“Of course.” She grinned and then looked me directly in the eyes. “Now tell me, what haven’t you told me?”
I took another sip of wine, swallowed and took a deep breath. “I lost my virginity to Aiden,” I said softly, and I watched as Liv spat her wine onto her lap in shock.
Chapter Two
There’s No Such Thing as a Love Spell
You know that saying. The one about a watched phone never rings? Well, it’s not true. My phone has been ringing off the hook all morning. The only person who hasn’t called me is the one person I want to call me. I’ve had calls from the local satellite company telling me I needed to switch from cable. I told them I’ll switch if they can promise that I only have to pay a dollar a month for the next ten years. She cursed at me and then hung up when I told her I wanted a new 50” TV as well to sweeten the deal. I also had a call from my dentist. Well, his receptionist called to tell me that I’d missed my last two appointments and that I needed to come in for a cleaning. Yeah, right. Not anytime soon, Dr. Rosenberg. The last time I needed a cleaning, I had several cavities that needed to be filled. I’m still paying off that bill. Thanks for nothing, $300-a-month insurance premium. And of course, I also had a call from my dear old grandma, wanting to know when I was getting married and giving her great-grandbabies. I told her she can go to the local park and see some babies there, but she wasn’t amused. So yes, I’ve had a lot of calls today, but none from Aiden, the man I really wanted to hear from.
Aiden Taylor is Liv’s oldest brother. I’ve known him since I was a little kid, and I’ve had a crush on him since I was ten and he was sixteen. Not that he ever gave me the time of day. I was always his annoying kid-sister’s best friend. Well, almost always. There was one time that I was more than that. One time that we shared a moment that I’ve relived every day of my life since it happened. Only it’s not something I can talk about with him. Not at all. I’m lucky that he still talks to me after that little episode. And we’re the only ones who know. Well, we were the only ones who knew. Until very recently. I didn’t tell Liv at the time, and she’s my best friend. I wanted to tell her. I really, really did, but how do you tell someone something like that? How do you tell your best friend that her brother was right, and that you’re the bad influence that no one wants in their kids’ lives? I guess I should be grateful that Aiden never said anything. I suppose he was embarrassed as well or something. I mean, it’s not exactly something you shout out to the world. “Hey, Liv, I slept with your best friend. In fact, I took her virginity.” Yeah, he didn’t say that. And I didn’t tell Liv, either. How could I tell her that I’d crept into her brother’s bed with the hopes of seducing him? How could I tell her that we’d made love and that it had been the best night of my life? I didn’t know how to tell her, and then I’d felt too guilty to bring it up, but now she knew and I honestly didn’t feel better. I knew now that the one person I really needed to talk to about that night was the one man who wanted nothing to do with me.
“Alice!” Liv shouted as she walked into the apartment. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the living room!” I shouted back and then lowered my voice. “Why are we shouting by the way?”
“I’ve had a brilliant idea.” Her eyes were sparkling as she ran into the living room. She clapped her hands and did a little dance as she grinned at me, her enthusiasm for her idea refusing to be quelled.
“What’s the idea?” My eyes narrowed as she finally stood still.
“I have a way for you to start talking to Aiden again.”“Oh?” My heart raced at her words. I looked up at her and studied her face carefully. “A good idea or a harebrained idea?”
“Alice,” she pouted, her eyes looking at me wickedly, “since when have I had harebrained ideas?”
“Since you became my best friend.” I giggled and shook my head at her. Unfortunately it was true. We both seemed to have spur-of-the-moment ideas and plans that always seemed to get us into trouble. To be fair to Liv, I was the one who usually had the really stupid ideas, but Liv had been giving me a run for my money lately.
“We’re going to join a flag football team.”
“Say what?” I frowned.
“Flag football,” she said excitedly. “Xander was telling me about it. He’s going to be on it, too.”
“Okay,” I said, not feeling as excited. “How is this going to help me get Aiden?”
“He’s going to be playing on the same team.” She grinned. “It’s going to be perfect.”
“I don’t know about this, Liv.” I chewed on my lower lip. “Do you really think me playing football is going to win any guys? I’m not exactly the queen of anything sporty.”
“Trust me.” She grabbed my hands. “That’s not the only plan I have. That’s just step one.”
“Step one?” I groaned, but my stomach was doing flip-flops in excitement. I wasn’t a huge football fan, but if joining a team meant I would get to see Aiden weekly, then I was all for it.
“Oh yeah, baby.” She grinned. “I’ve come up with a surefire way to make sure you and my brother get together.” The look on her face looked so satisfied and excited that I held in my second groan. I didn’t want to rain on her parade, but I’d also had a surefire plan once and it had blown up in my face.