It was official. I was giddy.
To be fair, I was always pretty giddy right before a re-watch of my all-time favorite movie. But as I went through the familiar routine of making popcorn, my face actually hurt from smiling. My cheek muscles felt like they were getting a workout after not enough use.
He was here. My best friend was here and... he’d been in my bedroom.
I shook my head to clear it. That should not have been such a monumental fact. Of course, he’d been in my bedroom. That was the only place I could get any privacy in this house.
But it had been a little weird to watch this...this...man version of Derek take over my room. Because that was what he was—a man. He’d been a boy the last time I’d seen him, but even if he wouldn’t turn eighteen for another six months, there was no doubting he was fully grown.
He truly had taken over the room. My bedroom had always been on the cozy side, but with him in it, the room had seemed to shrink right before my eyes like we were in Alice in Wonderland.
“Is Derek settling in okay?” my mom asked as she came into the kitchen.
“Hmm?” I turned to her. “Oh, yeah. He’s just putting his stuff away.”
We both heard Tank’s laughter coming from down the hall, and we shared a grin.
“It’ll be good for Tank to have him here.” She nudged my elbow teasingly. “He always wanted a big brother.”
“Too bad he was stuck with me,” I laughed.
“Movie night?” she asked as she nodded toward the popcorn.
“Dirty Dancing.”
She rolled her eyes with a groan. “Not again.”
“It’s the best movie of all time.” My tone lacked any heat or conviction because I’d been trying to convince my family of this for years now to no avail. They just didn’t see it.
But then again, they weren’t dancers.
For me, the first time I saw it—with Derek, and in his parents’ crazy elaborate in-home theater—it had been eye opening. I’d been basically dancing ballet since birth. I’d taken to dance classes from my very first Tiny Tots class. But I hadn’t envisioned dance as my future until I’d seen this movie. I guess it was the first time I’d realized that there wasn’t just one type of dancing. That it wasn’t just traditional ballet or nothing. There were tons of different ways you could express yourself through dance, and after watching Dirty Dancing, I’d wanted to explore each and every one.
And I had. But my junior high dance instructor had helped me to see that there was a lot of value in a traditional dance education. That if I was serious about making dance my life, I had to make it my first priority in life.
When I’d applied to the academy, I didn’t actually think that I’d get in. And when I did, I didn’t think my parents would approve. It was expensive, after all. And far away. That was right around the time that Derek’s parents were planning to move, and my mom would be out of work. My dad had been miserable at his job and looking for a new opportunity…
Long story short? We’d ended up here, and the academy had been a game changer for my dancing skills and career. Ms. Boucher, Collette’s mom, might have been strict, and she was super terrifying when anyone disobeyed her, but she knew her stuff. If I played my cards right, I might actually go straight from the academy to my dream career as a choreographer. Or an assistant choreographer.
Okay, let’s be real. I’d probably start out sweeping the floors of a studio as I trained as an apprentice. But still, that’d be living the dream.
I realized my mom was still standing there watching me and by the look on her face—she had something to say.
“What is it?” I asked, wariness clear in my voice.
She shrugged, her expression a wince of regret. “Are you sure you want to watch this movie with...that boy?”
“That boy?” I blinked. What the… “What’s that supposed to mean?”
To my surprise, my mom—my unflappable, outgoing, crazy, brazen mom—she actually blushed. “I’ve seen this movie a million times, and there are some, uh…” She cleared her throat. “Sexy times.”
I arched my brows. This was not news. The entire family now knew the spot to hit fast forward to avoid mass familial embarrassment. Also, to spare us all from an awkward birds-and-the-bees conversation with Tank.
“So? Mom, he’s not a kid anymore. Neither am I.”
“Yeah, well, that’s exactly my point,” my mom said.
I stared at her for a long moment. I knew where she was going with this, but I so did not want to have this conversation. “It’ll be fine.”
She shrugged, clearly unconvinced.
I sighed as I leaned my hip against the counter. “Mom, this is Derek we’re talking about. He’s only a friend. That’s all he’ll ever be.”
My mom gave me a small smile, but before she could respond, we both heard a movement in the hallway. I caught Derek when he was halfway down the hallway, just outside the bathroom door.
My jaw fell open as I froze.
Derek was...shirtless
He froze when his gaze landed on me. He clutched a soaking wet shirt to his chest. His bare chest. His bare, muscly, amazing chest.
Holy freakin’ muscles. Derek hadn’t just grown up, he’d filled out—with broad shoulders, and perfectly sculpted biceps, and pec muscles that rivaled Swayze.
My mouth was bone dry, and the only sound I could make was a squeak.
