Her Best Friend's Brother (6 page)

Twice a year the shops on Main Street al stayed open until 1:00 am and hosted a kind of a block party—only with shopping. “She stayed home this morning, but she didn’t want to ask anyone else to give up their Haloween night.

Besides I think she has something going with Stuart from the theater next to the bakery. Why are you here?” Tony took a few steps closer. “I had some time before exams, and I thought I would drop in on the party.

Mel said you were sick. Mom made you soup.” Tony lifted an armful of packages that Libby hadn’t noticed he lifted an armful of packages that Libby hadn’t noticed he was carrying. His eyes seemed to travel from the top of her head to where she sat cross legged under her pink flowered comforter. “Your hair is wet.” He took another step towards her.

“I just got out of the shower. That is a lot of soup”

Tony stopped. Libby with wet hair. Libby in the shower. Water rushing down… No. He was not going to think about Libby in the shower. He took a few breaths and forced a friendly smile. “I brought more than soup. I wil be right back.” He turned and jogged out of her room.

Two minutes later he came back empty handed and swept a quick look around her room. Libby silently thanked the powers that be for Wednesday’s spontaneous cleaning episode. And she prayed that she had remembered to put the lid down on her hamper. Dirty laundry was never a part of her Tony-in-my-bedroom halucinations. “This isn’t going to work” Tony quickly closed the distance to her bedside, and in one motion scooped her (pink comforter and al) into his arms. Her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck as he carried her down the hal into the family room. Somewhere at the edge of her mind she dimly recognized that while this did happen in her halucinations he was usualy carrying her in the other direction. Tony gently put her down on the couch, and left the room again.

When he came back he was carrying two bowls, and had a couple bottles of water wedged under his arm. “Dinner is served.” He puled their coffee table closer to the sofa and placed a bowl of chicken noodle soup in front of each of them. “I hope you don’t mind I helped myself. I love my mother’s soup.” He cocked a happy grin at her as she scrambled to edge of the couch to take a taste.

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.

Libby tried to fight the effects of her cold medicine, but long before the hero got his girl she was slumped over onto Tony’s shoulder and sleeping deeply. Tony considered carrying her to her room, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. And anyway her mother wouldn’t be home for hours, and what if Libby needed someone? So he leaned back into the arm of the couch, and puled Libby, stil wrapped in her blanket, into his chest. It was getting late and he concentrated on matching his breathing with the rise and fal of her back until he too drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Libby woke up in her own bed and felt as if she had never slept better in al her life. It took her awhile to focus and then she remembered Tony visiting, bringing her soup, and a movie. She also had a fuzzy memory of Tony wrapping her in his arms and snuggling her close to him, but that part was probably a dream. There was no way that her mom, at 5 foot nothing could possibly have gotten Libby from the couch into her bed, and that left Libby with one thriling option for how she had gotten back into bed last night. Sitting up she found a thick blue folder at the foot of her bed.

Opening it she found a note scrawled in Tony’s familiar messy writing.

Libby,

Your mom is back, and I have to get
home. I am leaving you the first completed draft of my
book. I did promise you could be the first to read it,
remember? Take a look when you get chance. I hope
you like it.

Love,
Tony
Ps: In case you were worried—Johnny Depp gets
away and Orlando Bloom gets the girl

So that was her surprise. Libby grinned widely as she settled back into her pilows and began to read.

Chapter Five

“We did it!” Mel was jumping up and down and squealing her very best squeal. The pale green graduation gown bounced lightly as Mel did her dance. Pale green looked wonderful against Mel’s blond hair and fair skin.

John picked Melanie up and spun her around in a circle.

“Congrats babe!” He said, before wrapping her in a slightly inappropriate embrace. They were so ridiculously cute together. “You too Libster.” John shot her with a finger gun. God she hated that nickname.

