All Grown Up (8 page)

"Alright, alright."
I hunched my shoulders forward in defeat. Max raised an eyebrow at me as my mom walked out of the room. I turned to him. "Don’t you worry, I’m checking that shit out as soon as we can get away without my mom being suspicious." I grinned.

Max chuckled. "Dude
, you are hilarious! I think that you are going to sleep between Mina and her husband when she goes on her honeymoon!" He laughed so loud, I had to cover my ear.

After cleaning up from eating and coming up with the excuse that I was taking Max over to his house for a little while to hang out
, we borrowed my dad’s car and headed to the beach.

We pulled up to the parking area and parked beside Mina’s car. Stepping out of the car
, we could hear the music and the fire from where we stood. Max and I started heading toward them but were stopped by a voice.

"I would stay here if I were you." Max and I turned to see Christy sitting on the hood of Chloe’s truck.

"What?" Max asked her as we walked over to her.

"I said
, I would stay away if I were you." She smiled.

"Why is that?" I asked her looking back to the fire
. I noticed that it was just the three of them singing and dancing.

"Well this is a ‘girl
’s’ night, so to say. It’s sort of a tradition after a break-up or a really bad time in one of our lives." Christy’s eyes stayed on the girls while she spoke.

"So
, why are you up here and not down there?" Max asked.

"I only came over to check and make sure they were okay. I have to get back to
Michele and Randy. I’ll be back to check on them again before I go to bed. There is a chance of rain and I don’t want them to attempt to drive after all the drinking that goes down." She jumped off the truck and was about to turn to go when I stopped her.

"Christy, is Mina okay? I mean you said that these nights are because of…" she stopped me.

"No, no, it’s not Mina. Chloe and Lucas broke up. He cheated on her. This night is for her." She seemed to be searching my face for something but I wasn’t sure what.
How could he cheat on her? He’s a dumbass.

"Oh
." This was the most intelligent thing I could conjure up at the moment.

"I would stay away. They
tend to get pretty brutal towards men on these nights." She laughed as if she was remembering when she was down there.

"Christy
," it was Max that stopped her this time, "we’ll keep an eye on them, okay? If need be, I’ll crash down here with them to make sure nothing happens, or I’ll take them back to Leo’s parents."

"
Thanks, Max." Christy waved and left.

Max and I both sat down on the edge of the sand and watched the girls dance, laugh and sing. They were clearly drunk, but also hilarious to watch. I looked over to see Max with a
strange look on his face. I followed his gaze, trailing it back to Roni and every move she made.

"
Ahem," I cleared my throat and laughed.

"What?" he snapped out at me.

"Oh, nothing, Mr. I Don’t Make Them Girlfriends." I chuckled. It had become very clear what the look on his face was after he watched Veronica.

"You don’t know what you are talking about." He said with a little too much conviction.

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself of that?" I laughed again.

"Shut the fuck up
, dude! She is just hot…that’s all." He shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
I shook my head. "You know, it’s not a bad thing, Max, to actually be with one person and not a bunch of different girls." I kept my eyes on the girls who were winding down but still laughing.

Max was silent for
a moment before he said anything. "You should take your own advice, dear Leo." I laughed lightly.

Then it went silent. The laughing stopped and so did the music. Max and I walked slowly toward the
fire, they had all curled up and fell asleep.

"Hmmm…do we take them back or leave them here?" Max looked at me.

"I’m honestly not sure what to do." I looked at him then back to the girls.

"Well
, I’m thinking that we should probably get them to your house," Max spoke as he knelt down to Roni and lifted her up.

"Okay…then let’s…" just then I heard a low rumble and looked to the sky to see that dark clouds had rolled in over the water.
“I guess we should get moving, just in case that hits soon." I turned to see Max carrying Roni back toward my car.

I started packing up their stuff as Max walked back. He put out the fire and picked up Chloe. The
moment he had her in his arms, I felt that damn twinge in my stomach again. I pushed it aside and picked Mina up, carrying her to her car. We went back, grabbed all of their things and drove the cars back to the house.

