea. Tell me how bad it is.” I knew it was pretty bad, but I wasn’t willing to not say it. “Let’s call Charlie to give us a ride.”
“You want us to call Charlie, Poppy’s big brother, to drive our drunk asses to the beach so we can make sure Poppy drove to her dinner date with her friend okay?” Sam rubbed his chin. “That sounds like an idea that’ll piss Poppy off.”
Cyrus chuckled. “Let’s do it.”
Twenty minutes later, the three of us were crammed in the back of Charlie’s truck while Bogie rode shotgun. I wouldn’t have minded so much if Cyrus hadn’t been singing along to whatever trash Charlie was playing on the radio. That was the thing about Charlie. He never turned down his damn radio. The conversation could be about a dying loved one and he’d still have ABBA blaring in the background.
“Tell me again why you’re spying on my baby sister.” He rubbed Bogie’s ears while he drove, a shit-eating grin on his face. He’d always loved messing with us and he was thrilled that he’d gotten a chance to shove us into his back seat.
Sam leaned forward and shook his head. “Not spying.”
“We’re just checking on her.” I elbowed Cyrus to get him to shut up. “She didn’t text Sam to let him know she’d made it safely and we just wanted to make sure she’s okay.”
Charlie glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “Uh huh. In all the years you three idiots have been chasing my sister around, you’ve never once felt the need to follow her around and check on her. Why now? Is she hanging out with someone she shouldn’t be?”
