In This Moment(41)

Cole hasn’t tried to kiss me. He doesn’t gawk at my body. God. He barely looks—not even when I’m lying next to him on my bed in nothing but my sleep camisole and a pair of cotton shorts. What we’ve got going on is a strange kind of friendship, but that’s all it’s been so far. A friendship.

I lift my chin and wince a little. “Does it matter if I do?”

Jodi snorts discordantly. “What is this—1952 and you need to have your Great-Aunt Gertrude chaperone your outings? If you want Cole in your bed then you need to tell him so. Or better yet, show him that you want him. Men are better with visuals anyway.” She looks a combination of frustrated and amused. “Aimee, it’s obvious to everyone on the planet that he’s lusting so hard for you that he can barely see straight. Why not put the poor guy out of his misery?”

My mind is whirling and I say the first words that pop in my mouth. “I don’t date.”

“First of all, I didn’t say that you had to date him, did I?” Jodi waits for me to acknowledge her question with a shake of my head. “Second, what makes you think that what you’re doing with Cole right now is so different from dating him?”

My voice is barely audible. “I don’t know.”





Cole



“You’re joking?” I ask even though I know that she’s not.

Aimee gives an exaggerated shrug and squishes up her nose. I love when she does that. “You say that every time.”

She’s right. I do.

“I say it because I’m horrified every time and I keep hoping that you’ll tell me that this has all been some elaborate hoax.”

Aimee draws her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on the tops of her kneecaps. She smiles at me thoughtfully and waves her hand around the room. “Hmm. Horrified? Really? It seems to me that you’re thrilled to be in charge of expanding my cinematic repertoire.”

Right again.

I can feel her blue eyes all over me as I mess around with the cable attached to my laptop and the volume of the TV in her bedroom. Monday it was The Exorcist. Last night we watched the first of the Halloween movies. And tonight I’m cueing up The Ring. Starting with Caddyshack a couple of weeks back, Aimee and I have been systematically working our way through all of my movies. This girl has seen next to nothing and I’ve made it a personal crusade to change that.

When I turn back to Aimee, she’s pulled off her oversized grey hoodie and is leaning against the pillows of her bed with her right hand flat on her stomach. Damn it. She’s wearing that pajama top again—the creamy one that barely covers anything. I suck air through my teeth and look away so that I don’t stare at the outline of her dark nipples through the fabric.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Aimee starts. “What’s with all of the scary movies this week?”

You’ve got to be kidding me, I think as my mind pushes aside the memory of Aimee grabbing my arm and scooting closer to me during some of the tenser scenes last night. There’s no way that I’m going to answer her question honestly and fess up to resorting to pathetic gimmicks, so I mutter something noncommittal under my breath and hope that she’ll fucking drop it where she found it.

“Ah, well I kind of like them,” she says, watching me carefully. The glow from the TV casts her pale face in a bluish-silver light. “Who would have thought that I’d be into horror movies, right?”

My eyebrows lift. “Just wait until we’re an hour into this one tough girl, and then you can tell me if you still think that you like scary movies. I’ve been taking it easy on you up until now. Let’s get started because I have to be out of here a little earlier than usual tonight.”

Behind me, Aimee’s soft voice cuts through the air. “Why? Do you have a hot date later?”

My head whips around. Is she fucking serious? Shit. I can tell by the look on her face that she is completely serious and it’s like everything in the room takes a ninety-degree swing.

“No,” I grumble, straining to move past the nastiness that’s lodged itself in my throat. I haven’t even wanted to look at another girl in weeks. Fuck. I’m completely pissed off. Aimee and I haven’t talked about this kind of thing before and I didn’t think that this was how we’d start.

“It would be okay if you did.” She looks mildly uncomfortable. Her skin is flushed and she pulls absently on the ends of her hair. “I mean—I don’t want to be the one sucking up all of your time. I know that you had a life before you met me and that you...” Now her cheeks go ridiculously red. “Have stuff that you might need to do sometimes.”