Emma: Friends and Lovers (F&L Story #1)

Emma: Part 3

Michael gave his answer and Eve continued to grin. "Great! We're leaving tonight. You want us to come pick you up?...No, we're staying at a lake house...Five o'clock, okay?...See you then." She snapped the phone closed and gave me her smarmiest smirk. "He has the sexiest voice."

"Shouldn't you call Justin and let him know about this fabulous plan of yours?"

"Already taken care of," she said. "Now, get dressed. We've got some shopping to do."

"With who's money?"

Eve groaned, doing a fare imitation of my own. "Just get dressed."

"Nothing's open right now," I pointed out. "I'm going back to bed."

"Speaking of bed..." Eve began. I looked at her to finish. "Michael said he doesn't get up before nine, and he doesn't put on a stitch of clothing before noon. What does that tell you?"

"That he needs to do laundry?"

She threw a dishrag at me. "It means he sleeps in the buff, stupid."

I dumped my coffee in the sink and shot my own smirk at her. "I already knew that. He's been sleeping a la nude since second grade." Eve's eyes widened and the dirty thought flashed across her face, easy enough to read even without subtitles.

"You know this lake house only has three bedrooms," she mused. "With Chloe and Daniel there, someone will have to share."

"Then I get dibs on the couch." I shuffled out of the kitchen and crawled under my blanket and pillows, trying to match a ten-year-old naked Michael to the thirty-three-year-old gorgeous man he'd grown into. Surely he would have the decency to wear boxers or something to bed over the weekend

After Eve's shopping spree, I sprinted to my weights class, the only one I've never ditched because slacking off did not keep the fat-monster away and I had a brand-new, gold, ridiculously shocking swimsuit to fit into, and my semi-toned muscles were needed to draw the eye away from my allergic-to-tanning-beds, pale skin. It was a hope, anyway. After class, and a roaring praise from my fitness coach, I rushed home to shower and pack and hop into Eve's SUV to pick up Michael, who came out of his house with a duffle bag slung over one shoulder and wearing more of those criminal jeans and tight shirts.

"Wow," Eve said over the steering wheel, watching Michael wave and move effortlessly toward her car. He opened up the backseat door and settled into the creased leather. I said, "Michael, this is Eve."

"Pleasure to finally meet you," he said with a smirky grin.

Eve strained against her seatbelt as she twisted to stare at him and breathed, "The pleasure's all mine." I popped her upside her head. "Drive," I growled, and she said, not looking at me, "You drive."

Michael twitched up an eyebrow at the two of us. "Is there a problem, ladies?"

I said, "No," and Eve said, "Yes, I have a problem. Care to fix it?" and Michael chuckled and replied smoothly, "I left my fixer at home."

"Wow," Eve said again and shifted the vehicle into drive. All along the interstate, she kept darting glances at me and wagging her eyebrows and giggling at nothing, and I wanted to jump out of the car and flag down a motorist to hitch a ride back into town. Soon, snoring sounds came from the backseat and Eve nearly swerved into a semi as we both looked back at Michael, who had fallen into a loud stupor and let his mouth hang open as it drooled slightly in the corners.

"Well, at least someone is enjoying the ride," I said. "Wonder what he did all night?"

"Night owl maybe? He was kind of cranky this morning when I talked to him."

"I guess," I said and switched channels on the radio, turning up the volume of a Guns N Roses song. Michael snorted and jerked and we laughed at him. He grinned sheepishly at us and wiped his chin.

"Sorry, cars make me sleepy. Driving all the way from Alaska was a nightmare," he said. "I had to stop and take naps at every rest stop I came to."

"Don't mind us, Sleeping Beauty," Eve said to the rearview mirror. I snickered and Michael grunted and said, "How much further?"

"About an hour," I said. "Go back to sleep. It'll be a quicker trip for you."

Michael leaned up so that his chin rested against the back of my seat. "Maybe if I had something soft to cuddle up against..."

Eve whipped to the side of the road and slammed to a stop. Cars honked at us and I scowled at her. "What are you doing?"

"Michael needs a teddy bear," she said to me and nodded at me to get in the backseat with him.

"Jesus, Eve! You're going to kill us before we even get to the lake!" I screamed at her. She smiled innocently and said, "I'm not moving until you get in the back."

I opened my car door and said, "A word with you, Eve. Outside. Now."

Michael sat back and sighed something that sounded a lot like, "Women drivers," and Eve hopped out of the driver's side and I snatched her by the ear and dragged her down into the weed-infested ditch, rounding on her and said, "Stop! Just stop!"

Eve crossed her arms. "I won't. He likes you. Why can't you see that?"

"I don't need you to fix my love life. Michael is a friend, that's all! I can't believe that he would drive all the way back here just for me. It's ridiculous! You have to stop taking his harmless flirting so seriously. He's always been that way, and nothing has ever come of it." Liar, liar, pants on fire!

"That's because ya'll were kids when he left," she said, jabbing me in the shoulder. "I don't think that he would say things like that if he weren't serious."

More cars whooshed by us, some slowing down to stare at Eve and me arguing and a truck driver had the audacity to blare his horn at us as he passed. The tall weeds tickled my shins as I stared at Eve. "Just don't do anything I'll regret this weekend. If what you say is true, then it'll happen in its own good time. I'd rather not stay mad at you for three days."

"Deal," she said, sticking out her hand to shake. "But you have to ride in the backseat for the rest of the way."

"Fine," I huffed and took her hand. She pumped our fisted hands up and down smartly and we went back to the waiting car. Michael quirked his eyebrow. "Everything okay?" he asked as I climbed into the seat beside him.

"Shut up," I said and closed my eyes. I heard his chuckle and Eve gingerly pulled into traffic again.

"Thank you," Michael murmured soft enough to not be heard by the driver.

"For what?" I asked in the same low voice without opening my eyes.

"I was getting lonely back here."

I cracked an eye at him. "You could have just asked."

He smiled. "I know, but it was much more fun this way." I swatted my arm at him, hitting him squarely in the chest, and he captured my hand, clasping our fingers together. No one said another word until we reached the lake house.