Page 97 of Sizzle
“How about we take this inside before you fall and break each other into pieces?” says Alex, unlocking the door. Truth be told, I’d kind of forgotten about the snow and, you know, the freezing-ass temperatures. Just getting to talk to my two favorite people in the world was enough to keep me warm, but Alex has a point.
Plus, inside means fewer clothes between us, and I can always get behind that.
Alex cuts me a look as I walk past him into the living room like he knows where my head’s at. He probably does. I mean, who am I kidding? Subtlety is not my forte.
“You missed the rest of the show just now, Joelle,” says Alex, settling on to the couch beside her. I take her other side, same way I did the first night, all those weeks ago. “When Elliot drove up in that rattletrap truck, I thought he was going to run it into the house, he was so mad.”
“Really?” Joelle’s eyes go wide.
“Honking the horn at us, shouting, the whole nine,” he says, mischief in his eyes.
“You were hugging the Ice Bitch,” I shoot back. “What was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know about ‘supposed to’ but I definitely wasn’t expecting you to run through the snow yelling ‘I love you’ at the top of your lungs like a crazy person.”
Joelle gasps and turns to me.
“Did you really?”
There’s an itch at the back of my neck I can’t quite get.
“It wasn’t that dramatic.”
“It makes the top five most dramatic things I’ve ever seen you do,” says Alex, grinning now. “Maybe even top three.”
I mutter something about keeping score. Alex scoots off the couch and kneels in front of me, his eyes on mine.
“Did you mean it?” he asks. I’m painfully aware that he hasn’t said it back and I’m pretty sure it’s too late to save face on this one so I just tell him the truth.
“Yes.” Joelle’s sniffling tugs at me and I turn to her. “I love you, too, you know. I’ve been in love with you almost since the minute I met you.”
Alex lays a wide hand on my knee, doing the same to Joelle, and squeezes us both.
“I love you,” he says. “Both of you. I don’t know how this is going to work but I want to promise you right now, I’ll do everything in my power to earn you.”
“Dumbass,” I say. I’m not crying. It’s allergies. Joelle, though—tears are streaming down her face as she leans over to kiss Alex. It’s slow and soft and the stuff of classic Hollywood cinema. Then she turns to me and does the same for me.
“I love you both,” she says, wiping her face. “But I think you already knew that.”
“And now Diana knows too,” I say. “She sure took off in a hurry.” Joelle giggles, but I’m looking at Alex. “You wouldn’t really go back to her, would you?”
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t be an idiot.”
I want to protest, but we’re here and she’s not, so I guess he’s got a point.
“She came back to apologize, more than anything,” says Alex. “I guess she got over whatever hang-up she had about me being bi. So you can stop calling her the Ice Bitch now.”
“I’ll think about it,” I say. “But not now. Right now I’ve got more important things to do.”
“Such as?” Joelle asks. I reach over, tugging open the top button of her blouse.
“Celebrating your inevitable fame and success, for one thing,” I say, popping the second button open.
“Anything else?” This comes from Alex, whose voice has dropped about sixteen octaves.
“Oh, yes,” I say. “I’ve got a list. Want to see it?”
“See what?” smirks Alex. “Your list?” He sweeps Joelle up into his arms and starts for the stairs.