The Road Trip

• Twenty-One •

Holding hands and walking into a Red Sox game with Luke—and Paige and Oliver walking in front of us—was the last place I thought I'd ever be.

Besides on a road trip with him. And besides spending the night in his apartment. And besides watching him play football. I guess it just kept getting stranger.

At the age of twenty-four, I was on my first non-date with my first non-boyfriend.

When we sat down in our seats, I kissed Luke's shoulder, and he slipped his huge hand around my thigh. Maybe this was what being a girlfriend was like—the same thing as a best friend, just more affectionate.

I could do that, I told myself.

"You don't get to just flirt with him the whole time and ignore me," Paige joked even though she and Oliver had been whispering to each other with their hands intertwined for the past twenty minutes.

I rolled my eyes and leaned against her. "I'll always love you more."

Luke squeezed my thigh, digging his thumb into my muscle, and I heard him laugh under his breath.

"It's so weird," Paige whispered. "He's the same as high school, but, like, completely not the same at all."

"I know, right? It's weird."

"You're different," Paige commented. "Or well, you are trying really hard to be."

"I know, right? It's weird."

I laughed and jokingly shuddered at the thought of personal growth. Who knew I was actually capable of it?

"Three flaws. Go," Paige whisper-hissed. "And don't tell me he doesn't have any."

I'd actually been thinking about them all morning while Luke had been running, so we put our heads together to gossip.

I chuckled under my breath and frowned. "He's obsessed with cardio."

"That flaw is clearly working for him. He has like zero percent body fat. That doesn't count, Reese."

"He tries to get me to go with him," I complained. "He spent an hour trying to convince me to run just a mile with him before I kicked him out of his own apartment."

"Okay, that's better. I'll accept it for now. We both know how lazy you are."

"He has a leather couch."

"Ew."

"I know. It's all cold and rigid and sticks to my skin, but we both don't fit on his fabric chair because he's so big."

"He is quite large." Paige raised her eyebrows suggestively, so I swatted her arm.

"And you will never believe this, but he hates chocolate."

Paige scrunched up her nose. "That's delusional. Did he get dropped as a baby?" She leaned over me. "Luke, did you suffer from any hard blows to the head as a child?"

Luke had a smile playing around on his lips. "Not that I know of, but I wouldn't put it past my brother to have pushed me off of something when he was little."

Paige put her forehead back near mine. "He's just so damn cute though."

"I know. It's painful."

"So his flaws..."

"Dammit, I love them." Then I changed my mind. "Well, except the leather couch."

"You'll have to replace that one with a flaw you love."

"Don't worry. I plan on figuring out all of them," I told her truthfully. I wanted every little piece of him. Luke rubbed his thumb over my jeans, and if I didn't know any better, I was pretty sure he'd heard me. I slipped my hand over his and played with his knuckles while he watched the game. "So, three months together, living together for one week—Oliver is... it?"