We got back to my house and Mina emerged on her own from the car. Max was trying to get her to let him help but she just kept telling him to fuck off and stumbled into the house. I couldn’t hold back my laugh, even after Max shot me a nasty glare. I opened the back door of my car and saw
Roni . Max rushed up quickly to the door, cutting me off.

"I got her
," he said and grabbed her before I could protest, not that I was going to. Besides, if I was going to be honest with him and myself, I knew that getting Chloe into my arms, if only to feel that spark for a small minute, was what I was hoping for. I went around my car and retrieved Chloe, cradling her in my arms. Her head rolled to rest on my shoulder and I could smell her; it was invigorating. I inhaled deep, shook it off and walked her to Mina’s room.

Roni and Max weren’t in Mina’s room when I lay Chloe down by Mina. I couldn’t help but slide my fingers over her cheek and jaw before leaving them to sleep.
The spark seemed to ignite brighter as I moved against her skin.

I walked to the spare room
, where Max was staying, and saw him lying on the bed with Roni in his arms. He had his face buried in her hair and his arm around her tightly, holding her as close to him as possible. I didn’t say a word, walking away from the room with a strange feeling gnawing at the pit of my stomach and my fingers were still tingling. I knew then this feeling I was having towards Max and Roni was jealousy.

Chapter
Nine
Chloe Gates

Leo

Sleep did not come easy last night and I was up earlier than I would have liked. I got up
, showered and headed to the kitchen for coffee. My Dad was sitting next to my mother drinking coffee and talking between the two of them. They were really the ideal couple to mirror your relationship after. I don’t know if I could, or would, ever find that with someone. My relationships always seemed to flat-line after a month or two.

"Good morning
," my mother smiled brightly. "Did you sleep well?"

I pulled the mug down from the cabinet and poured coffee into it before answering. "I guess." I shrugged.

"Do you want some breakfast?" She stood and headed to the refrigerator.

"No, don’t worry about it. I can cook for myself. Sit down and relax." I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Nonsense, the girls will be hungry this morning after their late night…"

"If they aren’t too hung over" Robert chuckled as he looked at the paper. I laughed.

"Well, at least Chloe will eat. She’s out running and always comes back ready to eat, especially when I make my strawberry pancakes." Mom rebutted and reached for all the ingredients.

Chloe was out running? Damn
, I should’ve gotten up earlier. She wouldn't be underage forever, even if my dick felt differently. What is the harm in being friends with her? Even if half the time I wanted to strip her of clothes and mark her as mine.

"Hello…Leo?" Dad wav
ed his hands in my face.

"Huh?"

"We lost you there for a second, didn’t we?" He laughed. I smiled sheepishly and took another sip of coffee. "I was wondering if you could take a look at my laptop for me. I’ve tried everything but can’t figure out why it keeps locking up when I try to access the hospital database."

"Sure." I followed him to his office
. There was a sea of folders, case files and papers all over his desk and chairs. "Jesus, Dad, I’m surprised that Mom hasn’t killed you for this mess." I sat down at the desk, placed my coffee on his desk and started checking over his computer.

After about twenty minutes
, I sighed and sat back frustrated. "No luck?" Dad asked. I shook my head.

"Maybe you should call your IT person at the hospital. I think it’s probably something to do with the hospital database." I pushed back from the desk.

"I put a call in this morning but no return call yet," he huffed. "I was hoping to work on a couple of things this morning and get them out of the way, but that’s alright. What time are you guys heading back today? Will you be around for dinner?"

Just as I was about to answer
, Mom appeared in the doorway, "Get it all taken care of?" She smiled as if she already knew that we hadn’t. We both shook our head.

"Then it’s probably good that I have summoned reinforcements." She smiled as she walked into the room and wrapped her arms around my father.

"Reinforcements?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Yep."
She winked at me then at my dad.

"Elaine, what reinforcements…." Dad was cut off by Chloe’s appearance in the doorway. She came to a stop as soon as she saw that we were all looking at her. "Ah! Reinforcements! Elaine
, you’re a genius!" He kissed her head then walked over to Chloe explaining the problem he was having.

"Chloe is the ‘reinforcement’?" I was confused. Elaine chuckled and shooed me out of the desk chair.

