Forever Together (Forever Love #2) (14 page)

"Wow." I mutter, again, finding my fingers feeling the intricate handiwork of the crystals, placed strategically. The light bounces off, causing sparkles to flash.

"You like them?"

"They’re incredible. Look at the way the light hits them."

I hear Liv say something but pay no attention. I feel like I'm in shoe heaven and don’t want to go back down to earth yet.

"What?" I drag my eyes away up to Liv’s face. Her eyes sparkle with happiness. I'd be happy too if I had two pairs of Louboutins.

"They’re yours." She's barely restraining her laughter as I look to the shoes and then back again.

"M-mine?"

"Yep."

"Really?" My voice gets louder and my eyes widen. I own a pair of Louboutins. An actual pair of Louboutins!

I do the only thing I can, the only thing appropriate for this moment. I burst into tears.

"Woah, ok well hell I didn’t expect that." Liv mutters with a panicked look in her eyes.

"I-I’m sorry, they’re just so beautiful." I sob and put my face in my hands.

"I know they are sweetie." She rubs my back and I try to get my emotions under control.

I let everything out that I’ve been feeling the last few days. The hurt that Brady didn’t get in touch, the confusion as to what our kiss meant, and finally the happiness that Liv, a girl I ignored for six long months has taken me back in
to the fold and forgiven me for my shunning and got me the most beautiful, amazing shoes in the world. Christ, I think I may be having a nervous breakdown. 

I hear the squeak of the door knob turning but pay it no attention. Whoever it is will just have to wait or accept that I’ve lost my mind.

"I'm not a fucking idiot, I got a plan I told ya." I hear Brady’s voice and contemplate hiding under the bed. I haven’t got the energy to care though. I'm too caught up in my own emotions. Who'd of thought shoes could have this effect?

"Get lost you two!" Liv yells but judging by Brady’s enraged voice answering her, I don’t think they listen.

"What the fuck have you done to her blondie?" I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around me and it causes me to cry harder. Why do all of my embarrassing moments have to be witnessed by somebody? "You okay Cinders?"

"Oh my God can you two ever just not walk the hell in?" Liv shouts.

I pull my hands from my face and run my fingers under my eyes, trying to prevent the running mascara from messing up anymore.

"I-I’m ok." I give a weak smile. "These are happy tears."

"They don’t fucking look like happy tears" Brady grunts.

"You heard her bro, they’re happy." Noah claps him on the back as he stares at me.

"Yeah, it’s the shoes. Look at them. They’re gorgeous." I smile widely now, looking at the shoes that are actually mine.

"Shoes?" He frowns.

"They’re Louboutins." I squeal. "Actual Louboutins."

"You like them?"

"Like them? I love them."

"How did I not fucking know this?" He mumbles. I ignore him and give Liv a hug that almost knocks her on her butt.

"Thank you so much." I say quietly, giving her a slight squeeze.

"My pleasure."

"Come on, let’s all go downstairs. This is fucking weird, all standing in the bedroom." Noah says, putting his arms around Liv’s shoulders and I unconsciously lean into Brady.

This feels so natural. The four of us, just like old times. I look up into Brady’s face at the exact same moment he looks down at mine. His brown eyes are the same as they were before, his chiseled features haven’t changed, his hair though a little shorter, is the same dirty blonde. This is my Brady; he'll always be my Brady. Now I just need to decide whether I can risk my heart again but even saying that in my own head, I already know the answer.

We all shuffle out of the room smiling, only to come to a stop outside another door.

"Oh, Rocky you're so strong." The sound of Mrs. Preston’s voice sounds through the door and we all look around
in
with
confusion.

Who's Rocky?

"What the fu-" Liv steps towards the door and comes to an immediate halt when a second voice sounds out.

"Well Adrian, I am a boxer." Mr. Preston’s voice results in four horrified gasps.              

Before anyone can stop her, Liv throws open the door, shielding her eyes with her hand as we all stand behind her.

"Are you decent?" She asks.

"LIV PRESTON, GET OUT OF HERE!" Her Dad shouts, thankfully covered, even if it is in a pair of black and gold shorts and an inky black wig.

"Oh my!" Mrs. Preston gasps, the red floppy hat on her head tumbling off.

"Fucking hell, Mom!" Noah barks.

"STOP, STOP! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Liv scolds, pointing into the room with her eyes still covered.

"Oh, this is fantastic." Brady smirks.

"You’re adults, so whatever you were doing needs to stop!" Liv takes a deep breath. "I'm going out and we never mention this again." She grabs the door handle and slams the door closed as we all stand there.

"Were they-"

"Shut the fuck up Brady!"

Loud roaring laughter starts up the other side of the door and Liv gives the door a scathing look that makes even me shrink back.

"I need coffee." She groans.

We follow silently as Liv and Noah lead the way downstairs. Brady and I stay a little back, covering our laughter with our hands. Our eyes catch for a moment and hold. It brings back the realization I had earlier. He's still my Brady.

***

"And then he had the fucking nerve to look me in the eye as he did it." Liv takes a break from the rant she's been at for the past half an hour about animals. "I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t hurt one, I just don’t want one."

"I thought you wanted a puppy?" Noah smirks.

"That’s until Dickwad over there came back with rat face."

"Yo, don’t talk shit about Brian when he's not here to defend himself. Two faced fuckers." Brady snaps, his eyes flashing.

I sit there quietly with a smile on my face, thoroughly entertained. Who would have thought me bringing up how much Bailey likes Brian would have started this? I'm still
not
quite
un
sure of how Bailey knows Brian though. The way she's been talking about him the past week, you'd think he was her best friend. I still haven’t got the chance to ask my Mom about it yet, but I will. There’s just something niggling in the back of my mind about it.

