I groaned and squinted my eyes shut, pouring myself another cup of coffee. Yes it was like 4 pm, but with a bitch of a hangover like the one I had, it was necessary. Madison had woken up around noon with barely any aftereffects, per usual. I had no idea how she did it. Although it might have something to do with the whole puking-her-guts-out-before-bed thing.
Thankfully, she'd gone around and shut all the blinds in my house and started some coffee before she took off. If it hadn't been for the darkness and the tantalizing smell, I probably never would've gotten out of bed. I'd already refilled the coffee once, and I'd just taken some ibuprofen to get rid of the last of my headache.
A knock sounded on my door just as I took a sip of freshly brewed beans, surprising me and making me take too big of a drink. I cursed as the hot liquid burned my tongue, making my way towards the door. Peeking through the hole, I was shocked to see Liam standing at my door, a balloon in his hand.
Stepping back from the door in horror, I quickly glanced down at myself, and then up at the mirror on the wall next to me. My hair was a greasy, tangled mess, my makeup was still crusted around my eyes, and I was wearing a stained and ratty t-shirt accompanied by men's boxer shorts with "Pussy Wagon" written on the ass that Anthony had bought me as a joke from some online store.
"Celeste, I know you're in there. I heard you swear."
I cringed, realizing that I'd spoken way too loudly when I'd burned my tongue a minute ago. "Go away, I'm not fit for company."
"I'm not company. I'm your brother; let me in."
I flushed at his words and couldn't help but open the door a crack just to glare at him.
"Step-brother. Ex. Now leave me alone." Before I could slam the door shut Liam pushed his way into my house, nearly losing the balloon he was holding in the process.
"You should know by now that I always get what I want," he said in a light tone that for some reason had me blushing all over again.
He didn't mean like that, I mentally scolded my perked nipples.
We stood facing each other, and I wanted to smack the little smirk off his handsome face when he took me in.
"Looking good, sis."
"Shut. up." I looked up to the balloon, noticing the "Get Well!" and my annoyance faltered a bit. "Is that... for me?"
His eyes followed the direction of my pointing finger, and I could swear I saw him blush a little. "Uh, yeah. Travis told me you called in sick, so I thought I might come by to cheer you up a bit."
A weird silence fell between us, neither one of us sure what to do about the gesture. I cleared my throat awkwardly, stepping forward to take it from him.
"Well, thank you Liam. I appreciate the thought."
He placed the ribbon in my hand, and then took a few loud, curious sniffs. "Why do you smell like week-old tequila and wine?"
I stepped past him quickly to hide the guilt. I could feel him following behind me, and I had never been so grateful that Madison had cleaned up before leaving. I didn't need Liam to know that the reason I'd called in was because I'd been completely wasted at 3 am. Despite having a good reason, it wouldn't look good for my job to have called in because of a hangover.
"Celeste?" Liam put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to face him. I kept my face down, not wanting to admit anything. "Are you... Should I be concerned about your drinking?"
My head shot up to finally look at him, and I burst into laughter at the worry on his face. He thought I was a drunk!
"Oh my god, no Liam. I'm not an alcoholic. Despite the current evidence. I was comforting a friend last night, and we got a little carried away is all." I'd take that confession over him thinking I needed rehab!
His face cleared, and he stepped back. "Oh, good then."
I bit my lip and watched as his eyes narrowed in on the movement. I suddenly registered the heat sparking between us, and despite feeling disgusting, I wanted him to kiss me so badly I knew I needed to get him out of here.
"Well thanks for stopping by," I said and tried to herd him towards the door.
"Oh no you don't. You're not getting rid of me that easily. I have somewhere to take you, so go get showered and ready. Casual clothes are perfectly fine."
"What? I'm not going anywhere," I sputtered.
He stepped closer to me and I flinched, not wanting my smell to horrify him. He didn't seem to care, backing me into the countertop behind me and putting his hands on either side of me to trap me.
