Sunshine Kisses

Sarah x

PS Enjoy the freedom to have really loud sex. The Nutella in the grocery cupboard is MINE, but you’re welcome to the whipped cream in the fridge.

Abby stared at Erik intently as he raised his eyes from the note. ‘Have I told you that I positively adore your flatmate?’ he asked, walking closer to her.

A breathy laugh escaped her, her dress falling from her shoulders to catch on her elbows and pool around her middle.

‘What did you want to do tonight?’ And even with him still steps away from her, she could feel his words like a confession breathed over her exposed skin.

The red fabric fell into a puddle on the floor as she straightened her arms, placing a hand delicately on the large desk she’d stopped next to. ‘Well, I do recall a promise involving this dress and a tab—’

But his mouth was on hers before she could finish the sentence.

Three months after

18 – One Direction

Wear the green dress tonight.

Please.

A

bby had responded with a selfie from bed, winking as she blew a kiss. It had immediately become his lockscreen.

Erik ran a hand through his already wrecked hair, tossing his phone towards his bed after reading the text exchange for the twentieth time in two hours.

‘You need to calm down,’ Alex said, walking in with two tumblers of whiskey. Erik accepted one gratefully before Alex sprawled on his bed and took a long sip from his own drink. ‘Mum’s getting suspicious.’

‘Mum is hosting a party for thirty people in an hour. She’s not paying attention to anything except whether she has enough devilled eggs and if Billy Joel or Elton John makes for more appropriate background music.’

‘Au contraire, mon frère,’ Alex droned in perfectly accented French. He nudged his shoes off and scrambled further up the bed to fall against Erik’s pillows. ‘She has already asked me twice if I think you’re okay. As you know, I am a steel trap containing all your secrets—including the fact that the dusty old bottle of absinthe down in the bar is mainly just water and green food colouring after your seventeenth birthday party—but if she starts in on dad…you know he’ll cave just to make her shut up.’

Erik’s head shot up as he paused his pacing. ‘Dad doesn’t know. Dad shouldn’t know. Did you tell dad?’ His voice was panicked. Maybe Alex had a point. He downed his whiskey in two swallows and let the burn soothe him.

Alex had shut his eyes, and somehow Erik could still tell they were rolling. ‘Steel trap,’ he said again, gesturing to himself. ‘But dad’s more insightful than you give him credit for. Combine that with how weird you’ve been acting, and he knows enough to put it together. It’s ridiculous that you’re nervous anyway. This is some predestined shit or something.’ A happy little smile spread over his face as he nuzzled deeper into Erik’s pillows and sighed. That obscenely expensive suit probably wouldn’t even wrinkle. ‘People forget that I was there the whole time too. I was always a contender for Abby’s little childhood crush. And despite being the funnier, taller, more handsome, more charming, and older and therefore obviously cooler option, she immediately latched onto you.’

Erik tried to laugh. Alex cracked an eye at the choking sound that sputtered out instead.

‘I should have…I don’t know. I should have taken her to Paris or something.’ She deserved for this to be unforgettable. Magic.

Alex curled his top lip. ‘Everyone goes to Paris. It’s fine. This is sweet and nostalgic and painfully cheesy. In other words, absolutely fucking perfect for you two.’ His voice turned gentler. ‘She’s going to say yes, man.’

His brother had risen and almost crossed the room when Erik spoke again, finally voicing the worry that had been plaguing him all week. He was sure, so sure, of Abby. For the rest of his life, he’d never want anything the way he wanted her. But faced with the prospect of actually asking her to make that commitment official… ‘What if she thinks it’s too soon? What if’—his deepest fear, spoken aloud for the first time ever—‘what if one day I can’t make her happy anymore?’

Amusement flitted across Alex’s face. ‘It makes you even less cute than me when you act dumb.’ He took a step back towards Erik and clapped him lightly on the shoulder. ‘You will make her happy every day for the rest of her life.’

Erik opened his mouth, but Alex preempted it.

‘And I know that,’ the volume of Alex’s voice increased slightly, ‘because you’ve already been doing it her whole life. Again, I remind you: I was there. I watched you two fall in love long before either of you was willing to admit it. You light up around each other. It’s like you’re the only people in the room. Take your pick of any other romantic cliché.’

A smile tugged at Erik’s lips. After so many years of distance, both physical and emotional, his brother had swiftly become his second favourite person since they’d rung in the new year together. He had missed Alex’s unique brand of affection.

‘If nothing else, do it for me. I think it annoys her that I still call her Squirt. Once I’m officially her big brother, it becomes endearing instead of irritating.’

A wide grin split his face, and Erik was struck yet again by how strange it was that he could be related to the confident, self-assured man in front of him, who drifted through life with such easy grace.

The doorbell sounded downstairs and Erik bolted to the window. ‘Not them.’ He sighed. ‘But I guess you should get down there in case.’