My Brother’s Best Friends

***Reagan***

“Idon’tthinkI’ve ever been happier.” I took another bite of my ice cream and sighed. “Nope. Now, I am.”

Theo finished his beer and tossed it into a trash can as we walked down the main street through town. He bit into his chocolate ice cream that he’d been double-fisting with his beer and groaned. “This is the life.”

Charlie stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk and barely saved his triple-stacked cone. “Shit. If my students could see me now. Pretty sure teachers aren’t supposed to be this drunk in public.”

“You’re a coach. It’s expected of coaches.” Theo dodged Charlie’s fist and bumped into me, making me drop a gummy bear.

“Hey! Careful with the bears!”

August wrapped his arm around me and pulled me farther from the guys. “I’ll protect the bears from these idiots.”

“Care to protect them straight into my mouth?” I was feeling cute until I tripped over my feet and went down hard. I saved my ice cream, but I wasn’t exactly feeling cute as I stared up at the guys from the street.

Theo shook his head. “Those heels are going to kill you.”

“I’m not used to them. It’s not their fault.”

He pulled me up and easily lifted me into his arms, holding me like a bride. “There. Now, you’ll be safer.”

“Until you trip and I fall even farther.”

“Where are we going, anyway?” Charlie looked around and raised his eyebrows. “Was anyone going to say anything about the fact that we walked the opposite way of the gym and our homes?”

August glanced at our surroundings and grunted. “Shit.”

“Okay, okay. Put me down. I’ll carry one of you now. We can do this.”

Theo snorted. “Do what?”

“Walk back the other way. We can make it.”

August saw me struggling to eat my ice cream with my arm wrapped around Theo’s neck, so he took it and absently started feeding it to me. “You’re not carrying us. We’ll just take a break for a few minutes and then go again. The ice cream will soak up the booze and we’ll be good as new.”

“There’s no benches. Where are we going to sit?” I took another bite of ice cream from him and looked around. Just down the street was the Lunar Motel. “There!”

Charlie scoffed. “Are you trying to have your way with us, woman?”

“Been there, done that, didn’t even get a commemorative shirt.” Rolling my eyes, I talked around another bite. “We can rest there. And then we can go back. There are no benches out here and I want to sit down. My feet hurt and I can’t eat my ice cream with Theo’s big head in the way.”

Theo growled. “Excuse me? My head is perfectly normal.”

None of us verbally decided or agreed to my idea, but we were walking towards the motel anyway. Then, August was inside the office, talking to the kid at the front desk and getting a key. Up the stairs, down the concrete walkway, into Room 210, we went.

It wasn’t until we were all standing inside the small room, crammed around the bed, that I started giggling and couldn’t stop. The room smelled like stale pot smoke and the blanket couldn’t have been washed in the past decade. I looked at each man around me and laughed even harder.

Theo crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes a little glossy and his smile goofy. “What’s so funny?”

Charlie tried to sit on the bed but stopped when I made a choked sound and grabbed him, making his ice cream fall to the floor. He looked at me in shock and pouted. “Hey!”

Through tears of laughter, I pushed him away from the bed and made a big show of dragging the blanket off the bed. “I was trying to save you from whatever disease that blanket has!”

August kicked off his shoes and laid across the bed, his thick arm under his head. He stared at the ceiling and smiled. “I’ve slept on worse.”

Like kids, Charlie and Theo kicked off their shoes and jumped on the bed, nearly crushing August. Drunk and happy, they all took a minute to settle down. When they looked over at me, my stomach tightened. All three of them in bed, staring at me, was probably not a good party to walk into, but I didn’t care right then. I dropped my ice cream on the side table and kicked off my shoes before launching myself at the bed.

Someone grunted and complained about my elbow and I squealed when hands gripped my waist, tickling me. It was a mess of sloppy limbs until I was finally settled between Theo and August. With their warm bodies pressing against both sides of my body, I fought a stupid smile.