"Yes, you are Celeste. I promise you'll like it," he breathed. I tried to hide the shiver that went through me, but I'm sure he caught it. "Just trust me." He pulled back and gently pushed me towards my stairs.
"Fine. Don't think you can order me around like this all the time though!" I turned and stomped away, only pausing when I heard a choked laugh behind me. Whirling around, I caught the giant grin on his face as his eyes moved up from my ass to look me in the eye.
My ass. My "Pussy Wagon" shorts had been revealed when I'd turned in a huff, and a new kind of heat filled my face. I decided to ignore him and his amusement with my clothes, so I turned right back around and went up the stairs. I jumped in the shower, letting out a moan at the feeling of the warm water beating down on my skin. I hated that Liam had suggested this, and probably knew how much better it was going to make me feel to clean yesterday and light night off of me.
Thirty minutes later, I was heading down my stairs with half-dried hair, a green tank top, and rainbow workout pants. He did say to dress comfy, after all.
"Liam?" I called out his name, wondering where he went.
"Kitchen," he said back and I headed that way to see him fiddling around with my coffee pot. "You know," he commented without turning to face me, "the wiring on this thing could cause a fire if you're not careful."
He turned to face me, and I watched in fascination as his eyes dilated while they ran down my body from my hair to my toes bared in sandals. I mean, I didn't even put any makeup on and he looked at me like he wanted to throw me on the table and devour me.
I felt my nipples furl under my thin bra, and just knew they were obvious in this top. I did my best to ignore the sexual tension between us, and addressed his last comment about the fraying cord to the coffee pot.
"Nothing's happened yet."
He blinked slowly, his darkened eyes coming back up to meet mine. "What?"
I swallowed a pleased laugh. "The wiring. Everything's been fine so far."
He seemed to come back to the present, and a small frown marred his face. Not that it made him any less handsome. "That doesn't mean something can't happen. You need a new one."
I shifted awkwardly. "I haven't really been able to afford a new one," I mumbled.
He seemed to notice my uneasiness with the turn of conversation, and smoothly changed it. "Well, are you ready to go?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." His answering grin took the breath from my lungs.
"Let's get out of here then," he said and propelled me out the door, making sure I locked it behind us. I squinted in the light, not prepared for the brightness. Digging in my purse for sunglasses, I followed Liam over to his car. When he opened the door for me and helped me inside before going around to his own door, my heart fluttered a bit. no one had ever done that for me before. Liam didn't even have to work hard to worm his way into my heart; all he had to do was be himself.
We rode in his car quietly, the silence between us not uncomfortable at all. Usually I couldn't handle that, but he seemed so content to just be here with me that I didn't mind it. Soft music played in the background and I mouthed along to the words as Liam drove. I couldn't help but glance over at him out of the corner of his eye, watching the way his muscles played under his shirt as he drove. Remembering the way he'd looked at me in the kitchen did nothing to cool my libido, and I was close to squirming in my seat to relieve some of the ache when he spoke up.
"I hope you're hungry."
"I am actually," I said with surprise. Despite feeling horrible this morning, the shower and multiple cups of coffee I'd drank must've worked their magic. Glancing over at Liam, I mentally acknowledged that he might have had something to do with that too.
"Good," he responded with a smile, turning left into a parking lot. I watched as he parked in front of what looked like a fairly run-down diner, and then glanced over at him with raised eyebrows as he parked.
He looked at me after turning the car off, and laughed at my expression of incredulity. I forgot about everything else but the way he looked, head thrown back and eyes crinkling in complete happiness. His laughter filled the car, and it was so contagious that I was soon giggling along with him.
"Oh man, that's one of my favorite parts about bringing people here." He was talking about the diner, which was simply named 'FOOD'. No, it wasn't sketchy at all.
"You like bringing people to a diner named 'FOOD' that looks like it's about to fall apart and watch as they look at you weird?"