Parker pressed a kiss to the top of Libby’s head. “Yeah. Congrats.” He whispered. Libby realy wished he would stop doing stuff like that. John and Mel had been together for awhile now, and inevitably Libby always ended up paired with Parker. Not that she minded; it had actualy been nice that she could count on having a date for al the major social events of her senior year. And she realy liked Parker. He was funny and confident, and while she hated to admit to being shalow --having a man fly in from his New York Colege to see her had leant her a certain amount of prestige. Mostly they got along great and while they had shared a few lukewarm kisses he hadn’t seemed to be interested in much more. But lately he had been caling more, and always seemed to be touching her a little more than was necessary. Libby knew that with high school behind her she was ready to take the Tony Marchetti situation into her own hands. So the Parker thing could get awkward.

The Marchetti back yard looked beautiful.

Paper lanterns hung from wires that Mr. Marchetti had strung between the trees, and tiki torches dotted the edge of the yard. Mel had spent months planning her Hawaian graduation party. Judging from the size of the crowd, it was a big hit. A big white rented tent sheltered lots of tables and chairs, but extra lawn chairs had been arranged al over the yard to accommodate the guest list. Libby had played the good hostess to Parker most of the night so far, but she was grateful when Parker got caught up in a conversation about basebal and she could slip away. Libby wandered the edge of the yard feeling a little chily in her grass skirt and bikini top. But no way was she changing until Tony arrived. She knew she looked good, and she figured a little sex appeal could only help her cause. Tony’s flight had been delayed and he had had to miss the ceremony, but she thought he would have been here by now.

“Do I get to hug the graduate?” As if she had summoned him with her thoughts Tony’s warm voice caled from the edge of the yard. Walking towards his voice and letting her eyes adjust to the dark she found him stretched out on an old lounge chair under a tree.

“I didn’t know you had arrived.”

“I’ve been here for about an hour. You were…. busy.” Tony stood up as she approached and scooped her up until she was on her tip toes hugging him.

His skin was hot against hers, and she could feel his breath warm and wet on her neck. He puled her tighter for a long moment and then set her back down. “How does it feel?”

“Good.” Libby breathed her answer before she realized Tony was probably talking about graduation. “It’s great. I feel great.” Tony puled Libby to sit down next to him on the lounge chair. He left his hand covering hers in between them.

“So have you decided on a school? Time is running out.”

Libby grinned. She had great news for Tony.

“Actualy I heard back from Columbia, and I am in!” Libby had been accepted just about every where she had applied.

But she had been wait listed at her first choice—Columbia.

Florida State had realy impressed her the most and offered the best financial aid, but she wanted to be in New York. If she hadn’t made it past the extra interview at Columbia and gotten off their wait list then she had NYU as a backup school. But none of that mattered now. She was going to Columbia with Tony.

“Wow, congrats. That wait list is hard to beat.

But is that where you realy want to be? You sounded so excited about Florida.”

“Wel I want to be in New York, so it was probably going to be NYU if not Columbia.” Libby’s smile dropped a little. In her mind this had gone differently. Tony should have swept her into his arms and proclaimed his joy that they could finaly be together by now.

NYU. With Parker. Tony hoped that Libby wouldn’t be able to see him grimace in the dark. When Libby had first applied to Columbia Tony’s mind had gone into overdrive imagining being with her. But she had realy been excited after she met with the people from Florida, and he only had one year left in New York. He had even been toying with the idea of moving down there after graduation

— assuming Libby amenable to the idea. One more year he told himself. Let Libby spend a little time in colege. A semester or two out of high school, and surely they could be together then. Of course that was before he walked into this god awful party. He had spent hours waiting at the airport, and he had stil missed the graduation. Walking into the party tonight he had no trouble finding Libby.

She looked incredible in her luau costume.

There were plenty of other girls here dressed in similar get ups. Hel, he had even seen someone walking around with a coconut bra! But only Libby could get his heart rate jumping like that—of course she was the first thing he saw.

The second thing he saw was that jackass Parker trailing behind her always with his hand on her back or an arm around her waist. Of course he had known they were seeing each other, but he hadn’t realized Parker would be at the party. Foolishly Tony had been assuming he was going to be Libby’s date and just imagine how it felt when he realized Libby already had a date.