"Oh fuck, speaking of rat faces." Liv mumbles, ducking her head down and grabbing Noah’s hand lying on the wooden table top.

"What?" He asks, looking around the place.

Liv shoots me a look. Maybe I'm psychic or maybe it’s just intuition but I have a bad feeling that I know just who she's talking about.

"Who you talking about blondie?" Brady spins his head around and I know the exact moment he finds his target. His whole body tenses up next to me, I can feel it in the arm brushed against mine. "Oh shit. I fucking hate that guy."

I turn around, though I don’t really need to. As expected, there at the counter making an order with a very pissed off Avery is Chris. Who would have thought that two whole years since graduation and the guy is still on the number one most hated list? All the movies and books portraying guys and girls as changing after high school, finding themselves and becoming better people is bull crap. They didn’t meet Chris Lyons, the jerk. His slicked back hair gives him that extra slime ball look and part of me wants to hide under the table to avoid his serpent like stare that hasn’t found us yet.

I quickly turn around, figuring that even though Franklin is small, he may not recognize us by the backs of our heads.

"Stop looking." I hiss, pulling Brady's arm.

I was with Brady for a long time so I like to think I know him pretty well. I know he likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Jimmy Fallon. I know he despises banana milkshake because apparently it’s a con to get kids to have fruit. I know, I won’t even touch upon that one. I also know that right this second, he's like a ticking time bomb because no matter how laid back he is with his cheeky sense of humor and clown persona, Brady never forgets.

He's never forgotten Martin Bain tackling him on his first time as a starter for the high school football team, despite the game having ended twenty seconds before. He's never forgotten that Noah accidentally broke his Power Rangers lunch box in the first grade, a fact he reminds Noah of in every disagreement. He's definitely never forgotten Chris Lyons telling me that I should be somewhere sucking Brady’s dick instead of being in his business in our Senior year. Yeah, that almost ended with Chris buried in the backyard when Brady found out. We actually had a huge fight over it because he started talking like the Godfather about retribution and disrespect and I grew balls for a second and told him to get a grip.

"Just act natural." I mumble through the side of my mouth.

"Cindy, you're the only one acting weird. What’s up with you?" Liv asks with raised eyebrows.

Ok, ok maybe I'm also a huge chicken concerning confrontation. Just the thought of some kind of argument in the middle of Annabelle’s because Chris won’t be able to keep shut his uncontrollable mouth has the shakes coming on.

Just as I think we've dodged a bullet, some chipper whistling drifts to my ears. I squeeze my eyes shut. Surely Chris isn’t this stupid?

"Well, look who it is." He cheers, standing in front of the table as four sets of eyes proceed to give him evil glares.

"Chris." Noah grunts as Liv rolls her eyes.

Considering Noah's already given Chris a knuckle sandwich more than once, you'd think the awkward stone cold silence would be coming from him. No, instead it comes from the guy sitting next to me. The devilishly handsome, funny as hell guy who’s staring at his empty coffee cup as if he can telekinetically force it against Chris' temple.

"Travers, Cooper." Chris nods before giving Liv the same polite nod, not daring to look at her too intently. After all, she's just as likely to cause him to lose some teeth as Noah is.

Me, I’m not so lucky. I shuffle in my seat as he gives me a look that lasts far too long to be casual. If I was sassy like Liv, I'd tell him to take a hike but I'm just sweet ole' Cindy. My discomfort rises a few levels since I’m pretty sure I can hear Brady growling next to me. I’m not sure what to make of that. Maybe he has something stuck in his throat because I only thought guys growled in books.

"Nice to see you again, Cindy. Our chat the other day was way too brief." His words cause me to slink into my chair even more.

If I thought Brady's body couldn’t get any more rigid, I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

"Hmm." I hum, staring into my own empty cup.

"Such a shame you two broke up." His voice is genuine but the sly smirk on his face isn’t.

"You told him we broke up?" Brady hisses.

"Avery did." I shrug.

Chris leans down and lies an elbow on the corner of the table, getting way to
o
near for my liking.

"So, now you're single I was thinking-" His words die off as the chair next to me scrapes back loudly against the floor.

"Ok, how about me and you take this outside and I paint your smarmy fucking face all over the street." Brady takes a menacing step towards Chris who puts his hands up mockingly.

"Brady..." Noah warns, standing up himself, reading to jump into action where needed.

I just want to crawl away. Considering that all the guys are too busy pissing over each other, I don’t think anybody would notice.

"I'm sorry Cooper, I thought she was fair game."

"Well she's fucking not so keep your fucking slimy hands off my girl before I fucking cut them off. Capiche dickhead?"

I'm sitting right here yet they’re all acting like I don’t even exist. "Maybe she got tired of your pin dick and wants to try a real man." Okay, Chris is just digging his own grave now.

"Are you stupid? Motherfucker, I'll whip my fucking so called pin dick out right now on this table and show you what a real fucking man is!"

"Ok, ok." Liv stands up and I can only lie my head in my hands. "This is getting way too weird. Dickwad sit your ass down. Noah, you too. You-" She points in Chris' face. "Fuck off now. Cindy’s doesn’t want you and right now you’re just asking for an ass kicking so leave."

"Still a macho bitch I see, Liv." Chris sneers.

"The fuck did you just say?" Noah growls.

Liv places a hand on his arm and he turns to look at her.

"Just fuck off Chris, go and bother someone else." 

"Come find me when you're done with this loser Cindy. I'll show you tricks this douche could only dream of." He winks.

"You fucking-"

"Brady!" I snap.

Chris turns around and walks round the tables as Noah, Liv and Brady stare daggers at his back. The bell above the door chimes as he walks out.