He nodded emphatically. "I absolutely do. I know it doesn't look inviting necessarily, but I swear that it's safe. This place has the best hangover food, I swear it."
"Okay," I said dragging out the word before opening my door and stepping out. I followed him into the diner, and I knew my face was covered in shock when we stepped inside.
The outside of the diner might have looked like I should turn and walk the other way, but the inside was obviously well taken care of. Tabletops gleamed, jukebox music played in the air, and I felt like I'd been transported right into the 40's. The place was full of people, but not too many to be overwhelming and we were able to find a corner booth easily enough.
"This is unexpected." Those were the first words that left my mouth after the waitress had stopped by to drop off menus and take our drink order (large cookies and cream shakes for both of us, something I was very excited about).
He chuckled. "I know. When I first came here, I wasn't prepared. To be honest, I was probably still a little drunk from the night before, so going from the shabby exterior to this," he said gesturing around the restaurant, "made me feel like I'd stepped into an alternate dimension."
"That's almost exactly what it's like! If you looked at an un-restored diner from the 40's, the outside is exactly what it would look like today. But then you come inside, and it's like you travel back in time. Pretty clever idea, actually."
"I'm glad you can appreciate it. Once I'd figured that out, I knew I'd be coming back every chance I got."
"When did you first come here?"
For some reason, he glanced down at his menu and his cheeks turned pink at my question. Before I could interrogate him about his reaction or wait for an answer, the waitress came back over with our shakes and took our orders.
After ordering what felt like half the menu, we gave them to her and I turned back to Liam, not forgetting my earlier question or his reaction to it.
"Well, Liam? When was your first time?" His eyes twinkled at my question, and I realized too late how it had sounded. "Ugh, never mind." I didn't need to be teased about my own non-existent first time.
Thankfully, he ignored my blunder. "A couple days before I moved out of you and your dad's place."
I wondered why he hadn't called it our parent's place, since they'd been married at the time. I shrugged that off though, moving on to my follow-up question.
"And why were you so drunk?" Another thought popped into my head. "How did you even get drunk? Weren't you like 18 or something?"
He flushed at my questions, avoiding my eyes again before answering.
"I didn't really look just 18, and I had a pretty good fake ID. I'd never used it before then, and I can't tell you how nervous I was when I tried it." He paused, a small smile twitching at his lips.
"I can imagine. But you ignored my first question."
"I don't remember why I was drunk."
It was a lie. I just knew it, but I didn't want to make things awkward between us by pressing the issue. I figured that was his own business so I let it go, taking a drink of my shake.
A low moan escaped me as the taste hit my tongue, and my eyes closed as I drew more into my mouth. "Holy shit, that's good," I said.
A growling sound had my eyes opening and focusing on Liam, whose expression had turned hungry once again. Heat gathered in my chest- and other places- and I licked my lips to catch a little of the shake that had caught on my mouth. A small groan escaped Liam's own mouth, and my panties were wet in an instant.
I squirmed in my seat, and Liam didn't miss the small shift. Scooting a tad closer, he talked quietly enough for me to be the only one to hear.
"Are you wet right now Celeste?" I couldn't make myself answer the question aloud, so I just nodded jerkily. His lips curved into a satisfied smile. "Good, because I'm fucking hard as a rock right now from that moan you let out, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't alone."
With that, he scooted back over to his previous spot at the booth, eyes roaming over me and focusing on my once again peaked nipples. I glanced away and caught sight of our waitress heading our way with our tray of food, and I was more than grateful for the reprieve. She unloaded the plates onto our table, and I closed my eyes in pleasure as the scents drifted up to me.
Bacon, chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, potatoes, and some skillet rightfully dubbed 'The Cure" teased me, and without further ado both Liam and I dug into the food we'd decided to share. I couldn't help the noises I made as I ate, and I just had to ignore the way Liam watched me, the feeling of hunger between us not dissipating in the slightest.