Derek’s wince was sheepish. “Sorry, I was going to grab a rag to clean up the spill, but I—”
He stopped short, and all at once my brain started to work again. It filled in the blanks. He’d been coming to the kitchen to grab a rag but...he’d stopped when he’d overheard us talking.
He was soaking wet. He’d been in Tank’s room...
I closed my eyes with a groan. Tank had been obsessed with the movie Signs for the past month, and part of that obsession meant he thought water was the only way to kill aliens. “Tank,” I muttered as I opened my eyes.
He nodded with a wince. Then he motioned toward the bathroom behind him. “I’m just gonna grab a towel.”
“And I’ll just have a quick word with my darling little brother,” I said in a tone that was way too sweet considering the fact that I was contemplating murder.
After poking my head into Tank’s room to threaten bodily injury if he ever tried to play aliens with our houseguest again, I headed back to the kitchen to find that my mom had nicely rescued the popcorn before it incinerated.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Oh yeah, just the usual,” I said. I couldn’t quite meet her eyes, and my voice sounded weird. Like I’d just gone for a run. “Tank’s being Tank, that’s all.”
“Uh huh.” My mom was sporting a knowing smile that put me on the defense.
“What? Tank threw water on Derek. As his mother, you should be appalled that your son is treating our guests like that.”
“Mm hmm.” She poured the popcorn into a bowl for us. “Do Tank’s antics normally make you blush like that?”
I pressed my hands to my cheeks. My skin felt like an inferno. I knew that if I didn’t tell Mom the whole truth, she'd come back at me, asking why I left out the detail of Derek’s bare chest.
I pushed a few crumbs around on the counter as I shrugged. “So Derek took off his shirt,” I said. “Not a big deal.”
“Okay.” My mom’s eyes were dancing with laughter as she handed me the bowl, and I had no doubt she was laughing at me. “You seem a little frazzled, hon. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I snatched the bowl from her hands. “Totally fine.”
“Do you want the rest of us to join you two for movie night?” my mom offered.
I rolled my eyes. “And listen to you three complain about having to watch Dirty Dancing for the millionth time? I think not.”
“Okay.” My mom’s tone was a sing-song. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. This is Derek we’re talking about. It’s not like I’m nervous to be alone with him.”
Um, what? Why did I just say that? What was wrong with me?
My mom patted my arm as she headed out of the room. “I never said you were.”
I had set out the popcorn alongside the candy selection of a lifetime by the time Derek showed up in the living room a little while later. His grin was filled with appreciation as he sank onto the couch beside me. “You’ve got all the staples, I see.”
I shrugged. “Some things never change.”
He smiled over at me as I hit play, and when I leaned back, I went to rest against him like I would have before, but stopped, moving over to my own side of the couch instead.
The familiar opening scene started up, and I heard a small sigh coming from Derek.
I glanced over with a pang of guilt. Crap. I’d always loved this movie, and I used to make him watch it all the time. But now…? Well, now I felt a little ridiculous for making grown-up Derek watch a girly dance movie that he probably didn’t love.
“Next movie night, you get to pick,” I said.
He gave me that smile I loved so much and reached for the candy bowl. “Next movie night, I’m supplying the candy.”
I arched my brows. “Are you not a fan of Mike and Ikes anymore?”
His lips hitched up on one side. This lopsided grin? Was not familiar. And the way it set off butterflies in my belly?
That was definitely new.
He leaned over and lowered his voice. “I’m more of an M&M guy now.”
My lips parted because...whoa. His voice was so low, and the way he’d said it was so ridiculously sexy that I swallowed my half-chewed candy. I winced at both my reaction and the hard candy shell that was scratching my esophagus. Why was I acting so ridiculous? We were talking about candy here...candy. I needed to get a grip.
Hoping to redeem myself, I tried for a teasing tone. “M&M’s?” I shook my head. “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”
“Nah, you still know me.” He popped a handful of Mike and Ikes in his mouth with a cocky grin. “But some things do change.”
He was teasing. I knew this. But for some reason my mouth was still dry as I turned back to the TV. I tried to focus on Baby and her sister Lisa, but all I could think about was Derek in the hallway...shirtless.
Those muscles were currently sitting next to me. He might have been wearing a perfectly normal black T-shirt and was munching away on popcorn, but now that I knew what he looked like when he was shirtless....it was all I could think about.
Suddenly the thought of watching that steamy scene with this guy sitting right next to me slammed into my skull.
My heart started pounding erratically in my chest.
Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. Watching a sexy scene with my best friend? Such a bad idea. It would be even more awkward than watching it with my family.
What was I thinking?
Maybe my mom was right, after all.
And maybe I’d be fast forwarding through the sex scenes.