[PREVIEW] My Best Friend: The Pool Party

[PREVIEW] Chapter One

"Dylan!" I call after the rambunctious 8-year-old in a blue dinosaur t-shirt. He looks back at me for a second, before stopping at a rack of shirts in the kid's section of the department store. He pulls the clothes on their hangers from side to side among the metal rod, each one smacking into the next as he counts them. "This one! And this one!"

I let out a heavy sigh and fold my arms. Moms with kids judge me as they walk by under the harsh store lighting as I let him make a mess on the floor, t-shirts falling around his velcro sneakers. "You have five seconds, man," I stress.

"And this one!" he yells, looking back at me for a reaction.

"That's it. Five...four..."

Dylan wants a stand-off. He continues to throw the shirts as I count down the way Mom used to do to me. It's one thing to have to take my kid brother to the mall with me while I should be living up summer break, but another to not have him listen to a thing I have to say. At exactly one second, I reach my hand out, and he pushes away from the clothing rack and runs up to me, drumming his hands on my flat stomach. "Done!"

"Yeah, and look at the mess you made!" I say. I grasp his wrist and pull him along past the mess to the change rooms, my arm full of mismatched clothing. I know I should teach him a lesson and get him to clean it up, but I don't have the mental bandwidth right now. I've never gone shopping for my own clothes before, and my kid brother isn't making the process any easier. All I wanted to do was pop in and out, but he made the experience a nightmare. On top of that, Dad just texted me a list of groceries for his guy's night in. Another thing for me to handle.

While I spend my summer buying food and wrangling his hyper kid, he gets to spend time with his buddies drinking beer and re-watching his favorite TV shows. I'm not mad he finally has a night off from us. Jealous, maybe. Dad works hard and I appreciate everything he's had to do for us since mom passed, but I just wish I hadn't become his surrogate caretaker. I wish I had a chance to kick back and go to a party or something. I've had zero dates, basically zero interest from any girls, because I'm stuck inside all the time looking after Dylan. It's summer, for crying out loud!

We stop in the change rooms at a small white counter. A guy with a dark fade looks up from his phone to me from behind the counter, his bright eyes locking onto me, the muscle in his sharp jaw clenching slightly. He looks like he belongs in a gym with those rippling arms, or on some action movie set, not behind a counter at a department store.

"How many?" he asks. "Uh..." I'm still shocked to see someone this attractive in a place like this. I fumble the clothes in my arm and count them. "Four?"

"That's a lot of kids."

"Shut up," I say with a laugh. Immediately, I cringe at my own bluntness, but luckily, he returns a laugh. His smile is amazing. Bright, wide, it's infectious. And also familiar. Why does he look so familiar to me?

He reaches behind him and hands me a purple tag with four notches on it. My fingers graze his as I grasp it, and I swear a shudder runs through me. Like nothing I've felt before. What's going on here? "Thanks."

He takes the clothes from my arms and examines them while I wipe at a smear of dried blue candy across Dylan's face. We've traipsed up to the counter looking like sweaty, dirty messes, while this hunk sits behind a counter and probably judges us. Of all people to get today, we just had to get the cool, buff guy with the sharp hairstyle. I stare at the front of his muscle tee, with the palm trees and the orange sunset and I wish to god I was in there. At the tropical location. Not inside his shirt.

"Looking good," he says, handing me back my clothes with a wink. For a second, it feels like he's talking about me rather than my clothes. It's weird to feel noticed by somebody so hot, even if they are a guy. I'm as straight as they come, but I guess when you're in the presence of someone that attractive, it doesn't matter what your sexuality is. Your body reacts regardless.

[FREE on KU] My Best Friend: The Pool Party by Blue Pierce

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