He frowned and sat up. “Well, that’s a weird thing to say. Of course I’m not sleeping with Candace and of course you should be mad if I was. Is this because I told you about her sleeping with Danny when he had a girlfriend? I knew I shouldn’t have told you that. You don’t know the whole story, they had a complicated entanglement and his girlfriend was out there. Major clinger. He tried to dump her a couple times.”
“No,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What does that have to do with anything? I’m asking because, not two minutes ago, she told me she was going to ‘crash with you’ if I wasn’t, and I was just… unsure exactly what that meant.”
“It meant she’s too drunk to drive home, so like many other nights, she’s going to crash with whoever has an empty bed or futon.”
“Okay,” she said easily. But after a couple seconds passed, she asked, “And you’re cool with that?”
“Yeah? I guess I should have asked if you were cool with that. I’ve been single for so long I didn’t really think about it…”
“Okay.” She nodded, picking up enthusiasm. “No, that’s… that’s fine. Can I ask you another question?”
“Go ahead.” He looked a little more sober at that point, poor guy.
“Is it ever… sexual at all? Not judging, again, just… you know, sometimes when you’re drinking…?”
Releasing a drawn-out sigh, he said, “Willow… I’m not sure what you’re getting at here. Are you trying to pick a fight? I thought you liked Candace.”
“I have zero problems with Candace, I’m just asking a simple, straightforward question.”
“I mean, we’ve drunk-cuddled a few times when we were both single, but it didn’t mean anything. She only even remembered it happening once. You’ve seen how she gets. She would cuddle with you when she’s drunk and she’s straight as an arrow.”
“So, hypothetically, if I was drinking with a male friend and I slept in his bed with him, you would be fine with that?”
“Well, sure, as long as the guy doesn’t get handsy. I don’t want you to die or anything. You know how I am about that.”
“Okay.” Willow nodded. “I was just curious. Plus, if you were sleeping with her, I didn’t want you to tell me in front of her, because that would piss me off a little.”
“I’ll make a note. If I ever cheat on you, tell you in private.”
Flashing him a cheeky smile, she said, “I’ll be just as considerate if I ever cheat on you.”
“We’re the best couple ever,” he stated, reaching out and catching her hand, tugging her over to the bed. “Do I at least get a hug as a reward for having this weird-ass conversation?”
“I guess you earned one,” she replied, leaning in to give him a hug.
He yanked her, toppling her over into the bed with him and propped himself up on his elbow, smiling down at her. “You’re kinda cool, you know that?”
“Why am I cool?”
“A lot of girls would’ve just flipped their shit on me.”
Shrugging a little and staring up at the ceiling, Willow said, “I’m not much of a shit-flipper.”
“I know,” he said, leaning down to give her a little kiss. “I like that about you.”
Somehow letting him kiss her felt wrong—even though she understood logically she had that flipped around—so she sat up and got to her feet. “We should probably head back downstairs before Cliff and Candace conspire to eat your Hot Pocket.”
“Dirty animals,” he said in agreement, standing and following her out of his room.
“Let’s read one more chapter.”
Offering an apologetic smile as he tucked the tree frog bookmark into the thin chapter book, Ethan said, “Sorry, kiddo, that’s what you said at the end of the last chapter.”
“Yeah, but now it’s getting really good and I want to know what happens,” Alison stated innocently.
Placing the book on her bedside table, he leaned down to give her a kiss on the forehead before dragging the thin blanket up to wrap around her. She would kick it off before he even made it to the front door, but he would continue the ritual as long as she’d allow it.
“Will I see you tomorrow?” she asked, realizing her request would not be granted.