Tully’s eyes bug out of her head. “What? Are you serious?”
“Yeah. How fucking cool is that? BHU has an awesome team. I mean, kind of sucks knowing I was their last resort but still fucking awesome.”
“But…I thought you already accepted upstate?”
“I did but if it’s a choice between there and here, well, I’m going to stay here. I don’t think mom was coping with the idea of me living away.”
“So, you’re staying? You’re actually going to stay?”
Spencer grins wide as Noah, Aiden, and I begin crowding around, ready to congratulate him. “Damn right, I’m staying,” he tells her proudly.
Before anyone can even utter another word, Tully throws herself forward, crushing her lips to his, making us all pause and gape in shock. She kisses him as though she couldn’t possibly live without him and within the blink of an eye, she’s pulling back and sucking in a shocked breath.
Tully gapes at Spencer as though she has no idea what the hell just happened and to be honest, I think we all are. Noah confirms that thought in his very next breath. “Ummm…what the fuck was that?”
Tully shakes her head as Spencer stares at her, looking pretty damn pleased while also a little stunned. I mean, I know he wants it but we were all pretty damn sure she wasn’t ready for anything like that, especially so soon after Rivers. I was thinking in another year or so she’d possibly start to think of other things but certainly not yet.
Tully pulls back a little more and pushes Spencer’s hands off her thighs. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, shaking her head as she slips down off her Jeep and steps around him. Her eyes grow watery and Spencer attempts to reach out for her, but she moves out of reach, absolutely shattering him. “I just…I can’t. I’m sorry.”
With that, Tully darts off towards the house, hurrying inside, not even stopping when Violet calls out, cursing at her for tracking mud all through the house.
Noah goes after her but I catch his arm and pull him back. “Trust me, she’s not going to want to talk about this with you.”
“But…I’m her brother.”
I resist rolling my eyes. “Exactly.”
I move around him, leaving the three boys staring after me in confusion. Noah wondering why his twin sister wouldn’t want to talk about boys with him, Spencer wondering if he did something wrong or moved too fast and ruined what little chance he had, and Aiden probably wondering what white lie he’s going to tell so he can slip away and screw Barker down at the beach this afternoon.
Sometimes boys simply can’t understand us girls, but then there are times when I couldn’t even begin to make sense of the things those morons say.
I follow the muddy footprints down to Tully’s room being careful not to make any of my own. I push my way through her bedroom door and she’s two seconds from throwing something at me when she pulls back. “Oh, it’s just you.”
“Who did you think it was?” I ask, closing her door behind me and propping myself on the edge of her desk, not wanting to get her bed all wet, though it seems she doesn’t have the same issue.
“Noah…maybe Aiden.”
“And they’re not allowed to be here right now?”
Tully looks at me as though I’ve lost my mind and I agree, I must have. That was a stupid question. “So…” I say slowly. “Are you going to explain what the hell just happened out there because I’m a little confused.”
“You and me both,” she grumbles. “I’ve got no fucking clue. One minute the word ‘congratulations’ was going to come out of my mouth and the next thing I know, I was kissing him. I didn’t even know it was happening until it was too late.”
“Well, shit, huh?”
“Exactly.”
“And that’s when you decided to run away.”
Tully scoffs. “I didn’t run away.”
“Could have fooled me.”
Tully glares up at me from under her lashes with a less than impressed look on her face. “Really? You’re not just going to let me forget about this?”
“No way in hell. I’m going to dissect every second of it until I know exactly what happened,” I say, glancing out the window to see the boys and watch Noah walking back and forth in front of his car while speaking on his phone. As if sensing me, he glances up and gives me a small smile before getting back to concentrating on the call. “Besides, do you really think they are going to let you forget about it?”
“If they know what’s good for them, they will.”
I let out a sigh and move across her room until I’m sitting on her bed, deciding not to give a shit about getting the sheets wet. I mean, she’s already sitting on them so I guess it makes no difference if I am too. She’s going to have to change them anyway.