Searching for Neverland (5 page)

“It’s not,” I lied, not wanting to be a nagging roommate. “Anyway, I was just calling to let you know we’ll be there by four-thirty at the latest. Allison got caught up with a pair of jeans.”

“Okay, that makes no sense to me, but I’ll take your word for it. No biggie with ya’ll being late. I’m going to start making the hamburgers. You can set up the deck when you get here.”

I loved when he said ‘ya’ll’. Growing up Josh didn’t use words like that. He’d picked his southern vernacular and his slight drawl during the ten years he’d spent in Georgia, and in the three years he’d been back, he hadn’t lost it. It was slightly adorable.

“Oh, so you’re banishing us to the porch?”

“Hey now, I don’t need you sneaking a peak at my secret ingredients for the world’s best hamburgers.”

I laughed. Josh prided himself on his hamburgers – one of the few foods he could actually cook. He would never let Allison or me know what he put in them. He was all CIA-like whenever he cooked them. Truthfully, we didn’t really care, as long as we got to eat them. They were amazing. 

“So, I heard Kimmy’s coming tonight,” I said with a slight giggle to my tone.

“Yes, she is,” he said, with absolutely no humor in his voice.

“Okay, fine,” I said, getting the message from his tone. “I promise not to make fun of her name anymore. Allison won’t either.” I elbowed Allison, so she would chime in.

I knew she’d given him shit after meeting Kimmy for the first time, and he hadn’t taken it well.

“No teasing whatsoever,” Allison said loud enough so Josh could hear her.

“It’s the least you can do,” he said sarcastically. 

“Aww, don’t feel bad, J,” I said, feeling sympathetic for him.

“Whatever. I’ll see you girls in a few minutes.”

“See ya.”

“Bye J,” Allison called out.

I hung up the phone and dropped it back into my bag.

“I won’t make fun of her name, but I might punch her if she’s a snotty bitch to me again,” Allison muttered, and I knew I couldn’t wait to meet Josh’s new girlfriend.

Allison pulled into the driveway behind Josh’s stripped down black Jeep Wrangler with the orange ‘Watch Out for Motorcycles’ sticker on the back bumper. He’d had been a motorcycle lover for years, but he’d sold the bike he’d bought at eighteen when Jeremy died. And since then he’d been a huge advocate for motorcycle safety since Jeremy had been killed because someone hadn’t been paying attention and pulled out in front of him.

As we scooted between his jeep and my convertible Toyota Solara and made our way through the garage, I could hear a song by All Time Low playing from the stereo in the living room at a decibel that was sure to piss off our neighbors. But it was early, so they probably wouldn’t say anyth
ing. And it was a nice change from
the country music Josh sometimes liked to blare.

Josh was just closing the refrigerator door when we walked in. He smiled at us. “Successful day, I assume,” he said, taking in the bags we were both carrying.

“Yes, it was,” I said, as we walked past him, just waiting for the onslaught of teasing to begin. I shopped a lot, and he liked to make fun of me for it. “I got an adorable new bathing suit.”

“Ooh, model it for me later,” he called, as Allison and I walked up the stairs.

“In your dreams,” I said, leaning over the railing to look back at him.

“Only my really dirty ones,” he shot back. Then he smirked at me and turned back to his hamburgers.

“Jesus,” Allison muttered, from behind me on the stairs.

“What?” I asked, confused at what had her muttering under her breath.

“You and my brother. I don’t think you could flirt more if you tried.”

“We’ve always been like this,” I said, waving her off.

She shook her head. “No you haven’t. Yeah, you’ve always flirted, sure, but now you’re just downright talking dirty to each other. The sexual tension must be killing you.”

“What are you talking about?”

She threw her hands up in surrender. “Maybe it’s because I haven’t been around you guys a lot lately, but come on Taylor, there’s something there.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re nuts. I’m going to change,” I said, as I walked down the hall into my room.

“You’re just lying to yourself,” she called after me, and I just chose to ignore her.

* * *

When I walked back downstairs a few minutes later, I could see Allison sitting at the table on our back porch drinking a beer while Josh cleaned the grill. I walked out to join them, grabbing a beer from the cooler by the door and settling into the chair next to her.

“Nice scarf,” Josh said, smirking slightly.

“Thank you,” I said, ignoring his mocking of my fashion sense.

“You do know that it’s just under ninety degrees out here. Are you really cold?”

“I’ll have you know that summer scarves are in this year,” I told him, even though it was probably way too warm to wear one that day. 

Josh raised his eyebrows. “Taylor, you are aware that we live in Florida. I’m not sure you even need a scarf in the winter, let alone in the summer. You look slightly ridiculous.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, raising my eyebrows at him. “Bite me.”

“Come over here, and I will,” he taunted back, and Allison elbowed me in the ribs.

I ignored her and stared out into our big backyard, knowing exactly what she was thinking. I could faintly hear the sounds from the back patio of O’Donnell’s. There was a line of trees that separated our fenced in yard from the pub, but when Josh had musicians play outside or when there was a big crowd, you could hear it. I knew we’d all walk over there later. One of the biggest benefits of having a pub practically in our backyard was proximity
. Well,
that
,
and the fact that Allison and I got free drinks made it the best pub ever, even if it was sort of a dive.

But that had been my uncle’s intention. He wanted O’Donnell’s to be a traditional, no frills, Irish pub. He hadn’t updated the place in ten years, and he didn’t attract a lot of new clientele, but he had his regulars that came to the pub each week, including me and my friends. We liked the simplicity of it, and there was always a big crowd on Friday and Saturday nights.

“Okay, so who’s all coming tonight?” Allison asked then. “Are the Lost Boys making an appearance?”

“I’d imagine so, that is if Sean can put his bong down long enough to be social,” I said, as I cracked open my beer.

