Girlfriend's Best Friend

Chapter 8

               “So Cody, how did you meet Kelli again?” my mom asked.

            “I was at the park with the guys just skating around when we saw these two gorgeous girls so we called them over. As soon as I saw Kelli, I knew I wanted her to be my girlfriend,” I said. Kelli blushed a little and looked away smiling, which I loved when she did that.

            “Do you go to Cody’s school?” my dad asked her, taking a bite out of his food.

            “Yeah, but that school is so big that I didn’t even know we went together,” Kelli laughed. “I still don’t see him in school.”

            “And you’re a junior too?” he asked.

            “Almost,” she said. “Still a sophomore.”

            “So if you’re hanging out with older guys, why would you ever pick Cody?” my brother Cole, who was sitting on the other side of Kelli, asked.

            “Cole!” I yelled at him at the same time as my parents. I couldn’t wait for him to go back to college at the end of summer.

            “I’m just saying, she’s a really pretty girl and she seems really nice. What is she doing hanging out with a loser who cries when he loses in Mario Kart against me?” he laughed, embarrassing me.

            “That didn’t happen,” I told Kelli.

            “That so happened! I have the pictures to prove it!” he pulled out his phone and showed her the picture of me that he had saved as his background. Kelli laughed and turned to me, saying ‘awww.’

            “Cole, stop embarrassing your brother!” my mom yelled at him.

            “I didn’t cry because I lost, I cried because you hit me in the eye with the controller and then punched me in the stomach because I was winning. That was a year ago!” I yelled at him.

            “So you admit it though, you cried,” he laughed at me, burped, and got up from the table.

            “I am so sorry about him Kelli,” my mom said. “He’s such a pig but that’s how boys are. Do you have any brothers?”

            “I don’t have any siblings, but you know my best friend, Brooke, that you met today? She has four older brothers- I’m used to these kinds of things,” Kelli laughed.

            “Brooke has four older brothers?” I asked in shock. She’d never mentioned them.

            “That girl Brooke who was here before?” my brother came back in. “So hot.”

          Kelli ignored the comment, but I could tell she was doing her best to act like it didn’t bother her. My parents rolled their eyes at my brother’s comment.

            “You realize she’s sixteen, right?” I said. “You’re twenty.”

            “Whatever. I bet Brooke-” Cole cut himself off. “Kelli, is that Cody’s shirt?”

            “What?” we both said at the same time, her face turning a little red.

            “I borrowed this from Brooke’s house when I slept over last night—it’s probably one of her brothers’,” she gave an excuse. My brother definitely didn’t believe it but didn’t say anything, he just went back to his room. We finished our dinner and I think my parents really liked Kelli—as long as I liked her, they liked her. My parents were really conservative, and since Kelli seemed pretty innocent, I could tell they were pleased. They knew I didn’t have the best past, but having Kelli would make them think I’d try to have a clear future.

            After Kelli went home, my brother came to my room to talk to me. “That wasn’t Brooke’s brother’s shirt, that was yours,” he laughed.

            “We were just making out,” I said.

            “You should’ve got with Brooke, she’s bangin’,” he said.

            “If she wasn’t currently hooking up with basically all of my friends, maybe I could,” I said and then soon realized how bad that sounded. “And I really like Kelli.”

            “I’ll have to talk to your boys about this,” he laughed. “Maybe they can help me.”

            “Get out,” I said.

            “If you don’t help me get with Brooke, I’ll tell mom you had sex with Kelli,” he said.

            “I didn’t and I’m not helping you,” I said. “Now goodbye.”

            “MOM!” he yelled and left my room, although I knew he was just bluffing, so I didn’t bother going after him. But ten minutes later, my mom was in my room, yelling at me when she saw Kelli’s shirt on the ground. I tried to convince her that she spilled water on it so I gave her one of mine to borrow, but then next morning I woke up with a box of condoms on my dresser with a note: ‘be safe.’

            “If you use those on Brooke, I wouldn’t blame you,” my brother joked.