Despite my protest, Emmie did come down with me to meet my brother. I warned her on the way down the stairs that he’d asked me to bring a cute friend, but she waved me off and told me she could handle him. I had no doubt she was right, but had felt I needed her to know he was probably going to assume I was bringing her for him. Which I really wasn’t—the last thing I needed was more complications. My own love life was complicated enough, thank you very much.
“It’s all good,” Emmie said. “I won’t give him any signals or anything, but I want to meet him. Is he hot?”
“You’re asking me if my brother is hot? Seriously, Emmie?”
“I’m not asking you if you would date him, Brooklyn. You can’t be objective?”
“No,” I said as we got to the second floor landing. “And anyway, didn’t you just break up with Dave like five seconds ago? Shouldn’t you be sad or at least pretending to be sad?”
She glanced over at me, all traces of her smile gone. “I am sad. Truly, Brooklyn. I hated hurting him. But I guess I have to admit I’m relieved it’s over. I feel horrible about stringing him along, but I knew even from the first time I saw him this year that something was different. I just wasn’t sure what. Or maybe I thought it would get better—we’d get back to the way we were last year.” She shrugged. “I guess not.”
She could have saved me a whole lot of guilt and heartache if she’d broken up with him right away (or better yet, last year before I’d ever met him) but there was nothing for it now. Maybe by the end of the year, she’d give me her blessing to date him. Although I wasn’t exactly sure of the statute of limitations on dating a roommate’s ex. It’s not like I was about to bring it up to find out, either.
And anyway, I was with Jared, I reminded myself.
Why did I have to remind myself?
We got to the first floor lounge which was empty due to the early hour and every normal girl being still in bed. Empty except for my brother who wasn’t even wearing workout clothes nor did he look freshly showered, so obviously he’d been lying about going for a jog. Figures.
Robert was sitting at a table with two to-go cups in front of him as we walked through the doorway. He stood up, frowning as he looked from me to Emmie and then back again.
She hummed appreciatively, just loud enough for me to hear. Ugh.
“Oh, hi,” he said to my roommate. “I didn’t realize...” he nodded at the coffees.
“It’s okay,” Emmie said back, giving him a big smile. “I invited myself. Emmeline Somerville,” she said, extending an elegant hand toward my brother.
“Rob Prescott,” he said with a polite nod and a very charming smile, reminding me how pretty much all my girlfriends who’d ever met him had had major crushes on him. And now he was going to be working here. Awesome.
“How do you take yours?” he asked, still standing and staring at her like I wasn’t even there. I wanted to clear my throat to interrupt him, but didn’t; I’d never admit it, but it was kind of entertaining to see him attempt to flirt with her. He’d always been popular with girls, but I’d never really seen him operate; until now, all my friends had been way too young for him.
Emmie cocked her head and asked, “What’s that?”
“Coffee,” Robert said.
“Oh. Same as Brooklyn,” Emmie said with a laugh, her voice sweet as sugar.
Predictably, Robert offered her the coffee he’d brought for me.
“Hey!” I said.
Robert looked at me like I was the one who was being ridiculous. “What, B?”
With a broad smile, Emmie waved off the coffee, effectively saving our friendship. “It’s okay,” she said to Robert. “I need some food anyway. I just walked down with Brooklyn on my way to the dining room; I’ll leave you two to catch up.”
“Sit with us,” Robert said, not missing a beat as he pulled out a chair. He was charm personified.
She looked from him to me as though asking if I minded. I guess I didn’t, as long as she kept her hands off my coffee, so I shrugged.
Emmie dropped lightly in the chair. “So,” she said as Robert and I took our seats. “Brooklyn tells me you’re working here now.”
He took a sip of his own drink and nodded. “Yeah. For now. I’m taking a year off from school.”
“He flunked out,” I corrected, regretting it as soon as it was out of my mouth. It seemed whenever I was around my brother, I sort of reverted back to what I was like when we lived together and were at each others’ throats. Maybe I needed to work on that; it was hardly mature.
He narrowed his eyes at me and then looked at Emmie. “It got really intense and I wasn’t prepared for it. I’m going back in the fall. This is good for me anyway,” he said, spreading his arms around. “It’s a nice campus and being close to my baby sister is always a treat,” he said, only sort of sarcastically.
Still, I snorted. “Yeah, right.”
Emmie kicked me under the table. Not hard, but it was enough to remind me I was being a bitch.
I was about to apologize when Robert cocked his head and said, “So, B. Want to tell me about what’s going on between you and your coach?”
Direct hit. I supposed I deserved that.
