My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter 18

The day had finally come. My dress fit me like a glove, showing off my every curve to perfection.

I glanced in the mirror one last time before heading downstairs to face my parents and Jamie. Everything was in place. My hair had turned into glossy black waves that came to my waist, and my eyes were dark and smokey with a dark lip bold enough to match my dress. I was perfect. Or at least as close to perfection as I could ever get.

It was time, I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs.

It was like a movie.

I stepped through the door and time seemed to slow down. I flicked my hair as though in slow motion and embraced the sounds of oohing and ahhing. Cameras flashed and feet shuffled as my mom was undoubtedly trying to get the perfect picture, I posed for her, but then I saw him, and the world stopped.

Jamie stood at the bottom of the staircase with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, fidgeting a little as he stood. He looked up at me through his dark eyelashes and my heart seemed to fall out through my stomach.

I had felt like I had slowed down time when I had stepped out, but he had straight up stopped it.

"Wow," I whispered to myself, hoping no one could hear me.

He looked gorgeous. Like stupidly and insanely gorgeous. Suits must have been invented for him, because damn. I had never seen anything look more perfect than Jamie in a suit.

I reached the bottom of the staircase and looked up at Jamie, there was something about him that just made my heart throb in a way I hadn't felt before. It wasn't lust, or heartbreak, but it was like my heart seemed to throb at the joy of just being around this incredible human.

"Hi," his deep voice rumbled in a whisper to me.

"Hi," I said, my voice was far more breathless than I would have ever guessed.

"You look..." he looked me up and down, "wow."

"You look incredible," I blushed.

"Now lets do one of the two of you together," my mom said.

I don't fully know how it happened, but the next thing I knew, Jamie had spun me around so that my back was pressed up against his chest with his arms around my waist. My heart seemed to throb in my ears as I leaned back into him.

A soft cloud seemed to fall over the night. Nothing really felt real. I could have been in a trance like state and not have known any better. Jamie and I were just friends, but if I let myself get swept up in the moment, it felt like we were just so much more. I felt like someone else. Someone who good things happened to, someone who could experience love, someone who could be loved.

I looked back up at Jamie, and it could have all just been the excitement of it all, but I could swear that he was looking at me in a way that no body had ever looked at me before. He looked at me in the way Nathan looked at Olivia, like gravity had failed to work on him, and I was now the only thing holding him to the planet. Although, I could have just been reading too far into things.

Eventually we left. Jamie had borrowed his dads car to drive us. It looked like something fancy, although I would never be able to identify it as anything other than silver and fancy looking.

The whole ride there I had to actively make a point of peeling my eyes off of Jamie.

"What?" Jamie asked with a soft laugh when he caught me staring at him.

"Nothing," I blushed. "I just..." I wanted to say how amazing he looked, how he was making me feel weightless, how I low key desperately wanted to ruin a lifelong friendship in that moment "thank you for coming with me," I said, but the truth bubbled into my mind, "I don't know what I would have done without you."

"It's my pleasure," he smiled at me for a moment, revealing his bright white teeth against his dark skin, "I'd do anything for you."

I chuckled to myself, not knowing what to say.

The night seemed to pass by in a blur. One minute we arrived, the next we were slow dancing in the dim light. I was vaguely aware of Em, who had somehow brought the trashiest of white trash as her date, but we didn't engage with them at all. We just danced together. It was like we were the only two people in the room. It felt sort of like at the end of Sleeping Beauty, where they end up dancing on the clouds.

Towards the end of the night, Jamie took me outside to get some fresh air.

Crickets chirped Ass we were bathed in moonlight. I could feel my heels sink into the damp grass, but I didn't mind, I was having the best night of my life, but all of a sudden, Jamie was acting nervous. He seemed to be bouncing on his heels in time to his quickening heartbeat.

Dread fell into my stomach. "Jamie, what's up?" I asked, not wanting to know the answer to the question.

"I um..." he scratched the back of his head, "I've been meaning to tell you something for a while."

Oh no.

"What is it?" I asked, the pit in my chest seemed to grow.

"I um..." he fumbled. He tried to look me in the eye, but couldn't seem to muster the strength, and so walked closer to me.

I looked up at him. Did he have to say it? We could have a lovely night and he could just tell me tomorrow, I didn't want to hear it. I couldn't take anymore heartbreak. He had a girlfriend, I just knew it. Looking back on it he had been acting off all night, he must have been trying to muster the courage to tell me.

"I um..." he said looking down at me.

Without warning, he took my face between his hands and kissed me.

And my world exploded.

In the light of the moon, and to a ocean of stars, Jamie kissed me, and I kissed him back.

*******

Hey guys, I'm so sorry for abandoning this book for over a year. I lost the password and email address for this account. Luckily I remembered that I was still signed in on my old phone, and so that's how I ended up writing this.

Thank you so much for sticking with me all this time. The last time I checked, we were at 20 thousand reads, now we are at nearly 200 thousand reads! So thank you all so much for your love and support.