Chloe sat down and started going through the same things that I had already done. "I already did all that. It won’t work." I wasn’t stupid when it came to computers, I knew the basics. Chloe looked up at me and smirked.

"Okay, so tell me what you already did then?" She cocked one eyebrow at me.

So I did. "I told him to just wait for his IT department to call." I smiled at her.

"Okay
." That was all she said and then she went back to work on the computer. I glanced to my mother who was eyeing me and holding in laughter. I was missing something. "Give me two minutes, I’ll be right back." Chloe spoke as she got up and headed for the door. She turned back, halfway through the door. "I need to get something from my house and then I should have you back up and running in no time." She looked at me and smirked then headed out.

"Someone tell me what I am missing?" I looked straight at my mother who was smiling.

"Oh honey, have you forgotten everything from when you were living here?" She chuckled.

My father spoke next. "Chloe is like a computer genius. She already does amazing things for the school and local companies."

Just as he finished, Chloe walked back in with another laptop and a small box in her hands. She sat down, plugged her laptop and the small box into Robert’s and then looked up at us. "Give me about fifteen minutes to run some diagnostics then, if I’m right, you will be back online." She smiled and then put her head back down while her fingers graced the keys.

"I’m going to go start the pancakes."
Mom announced as she left the room.

I couldn’t take my eye
s off of her fingers as they moved across the keys. They were so swift and determined, the look on her face was pure determination.

"What’s going on?" Mina grumbled as she walked in and plopped down in one of the chairs.

"Chloe is rescuing my computer." Robert smiled and took another sip of coffee.

"Uh-huh" Mina yawned. "Leave it to Gates over there to be
geeked out already." She laughed lightly, but stopped quickly when she saw Chloe scowling at her.

"Maybe I’ll just forget to work on your stuff today
, little miss smarty pants." I watched her smile at Mina. God, I wanted to lick her lips.

Mina shot her a look of pretend horror. "Oh
, please, Chloe…don’t. Please don’t make me live any longer without my touch screens and new programming." Mina had the back of her hand on her forehead and pretended to faint in the chair. I was laughing.

Chloe was trying not to laugh. "Robert, cover your ears
," Chloe ordered. "Look Tramp, I’m not doing anything for you ever again." She winked at Mina and went back to the laptops in front of her.

"Okay
, Mina, leave her alone so she can fix my computer." Dad shooed Mina out.

"Fine, I’ll just go talk to my one and only best friend…RONI!" Mina giggled.

"She can have you! I’m not friends with sluts!" Chloe shouted back and then turned quickly to Robert. "Sorry." she blushed.
God could she get any fucking cuter?!

"
It’s fine, Chloe. I’m well aware of how you girls talk to each other." He chuckled and went to stand next to Chloe, watching her.

About ten minutes had passed. "Okay. You are ready to go." She stood and unplugged everything while gathering up her computer and the small box."

"You are truly a lifesaver, Chloe. Thank you." Dad smiled as he sat down to his computer.

"No problem, though
you might want to tell your IT people that they need to ramp up the remote security. It was too easy to hack into it, but don’t tell them I hacked it." She winked and walked out of the room.

"Did you seriously just hack into the hospital
, Fisher?" She flipped her head around quickly, clearly not expecting me to be following her.

"Um, yeah."
She blushed and started walking again. I continued to follow her into Mina’s room. I could hear the shower running which was probably Mina.

Chloe walked out on the balcony and started to climb over to the tree house. "You
leaving?" I asked leaning on the balcony railing.

She turned quickly again. "Uh, I just have to take my stuff back." She stood there looking at me curiously. I’m sure she was wondering the same thing that I was.
What the fuck am I doing?

"Do you mind?" I asked as I followed her.

"Uh…" She stammered.

"I’m curious about your computer skills." I was about two inches from her and she took a step back from me.

"Uh…sure." She turned, but looked back at me again with the same curious expression on her face.

We entered her room and it looked like a normal room until my eyes fell on a corner desk that Chloe walked behind. "What the hell is all of that?" There were about four flat screen monitors, two key boards, a ton of computer pieces and equipment, printers, wires, laptops
and more.

