Chapter 10: Invitation

"Okay, what the hell?" Tiffany whispered harshly, her head bent toward Carissa.

"What the hell what?" Carissa feigned innocence.

"Don't play dumb with me." Tiffany propped her hand on her hip and gave Carissa a stern look. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the guy you. . ."

"Shhh," Carissa said, darting a glance at Garrett and Cory.

Thankfully, they were too busy squabbling about the movie. Danny and Jeremy had already left, so she didn't need to worry about either of them overhearing this conversation. Still, now was not the time nor the place.

"Well?" Tiffany tapped her foot with impatience. "Is he?"

Carissa sighed. "Yes. And before you ask, no. I had no idea he was Danny's roommate. Believe me, I'm just as shocked as you are."

"Oh, I'm not shocked about that. I mean, I am." She shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "I saw the looks you two were giving each other, and if you're not careful, Danny's going to notice, too."

Groaning, Carissa hung her head. Talk about a nightmare. But in her defense, how could she not look at Bradley? He'd been hot last night fully dressed, and now that she'd seen him shirtless? She had to refrain from fanning her face. God, the ripped muscles on that guy. He was what wet dreams were made of.

Heat crept up her neck, and she forced her thoughts to something a lot less enticing. She snatched the box of popcorn from the counter and tore into it. "How many bags should we make?" she asked.

Tiffany made a disproving sound but didn't call Carissa out on the sudden change of topic. "How many bags are in there?"

"Six."

"Make them all." Tiffany shrugged. "The guys will eat it." She laughed.

Carissa distracted herself with microwaving the bags of popcorn while Tiffany searched for bowls. She came up empty handed.

"Hey, dingbats!" Tiffany snapped her fingers to get Garrett and Cory's attention, and Carissa snickered. "Bowls?"

Garrett tossed the remote on the coffee table and wandered into the kitchen. "If they're not in the cabinet near the fridge, then they probably haven't been unpacked yet. Sorry."

"That's fine," Carissa said. "We'll just have to share the bags."

Bradley emerged from his room, and Carissa couldn't stop herself from staring. Somehow, he managed to look even better in those gray sweats than he had in the shorts. And he certainly did those pants justice, generously filling out the important areas. She forced her attention back to her task, but not fast enough. Bradley caught her staring and winked.

He grabbed a handful of discarded napkins and tossed them into the trash from across the room.

Cory whistled. "Nice shot."

"Thanks. I used to play ball in high school."

Well, that explained his good physique. Carissa swallowed hard and kept her back to everyone, afraid if she turned around, her true thoughts would be written all over her face. The last thing she needed was to encourage Bradley any more than she already had.

"Me too," Cory said. "What position did you play?"

Carissa tuned out her brother and Bradley as they talked about basketball. She knew her brother, and once he got started about sports, he'd never shut up. And she'd heard all of his stories multiple times.

But when he said, "We should shoot hoops sometime," she twisted around. Her brother was not seriously making plans to hang out with Bradley, was he? How could her own twin be so clueless about the tension radiating between her and Bradley?

"Yeah, just let me know when and where." Bradley nodded.

"You free tomorrow?" Cory asked.

Carissa's ears rang, and her eyes widened with panic. He'd better not even think about it...

"Yeah, why?" Bradley continued to clean up the kitchen, taking care of the leftover pizza and disposing of the boxes.

"We always have family dinner on Sunday. You should come. We can play ball." Cory grinned. "Garrett will be there. Bring Jeremy along, and we can play some two on two."

At that, Bradley stopped, an empty pizza box in his hand. "What about Danny?"

Silence descended like a thick, choking fog. Carissa's head spun, and she was suddenly hot for an entirely different reason. Cory sliced a look in her direction, his expression pleading for her to save him from his own stupidity.

"My father doesn't like Danny, so he's not invited," she said coolly.

"Okay then." Bradley disappeared onto the back porch.

Carissa jabbed her brother in the ribs hard enough to make him yelp. He moved out of her reach and rubbed his side.

"What time tomorrow?" Bradley returned without the pizza box.

"We eat promptly at one. Don't be late. My mother will take it personally if you are," Carissa said.

She finished making the popcorn, and Danny and Jeremy returned a few minutes later. Without a word, Danny raced upstairs. He'd gone to the store with Jeremy so he could buy condoms, which meant he was hoping for sex tonight. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, especially knowing they were in a house full of people.

"Alright," Jeremy announced and pulled bottles of beer from the case he'd set on the kitchen island. He handed one to each person. "The rules are simple. Each time a character in the movie does something dumb, we drink. Each time someone dies, we drink. Each time someone has sex, we drink." He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.

"So, basically, we just drink throughout the entire movie?" Cory asked and twisted the top off his bottle. "This movie might not suck so bad after all." That garnered him laughs from almost everyone.

Later, when Carissa had a moment alone with her brother, she was going to strangle him. The fact that she couldn't invite her boyfriend to family dinner was bad enough, but now she had to spend the day with Bradley instead. Maybe she'd be sick tomorrow and skip out on Sunday dinner.