“Brady?” Emmie’s head snapped toward me and I could feel her eyes boring into the side of my head. Crap. I didn’t want anyone to know about that kiss. Things were so much more complicated when people knew things. And with the thing between Brady and I being an impossible situation, the last thing I wanted was my friends bringing it up all the time. It was hard enough just going to practice almost every day.
“Nothing,” I said, my face heating up to contradict my total lie.
“Liar,” Robert said.
“Nothing’s going on. I told you. He’s just my coach,” I said, trying to sound breezy.
“That’s not what it looked like yesterday.”
“What did it look like?” Emmie asked, looking back and forth between us. “What happened?”
I turned to my roommate. “Nothing happened. We ran into Brady and I introduced them. That’s all. Robert’s just trying to bait me.”
“So why is your face all red, little sister?”
“Because I’m about to commit fratricide, big brother.”
He had the audacity to smirk. I pushed away from the table and got up.
“Aw, come on, B. Don’t be that way. I’m just teasing.”
Something in his tone stopped me, something more than just an apology. I didn’t sit back down, though, but gave him a sideways glance. “Why did you come here, really?” I asked.
He nodded toward the ceiling. “The dean said I’m not allowed on the dorm room floors.”
“Smart ass,” I said, crossing my arms. “You know what I mean.”
The smile wavered just for a fraction of a second making me wonder if I’d imagined it. But then he was back to his old self when he shrugged and said, “I had nowhere else to go.”
“You could have gone to London.”
He glanced at Emmie and then back to me, shaking his head. I got it, though. He’d been out of the house already, and wasn’t about to go back to living with my parents. We’d always been independent kids, which made it seem weird that he’d come here. But I didn’t push him more. Not in front of Emmie, anyway. Maybe I’d try again later when we were alone.
“I’m sorry, B. I promise not to be a beast. Especially in front of your friends.” He gave Emmie a thousand watt smile, which she returned. He was definitely charming, I had to give him that.
I sighed. “You’re a pain in my ass, Robert.”
He smirked. “I know. Now come on,” he said, pushing his own chair back and standing up. “Give me the two dollar tour.” If there was any question that Emmie was invited, it disappeared when he looped his arm through hers.
“Didn’t you get a tour from your employer?” I asked, picking up the coffee and taking a much-needed sip as we left the lounge.
“Just the basics: staff dorms, dining room, maintenance shed et cetera. Show me your horse.”
It was Saturday morning, Brady’s day off from teaching because he’d be at his own Olympic training off campus.
“Sure,” I said, taking another gulp of the coffee. “Let’s go.”
~ ♥ ~
After about ten minutes with my brother, the novelty of having him around had worn off completely and now I just wanted to get back to my dorm room and catch up on my homework, and, if I was being honest, a bit more sleep. But he and Emmie seemed to be having a good time as we took him from the stables to other parts of the campus, showing him points of interest, which really weren’t all that interesting. I ended up sticking it out longer way longer than I would have if it had been just Robert and I.
Eventually though as the dew dried off the grass and midday was approaching, I started getting anxious about all the homework I needed to catch up on, so I tried to drag Emmie away.
“Aw come on, B,” Robert said, “It’s the weekend.”
“Yeah, and it’s the only time I have to do any homework,” I said.
“You can blow it off for another hour or so,” he said, beaming his charming smile at me. I imagined if he wasn’t my own brother, that smile would have been like kryptonite on my resolve. One glance at Emmie and the way she was staring at him all googly-eyed confirmed it. Robert had game. And it was working on my roommate. Gross.
“Don’t you have to work or something?” I said to him.
He shrugged. “The dean gave me the weekend to settle in and since all I had was the one bag, I’m settled.”
“Come on, Brooklyn,” Emmie said, making me feel like this was turning into some sort of intervention against me being a responsible person.
“B,” Robert chimed in, his arm going across my shoulders.
I sighed, knowing my answer was going to be unpopular but I had to stand my ground. I had equestrian practice the next day and Saturday night was movie night, which meant I’d never get any work done. “I can’t,” Unlike you, I don’t want to flunk out, I didn’t say, although I felt like I was getting a glimpse into why he left Yale. “But don’t let me stop you two. Why don’t you let Emmie show you her library?”
Emmie laughed as Robert turned to her. “Your library? Spend a lot of time there, do you?” he said with a teasing smile and an arched eyebrow.
She actually blushed, the shy tint to her porcelain-like cheeks making her even prettier. I suddenly didn’t want to be the third wheel to their flirting and couldn’t get away from them fast enough.
“I’ll see you back at the dorm, Emmie. Robert, I’ll see you whenever.”
He didn’t even take his eyes off my roommate when he gave me an absent, “Uh huh. Later, little sister.”
“Keep it in your pants, big brother,” I muttered as I turned and left them standing on the path.