"This is all my computer stuff." She blushed. "Why are you so curious about it anyways?" She placed her stuff down on the desk and walked back around toward
s me.

"I
dunno. I guess I just got curious after watching you this morning. Mom said you were like a computer genius but I didn’t realize you were a hacker." I winked at her.

"I only did that to help your
Dad. I’m not a hacker." She narrowed her eyes at me and then headed back toward the balcony. "At least as far as you know." She looked back at me smirking, then climbed to the tree house to head back to Mina’s room. I followed.

Walking back into Mina’s room I received curious looks from
both Mina and Roni.
I see Max finally let her go.
"What?"

"Where were you two?" Mina said in a ‘sitting-in-a-tree’
tone.

"I was checking out the hacker’s computer set up. It’s impressive." I shrugged.

Roni snorted. "Yeah, try living in the same room with Gates and all her beeps and fans blowing." Roni laughed and Chloe climbed on the bed with Roni, tossing a pillow at her.

"Gates?"
I asked curiously.

"You know, Bill Gates?" Mina rolled her eye
s.

"Ah
." I said, the light bulb flashing on..

"Well,
Mom should have the pancakes ready by now, so let’s go." Mina announced. Roni grumbled and pulled herself up, clearly still hung over. Chloe smiled and started towards the door, following Mina.

Chloe

To say that I was surprised when Leo was following me would be a complete understatement. Then
, when he wanted to ‘check out’ my computer stuff, it seemed to get even more awkward. I couldn’t read his face to see if he was mocking me or was truly curious, so I just went with it.

Leave it to Mina to make the situation more uncomfortable with her innuendo when we returned to her room. However, after she announced pancakes
, I was more than happy to leave the room. I loved Elaine’s pancakes.

We all had grabbed a plate and sat down. Mina was sitting between Roni and
I at the breakfast bar. Max was sitting next to Roni and I heard the chair next to me when Leo sat down. Elaine placed the pancakes out.

"Oh
, God, Elaine, your strawberry pancakes are by far the most wonderful thing to happen to me today." I smiled at her and she smiled back.

"I know how much you love them." She turned around to finish cooking the rest.

"They are pretty damn good," Leo whispered to me. I turned and nodded in agreement. He dropped his voice even lower, moving closer to me, he whispered, "but, I can definitely think of something else that was the most wonderful thing to happen to me this morning, or rather someone." I almost choked.
Was he flirting with me? Leo? My best friend’s brother, Leo? I don’t even know what to say right now. I will just pretend it didn’t happen. Yeah, that will work. Holy Shit!

Out of the corner of my eye I could see him smiling at me but I refused to look at him. If I did
, I knew I would definitely choke on my pancakes. Instead, I turned my attention to Mina and Roni’s conversation, pretending that I didn’t hear him.

My plan was working, that is,
until I felt his leg bump into mine as he was standing up. It felt like his leg lingered against mine a little longer than it normally would have. Maybe it was just my imagination. Regardless, the skin contact made me turn to him. The damn electricity that raged from his skin was ridiculous. I’m surprised he doesn’t have constant issues with static. I looked at him and he gave me a crooked grin.
Jesus Christ, I want to lick his teeth! What? Wait….no…bad Chloe. Mina’s brother. You grew up around him. You’re like his little sister. Yeah, but then why did it seem like he was flirting if he thought I was his little sister? Ugh! Fucking men!

Luckily Mina broke up my mental rant. "So
, Leo, when are you and Max done stealing all of the furniture from the basement and heading back?" She smirked at him.

"We
’re going to leave after lunch so we can try to get back before it gets too late." He answered her, ignoring her comments about the furniture.

"Oh, I was hoping that you would be here for dinner." Elaine pouted at him.

"I’m sorry, but I prefer not to drive all night." He shrugged.

I stood up and took my plate to the sink and then headed up to Mina’s room. Once I was there
, I grabbed my clothes up from the night before and carried them over to my house. While I was at home I checked some email and then got a shower and got dressed. As I was about to climb back out to the tree house, I noticed Leo sitting on Mina’s balcony with her, Roni and Max. He was looking at me intently, which was making me nervous. I walked over and sat by Roni.