Lost in memories, I don’t even notice Haylee walking toward my car and opening the door. She makes me jump when she slams the door shut, yelling, “Happy first day of senior year, bestie!”
She then pulls a single rose out from behind her back and rolls her eyes. “Em told me to give this to you.” She pauses and giggles. “He also told me to give you a big smooch, but, well, that’s not happening.”
I break out into giggles too before leaning over the center console to smack a big loud kiss on her cheek. We both end up with tears in our eyes from laughing. “Shall we?” Haylee holds up Katy Perry’s latest album, Teenage Dream. We’ve seriously been obsessed with every song since its release. I’m pretty sure everyone in both our houses knows all the lyrics.
I take the CD out of its case, place it in the player, and crank up the volume as we head down the road to school. Another step closer to the rest of my life.
LATER THAT EVENING I sit at the dinner table with my parents discussing our days as we eat the traditional first-day-of-school meal, crab cakes and corn on the cob.
“So how was your last first day, Dani?”
I finish chewing the bite in my mouth and wipe my mouth with my napkin. “It was good. Weird without them there, but Hails and I survived. It’s the final countdown.” I sing the last part to the tune of the classic 80s song.
“I just can’t believe you girls are seniors already. When did my babies grow up?” Oh Lord, here we go—my mom is getting choked up again. “I mean, you guys were just out back learning to swim, and now you’ll be going off to Pennsylvania and Haylee all the way to California.”
“Mom, we’ll be fine. Were you this emotional last year with Zach?”
“No, but you’re my…”
My phone begins to vibrate and I reach for it, seeing Em’s name appear on the screen. I go to get up from the table.
“Umm, excuse me, young lady, where do you think you’re going? You need to finish eating first.” My dad’s voice is stern.
“But…”
“No buts—you can call Emmett back.”
“How did you know it was him?”
He tilts his head and laughs. “Really, Danielle Jacobs? You think I don’t know that Emmett calls you every night for you to talk about your day even on days that you spent with each other.”
“Oh, Adam, relax. Don’t you remember what it was like back then, to be young and in love? That boy is her whole world.”
Dad sighs, knowing she is right. I have heard plenty of stories of both my parents and Haylee’s from their younger days.
My mom turns to me. “Just finish up your dinner and then you can go.”
I quickly finish off the last few bites of crab cake on my plate, shoving them all into my mouth at the same time. With a mouth full of food, I push my chair back. “Thanks for dinner, guys. It was delicious.”
My dad laughs at my lack of manners, and my mom just shakes her head. “You are more like your brother each day. Lord help us!”
I let out a loud laugh and hit Send on my phone as I walk out of the dining room toward the stairs. I drown out the rest of the conversation once I hear his voice. My day just got that much better.
“Hey, Cupcake, how was your day?”
T he only sound I can hear is the sound of our heavy breathing from our post-frat-party lovemaking session. I slowly climb off Emmett and lie next to him, naked and wrapped in his arms, only covered by the sheet. Em brushes the hair off my face. I can only imagine how attractive I look all sweaty and with my hair a mess right now, but, oh my God it was worth it.
“You are amazing, Cupcake. If I could just live inside you, I would move there tomorrow.” He kisses my temple before pulling me closer to him. Our bodies are sweaty, but I don’t care. We can shower later since we have the apartment to ourselves. We left Zach at the party flirting all over some random girl. I swear, every time I come here to visit, there’s a new girl. Maybe one day, he will meet the right one who gets him to settle down and change his manwhoreish ways. I’m sure hell would freeze over before that actually happens.
I go to ask Em if he wants to shower now or later when we hear a loud noise on the other side of the door followed by a giggle. My brother has returned home, and he is not alone. We hear a few loud bangs—mostly Zach walking into furniture, followed by some curse words, and giggles by his female counterpart. We are both trying to hold back our laughter at their sad attempt at making it to Zach’s bedroom. We then hear his door slam followed quickly by “Oh God! Yes! Fuck yes!” I try to cover my ears.
Oh my God, gross! I am so not going to listen to my brother bang some random chick he will probably have me or Emmett kick out in the morning. Her moaning gets louder and louder, and Emmett can’t hold back his laughter. I slap his arm. “This isn’t funny, babe. This is gross. I’m going to have to go through so much therapy for this.”
Em removes my hands from my ears. “Oh babe, please, this is nothing compared to the time Zach walked in on us, with you mid O-face. Plus, how many times has he had to hear us?” He continues laughing. I shake my head at the memory. Clearly this is payback.
“Oh my God, yes! Oh Ethan, right there!”
I instantly sit up and look at Emmett, both of us confused. “Did she just call him Ethan?”