Purposefully Accidental

Chapter Eight

"Hannah?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I hastily slip my feet into a pair of flats, and then take one last glance at my reflection in the mirror. As I'm re-fixing my hair for the last time, my door opens, revealing my brother with a completely puzzled look on his face.

"Hannah," Tony says from the doorframe, "tell me, am I seeing things or is that Jonah Gibbs at the door asking for you?"

I shoulder my bag and give him a grin, dropping a kiss on his cheek as I slip by him and lightly jog toward the stairs.

"You haven't answered my question!" He catches my elbow before I can make it to the stairs. He stretches his arms to the sides, blocking my way through. "Explain."

"I can't keep the guy waiting, Tony."

He gives me a look. "Thirty seconds, kid."

I stick my tongue out at him. "You're not my dad."

His voice drops low. "Yes. True. I'm your brother, the one who watched you cry for three hours straight as you packed a certain guy's stuff into cardboard boxes, the one whose shoulder you fell asleep on when you finally got too exhausted to continue crying. For two fucking weeks straight."

I press my lips together into a thin line. First Gina and now Tony. Did I really cry that much after the break-up? That's really embarrassing.

He raises an eyebrow. "Thirty seconds starts now."

"I did ask you to invite him to your wedding and you said yes. You let me send the invite!"

"Well, I thought you were just doing it to be polite to your ex-boyfriend! I didn't expect to see him back in town at least until he graduates college, much less standing at our front door like he's picking you up for a date—wait." His face falls into a scowl.

"It's not a date! I think. We're just hanging out."

"Hanging out," he repeats dryly.

"Yes. Two friends from high school. Reunited."

"Hannah."

"Tony."

He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Don't get me wrong—I loved the kid. But he broke your heart, reduced you into a sobbing mess for months... As a brother, I'm kinda obligated to not approve of you jumping right into his arms as soon as you get the chance."

I groan. "He's waiting for me. Thirty seconds ended two minutes ago. Please."

"I don't want you to get hurt, Hannah."

"Neither do I. Getting hurts sucks, I should know. Come on, Tony. We're just catching up."

"He hurt you."

"I hurt him, too."

"You hurt each other. That was sucky."

"It was just a break-up. You've had, like, twelve of those before Kate," I say as if I didn't spend days sobbing myself to sleep with Taylor Swift's RED playing on repeat in the background. "We're just catching up with each other. Alright, I'll see you later, okay, thanks, bye." I duck under his arms and sprint toward the door before he could catch me.

Jonah turns around at the sound of my footsteps, his face lighting up, although there's a hint of worry in his eyes. But that look disappears half a second later, replaced by a grin. "Hi."

"Hey. Sorry to keep you waiting," I greet him, closing the door behind me before my brother could appear. "Where are you taking me?"

He gives me a sideway glance as we part ways toward the doors of his car, smiling a little. "Eager, are we?"