Falling for My Best Friend's Brother

“Like I said, it was good.” I laughed. “It was full of drama and angst and half the girls had worse love lives than me.” I smiled happily, remembering all the drama from one of my favorite Australian soap operas. “Plus Australian men are so sexy.”

“Oh, Alice, you and your English and Australian guys.” Liv shook her head.

“I might end up marrying one if it doesn’t work out with Aiden. Foreign guys are hotter.”

“But then you’ll have to move.” Liv pouted.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’ll move to Oxfordshire or Sydney.”

“Why Oxfordshire or Sydney?” Liv looked confused.

“Oh, they just sound like good places to live, if I have to leave the States.”

“Uh, okay.” I could see that Liv was trying not to laugh. “What about Nigeria?”

“What about Nigeria?” I frowned. What did Nigeria have to do with anything?

“Didn’t a Nigerian prince ask you to marry him and send him ten thousand dollars?”

“Hahaha.” I laughed slightly as I remembered the scam email I’d gotten and almost fallen for. “Very funny.”

“Wouldn’t you like to live in Nigeria as well?” she asked with a grin. “Seeing as you want to live abroad and all.”

“I don’t know about Nigeria.” I made a face. “I’ve heard the Ivory Coast is beautiful, though.”

“I guess you just have to meet a guy from there, then.”

“Actually, there is a guy from there who’s trying to buy a house right now. He has this sexy French accent as well.” I thought about the tall African guy who always smiled at me when he came to see Mike, one of the agents at the real estate office I worked at. “I would definitely date him if he was younger than fifty.” I giggled. “He’s cute, but a bit old. But imagine if I lived in Africa, I’d be tan year round.”

“You just want to leave me.” Liv pouted again, and I laughed.

“Don’t be silly. I want Aiden. I just need him to want me, too.” I sighed and grabbed my handbag. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Liv linked arms with me. “I seriously need to make sure my brother doesn’t mess this up.”

“Yes, you do,” I said expressively, with a small smile on my face. “Because if you don’t, who knows where I’ll end up?”

“You’ll end up in Timbuktu, that’s where.” She laughed as we walked out of the door.

***

Liv and I walked into the coffee shop, and I almost groaned when I saw Scott sitting there with Aiden. Why oh why did Scott have to be there? As if everything wasn’t already slightly awkward between Aiden and me, Scott was just going to make an already complicated situation more complicated.

“Look who’s here,” Scott said with a grin as he jumped up and  walked towards us. “Big ears and little ears.”

“Look who’s here,” Liv retorted back. “Dumb and Dumber.”

“I call Dumber,” Scott said and then winked at me as he gave me a quick hug.

“I guess that leaves me as just Dumb?” Aiden said with a smile as he stood up and hugged Liv.

“Well, duh,” Liv said as she pulled away from him. “We all knew you were dumb a long time ago.”

“Touché,” Aiden said as he walked towards me and gave me a quick hug, too. “Good to see you, Alice.” His body felt warm next to me and I didn’t want to let go as he stepped back. I know, I’m pathetic.

“Hi,” I said and then a thought suddenly hit me. “I guess you didn’t have to work early this morning?”

“No, did I say I had to?” He looked confused as he gazed at me and then at Liv. “Did I tell you I had to go to work early this morning?” he asked Liv and she made a face.

“No.” She sighed. “Alice and I just got confused about something.” She walked over to me. “What do you want, Alice? My treat.”

“I’ll have an iced mocha, please. Ooh, and a bagel with salmon and cream cheese.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” I nodded and sat down. I swallowed hard as I saw both Aiden and Scott standing there in front of me.

“Well, Alice, how have you been?” Scott grinned and sat down next to me.

“Good, you?” I said weakly as I could feel Aiden’s eyes on me.

“Good, just been working late.” He stretched and I watched as he tossed his blond hair back. “I heard that you were at the parents’ house recently?”

“Yeah, Liv wanted your dad to spend more time with Xander.” I nodded. “Though, it was mainly the four of us just playing board games and going out.”

“Sounds about right.” Scott laughed. “Dad just likes having us all around the house. Unfortunately, Aiden and Liv are the only good kids. Chett and I rarely make an appearance.”

“Aw, that’s sad,” I said and Scott leaned towards me with a small smile.

“I guess I would have made more of an effort had I known you were going to be there.”

“Oh.” I blushed at his words. I mean, what did you say to a man who was flirting with you when your crush was sitting right next to him?

“Maybe next time,” Scott continued. “Or maybe we can go to—”