The Road That Leads to Us (Us 1)

“Is that…?” I began.

“Ollie,” Liam finished for me. “Yep.”

He got out of the car and we followed.

Ollie and a blonde girl stood beside a VW van. He had his arm slung over her shoulder, pulling her into him. Her hair was long and bleached from the sun, not a salon.

“I hear we’re swimming with the sharks today!” Ollie called as we approached.

“You better not do anything stupid,” Liam grumbled.

“Me? Do something stupid? Never!” Ollie feigned shock. To Willow and me, he said, “This is my girlfriend, Talia.”

Talia started to say hello, but Ollie cut her off by giving her an exaggerated kiss. There was a whole lot more tongue involved than I wanted to see this early in the morning.

“Ollie,” Liam groaned, “boat. Now.”

“My girl needed a kiss,” Ollie crowed, spreading his arms out wide before heading for the dock.

“You can force-feed her your saliva later.” Liam clapped him on the shoulder.

Beside us, Talia gave an apologetic smile as we followed behind the guys.

“Sorry about that.” She frowned. “Ollie is…”

“Ollie?” We finished for her.

She laughed. “Yeah. He’s a bit exuberant, but you get used to it.” She shrugged, smiling at us. She was shorter than Willow and her hair was a darker shade of blonde. “It’s one of the things I love most about him. That he’s not afraid to be true to himself.”

I had to smile at her words. It was one of the things I loved most about Willow.

As if sensing this she glanced up at me and I couldn’t help but lower and kiss her. It was the briefest of kisses, barely a touch of our lips, but it felt like so much more.

Liam and Ollie stopped beside a large boat and someone was already on board.

“Hey!” The guy yelled down. The guy was on the lanky side and sporting a pair of black-rimmed glasses. His brown hair was styled in dreads that were tied back with a ponytail holder.

We filed onto the boat and the guy held out a hand for Willow and I to shake.

“Jeremiah,” he introduced himself.

“Dean,” I said. “Nice shirt,” I commented when I noticed what he wore.

The shirt was blue, but that wasn’t what caught my eye.

It was the Pokémon on it. It had an image of Magikarp on it as well as its evolution to Gyarados. Between the images of the Pokémon it said: If you don’t struggle you don’t improve.

Words to live by.

Beside me Willow snorted. “Pokémon right?”

Jeremiah and I nodded.

She shook her head and looked at Jeremiah apologetically. “Dean’s going to think you guys are bonded for life now. You’ve been warned.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “Pokémon is a brotherhood.”

“Don’t be sexist,” Talia laughed, sitting on the edge of the boat. I didn’t know how she didn’t fall off the way it was bobbing up and down.