Nothing But Trouble (Malibu University 1)

This girl kills me. I get lost staring at the soft pillow of her bottom lip, the way it gets really full in the middle and tapers on the sides. I want to kiss her so badly again it’s painful. Physically fucking painful.

“Rea?”

Her voice snaps me out of my staring jag. “Yeah, let’s do this.”

We make our way up the steps to the carved mahogany front door and Lionel, my parents’ estate manager for the past ten years, is already holding it open. He must’ve seen us on the security cameras. Not a moment after he greets us, my mother is advancing down the hallway, headed straight for us, heels clicking all the way.

“There’s my baby. I see you’re still not wearing sunscreen.”

With her short blonde hair and line-free face, my mom looks half her age. She’s about Alice’s height, maybe a little thinner. The only feature we share are her eyes. People have even mistaken me for her boyfriend.

She hugs me quickly, cups my face, and let’s go even faster. My mother is a nervous person. Brisk movements, quick smiles, fast talking. It’s just how she is. Her keen stare shifts to Alice who’s been standing quietly to the side watching us. “And who’s this? A friend?”

“Mom, this is Alice.”

Alice comes forward with an outstretched hand and a shy smile and an overwhelming amount of pride invades my chest. It catches me off guard. Then again, Alice has been catching me off guard since the moment I met her. And although I’m not sure yet how I feel about it, I do know that I’ve never felt like this before.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Dr. Reynolds. And thank you so much for having me. Your house is amazing.”

Dr. Deb, as Brian and I used to call her just to piss her off, offers her a brief smile and her hand a quick squeeze. “Nice to meet you too, Alice. Reagan seldom brings friends home so it’s a pleasure to have you.”

The subtext––my mother’s fishing for clarification. She’s hoping Alice is only a friend. I also note she didn’t t