“He quit pot a year ago, and you know it,” Josh chimed in, defending one of his best friends. “Well, at least he mostly quit. He still smokes sometimes on the weekends.”

I laughed and shook my head.

Allison and I had started calling Josh’s friends, Cole and Sean, the Lost Boys a few years earlier when we realized they were both twenty-nine going on twelve. And although he wasn’t as bad, Josh sometimes got lumped into that description, as well. He’d grown up some in the past few years – at least more than his friends – but he still had his moments.

Cole and Sean were actually really successful. They owned a commercial construction business together – Cole was the architect, and Sean handled the actual building – but Sean had
been a pothead since college, and Cole had always been a bit of a dirtbag with the ladies and liked strip clubs more than he would ever admit. But he’d also started dating someone pretty seriously six months earlier, so maybe he was growing up. He was also ridiculously hot, and I loved staring at him, even though I couldn’t touch. But either way, they were both kind of fun to hang out with since they still acted like the frat boys I’d hung out with in college.

“So,
are they coming?” Allison prompted
.

“Yeah,” Josh said, taking a long swig of his beer.

“Casey’s coming,” I chimed in.

“What about Shannon?” I asked, referring to Cole’s girlfriend.

Josh shook his head. “They broke up.”

“Seriously?”

I was shocked that this was the first I was hearing of the news that Cole was available. My thought process was that since he’d been serious with someone else, he’d probably do it again. Ergo, he might now be a prospect for me. Damn Josh for not sharing this key bit of information with me.

“Yeah,” Allison said. Josh had obviously told her. “They broke up like a month ago. She cheated on him.”

“Wow,” I said, feeling really bad for Cole, but feeling really good for myself.

“Oh, don’t feel too bad for him” Josh said, reading my expression. “He was thinking about ending it anyway. I think the cheating part kind of gave him an excuse to break things off with her.”

Okay, double good news. Not only was Cole available, but he was also not heartbroken about his girlfriend cheating on him.

“And why, when I was going on and on about not being able to find anyone decent to date last night did you not mention Cole?” I demanded, crossing my arms in front of my chest and zeroing my gaze in on Josh.

“Because you’re picky as hell, and I don’t need you blowing off my friend because he blows his nose too loud,” Josh said, and next to me Allison snorted a laugh.

I glared at her and turned to him. “Does he really blow his nose loud?”

“I’m not answering that,” Josh said stubbornly.

“Why not?”

“Because for the rest of the night, you’ll be wondering that exact thing, and it’ll bug the shit out of you.”

“No it won’t,” I said, vowing not to try to find a way to see if Cole sounded like a foghorn when he used a tissue. “Can you set me up with him? Please?”

Josh’s eyes na
rrowed. “He’s not right for you.
”

“Why not?”

“Just trust me, okay,” he
said, suddenly
seeing
irritated.

“Okay,” Allison chimed in, giving me a look that I wasn’t sure how to read. “Are we missing anyone else?”

“Is Kyle coming?” I asked her.

She nodded. Kyle was Corey’s best friend, and a mistake I’d made our senior year of college. We’d hooked up one night while drunk, and I wasn’t sure Kyle would ever let me forget it, but it wasn’t one of my better moments. He was a nice enough guy, but he was pudgy and hairy and
was
starting to bald, and he had this high-pitched giggle laugh that wouldn’t let me take him seriously. Bottom line, he wasn’t my type, but he still hit on me shamelessly at any opportunity he could get.

“What about Taryn?” Allison asked.

“I invited her, but she’s not coming,” I said, taking a sip of my beer and leaning back in my chair. “She has plans with that guy she’s dating or hanging out with or sometimes screwing. I’m not quite sure what their deal is.”

My sister, Taryn, had graduated from UNC at the end of May and had moved back to Tampa. She only lived about ten minutes away, but she spent most of her time dating/sleeping with a guy named Noah who she’d gone to college with, who was a little bit of a train wreck. I’d met him once, and aside from good looks, I wasn’t sure what she saw
in
him.

“She didn’t want to bring him? I’m hurt,” Allison said in mock offense.

“I told her she could, but I don’t think she wanted to subject him to the kind of scrutiny he’d no doubt get from all of us.”

“This is true,” Josh said, and I wondered if he was prepared for how we’d lay into him about Kimmy if she wasn’t someone we approved of, which apparently she wasn’t.

“So, anyone else?” Allison asked
, before I could ponder my question any longer
. “What about Bryce and Sarah?” 

Josh turned back to us. “I’m not sure if they’re going to make it,” he said, sighing, and it was a more dramatic sigh than his friend missing a barbecue should have garnered.

Bryce had been a Lost Boy at one point, but then he’d met Sarah, and everything had changed. Josh didn’t see him as much anymore, and I knew it bummed him out, especially since Bryce and Sarah had gotten married earlier in the year.

“Why not?” I questioned.

“Sarah is apparently pregnant,” Josh announced. “And she’s feeling sick and tired all the time.”

“What?” I asked, shocked to hear this news.

Josh nodded, and it explained why he was more bummed than usual about his friend.

“But we just went to their wedding in March,” I said, not unable to hide the appalled tone in my voice.

“Sarah really wanted kids,” Allison chimed in, almost defending Sarah since she knew Josh and I both thought she was nuts
.

It made me wonder how long she and Corey would wait to get pregnant.

“Another one bites the dust,” I murmured, and Josh raised his beer to me.

“Hey,” Allison grumbled, and we both turned to her. “Not everyone is holding onto their childless lives as rigidly as you two. Some people want a family.”

“And some people want to stay out late, get drunk and sleep in,” Josh countered.

“And have great sex,” I added. “I’ll bet people with kids don’t have great sex.”