Her Best Friend's Brother(15)

Libby took two big spoonfuls and sighed happily. “mmm. Me too. What’s in the rest of the bags?” Tony watched her eat… stupid spoon. Maybe he should have brought a thermos. Was chicken noodle the kind of soup you could drink from a thermos? Tony didn’t think so and anyway somehow he doubted that Libby drinking out of a thermos would be any less… effective…

than watching her lick that damn spoon.

“Tony?”

“What? Oh right the bags. Wel we have a selection of DVDs, and— wel I have a surprise for you—for later.” Libby twitched her eyebrows at the mention of a ‘surprise’, but she puled the bag of DVDs towards her and poked through it. He had brought a bunch of slasher films (probably in honor of the holiday), the first Pirates movie (probably in honor of the fact that he thought Keira Knightely was a babe), and… “The Little Mermaid?”

“I figured if you were sick, and missing a party then I could make a cinematic concession.” And there was that grin again. Libby was having a hard time deciding if it was the flu or Tony’s smiles that kept giving her waves of light headedness. “So? What’s your pleasure?” Pleasure? Oh, the movie. “I wil spare you on The Little Mermaid, but only because my throat hurts too much to sing along. How about Pirates?”

“You got it.” Tony was relieved; and disappointed. When he had been tossing choices into the bag those slasher films had conjured images of Libby clinging to his hand, burying her head in his shoulder, and leaping into his lap. She had the flu for crying out loud. A gentleman would not be thinking what he was thinking.

Realy he had just wanted to cheer her up. And to be honest arriving home in time to find a bunch teenagers dancing around his back yard in costumes, his sister plastered al over pre-med John, and no Libby had been more than a little disappointing. So when his mother had asked him to bring the soup over he had ignored her annoying wink and hustled himself over to see Libby.

When the soup was gone and Johnny Depp was on his way to adventure on the high seas, Tony turned to Libby. “Is that Parker felow going to mind you watching a movie with me, or Sam Tucker?”

“You have a weird obsession with Sam Tucker. What about Effie?” Libby dodged the question. It was true that she was supposed to be on a date with Parker right now. But that was more of a matter of default due to their best friends being make-out buddies more than anything else.

“Effie isn’t my girlfriend Lib.” Tony sounded agitated as though he was tired of answering that question.

This was categoricaly unfair as Libby went out of her way This was categoricaly unfair as Libby went out of her way to completely ignore her existence.

“We were friends who were rooming together, and I have hardly seen her since we moved back to campus.” Not that it was her business, but it suddenly seemed important to Tony that Libby understand. “I don’t have a girlfriend at the moment.”

His words reverberated in the air for a little while. Libby could almost feel the electricity zinging between them. She opened her mouth to say something and

—she sneezed a loud and somehow hilarious sneeze. They were both laughing uncontrolably, and Libby was trying to catch her breath. It was amazing that even though the delicious tension from a moment ago had disappeared Libby was stil having the time of her life.

“I’l get you some tissues. I should have thought of that.” Tony was stil chuckling as he unfolded himself from his corner of the couch. “Do you need anything else?”

“Actualy the Nightquil is over the sink if you don’t mind bringing it to me.” Nightquil usualy knocked Libby out, but she knew she had taken the last of the daytime stuff, and she didn’t want to risk another sneeze like that in front of Tony.

As Tony walked down her halway Libby alowed herself a long look. Tony was wearing a blue Columbia tee shirt, and old washed-soft blue jeans. Most guys you wouldn’t even notice their pants, unless they were yelow plaid or something else equaly odd. Tony made denim look good. It was his thighs she decided. She could see the toned muscles flexing as he walked. And his tee shirt fit snuggly across his broad shoulders. Tony had played footbal for as long as Libby had known him. Even at colege he had a group of buddies she knew that got together for a pickup game at least once a week. Al those years on the footbal field had done Tony’s upper body good. He wasn’t bulky like some footbal players, but lean and broad with upper arms that strained slightly at his sleeves. She loved those arms. When Tony came back and after Libby had dutifuly swalowed her medicine he settled himself onto the couch, draped one strong muscled arm around Libby’s shoulders, and leaned back to watch the movie.