Home > To My Brother's Cocky Best Friend(9)

To My Brother's Cocky Best Friend(9)
Author: J. S. Cooper

"Well, you know, when you live in a city like San Francisco and you don't make millions of dollars, you've got to make the things that you want instead of buying them," I laughed. "There are no cheap Florida rental prices here."

"Yeah," he said softly, "I guess not."

He took a seat in the chair that was next to my two-seater table, and he leaned back against the wall and looked at me. "This is really cozy," he said as he looked around. "Small definitely, but cozy. It's nice."

"Thanks," I said. "I like it. It's pretty cool, you know? Not what I expected to be living in a small ass studio at 27, but for San Francisco, I'll take it. I can afford it, and it's nice not to have roommates."

"Yeah, I bet," he said. "I couldn't have roommates. Not at all."

"Yeah, after living with my brother, I bet you can't," I said.

"It wasn't so bad living with Derrick. You know, he's like my brother too, but, you know, too many women over at the house for me."

"Really? Didn't you have women over every night as well?"

"No, Olivia, what would make you think that?" He ran his hand through his golden blonde silky hair and just stared at me for a few seconds. "I'm not the playboy that you think I am, you know?"

"Really? I'm pretty sure that you're as much a playboy as my brother."

"I think you'll come to find that your brother's not as much a playboy anymore either. We're 29 now, nearly 30. There comes a time in every man's life when he's ready to settle down."

"Really?" I looked at him in surprise. "So you're ready to settle down? Is that what you're telling me?"

"If I find the right woman, perhaps."

"Oh, yeah, and who would the right woman be?"

He paused for a few seconds as if he was thinking about the answer. "I don't know," he said softly. "I just hope that one day she'll find me and she'll know that I'm the one for her."

"What?" I said in surprise. "You want her to think you're the one for her, and you don't want to think she's the one for you?"

"No, that's not quite what I'm saying," he said.

"So then what are you saying?" I shook my head. “Is this some sort of cosmic riddle?”

He said, "I think in my heart and my soul, I already know who she is. I just need for her to figure it out as well."

"Wow. Who knew you were such a romantic," I laughed, suddenly feeling a little bit overwhelmed and intense.

"Well, I've always been a romantic. You should know that."

"Why should I know that?"

"Because you've known me growing up."

"Yeah, and what's that got to do with me knowing you're a romantic?"

"Don't you remember the chocolates I used to get for you every Valentine's Day?" he asked me with a grin. "And all the teddy bears?"

"I guess so." I chewed down on my lower lip. I didn't want him to know that I had every single one of those teddy bears still. In fact, if he went to my bedroom, he'd find one of them under my covers. I'd have to make sure that he didn't see it.

"Oh. Well ... Hey, Olivia?"

"Yes, Tyler?"

"Do you remember that time when we were kids and we snuck down to Cocoa Beach, and we went skinny dipping in the ocean?"

"I kind of remember," I lied, knowing fully well I remembered everything.

"Wasn't that such a freeing night," he said, his mind seeming to be far away.

"I guess. Why'd you bring it up?"

"I just thought things were so much simpler then, you know? We were young, we had fun, and we just enjoyed ourselves. We didn't think too much about anything. Everything came easy."

"Yeah. I guess that's true."

"I mean, yeah, we went skinny dipping, but it's not like it was anything, you know? I didn't see you naked. You didn't see me naked. I didn't see Derrick naked."

"Oh, and I didn't see Derrick naked either," I said with a laugh. "Ugh, that would have been gross."

"But it was cool, right?"

"Yeah. It was cool," I nodded. "Those were the days. I guess that's what it's like to grow up in a small town and just enjoy being somewhere where you have your freedom."

"Do you feel like you have your freedom here in San Francisco?"

"I do and I don't. It's just a different way of life, you know? When we were in Palm Bay, we could ride our bikes. We could go anywhere we wanted. We could go to the beach, we could go hunting, and we could go to the farm. Everything was so easy. Here it's the city and it’s so much harder.. If I want to do any of those things, I've got to go out of town, and I don't have a car, so that makes it so much more difficult for me."

"Yeah. That's one of the reasons why I don't think I could live in a big city like San Francisco."

"Or New York," I said.

"Or New York," he laughed. "I guess I'm getting my answer about the transfer."

"Oh, you didn't tell the firm yet?"

"No. They wanted me to think about it. I said I would tell them when I got back from this trip."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah. I mean, I knew that you love New York, so I was wondering if you thought you'd moved there next."

"Who, me? New York. I don't know. I've got some really good friends here in San Francisco. I'd like you to meet them."

The kettle beeped to let me know that it was done, and I put two tea bags into the cups and then poured the hot water over them. "Let's let these soak for about three minutes and then I'll pour the milk in."

"Sounds good to me," he said. "So tell me more about these friends. You really seem to like them a lot."

"Yeah. These are the nicest women I've ever met in my life. We all just get on really well."

"Oh, yeah? And you all work at the same company? There's no hostility or competition?"

"Well, we all do different things at the company, you know? And there's no competition. You see, I think we all have each other's best interest at heart, and we all want the company to succeed. It's a startup, and I guess we're just all invested in that. My boss, he's really cool too. Actually, he's dating one of my coworkers now."

"That sounds like a recipe for disaster. He's dating one of your coworkers?"

"Well, yeah. It's more than just sex though. Like, they're in love. They're going to get married."

"Mm-hmm. That's what they all say."

"No, I'm being serious. They're really cool. Like, there’s Magnolia. She's actually going to get married to Jagger, who's one of the co-bosses and actually a guy she knew when she was younger. And then there's Jane. She's really cool. She's dating Tate, who's our main boss. And then Millie, who's really, really funny, she's dating Jane's brother, Marco, who just came up from LA. It's really cool."

"Oh, wow. So it seems like everyone's got a man in the office?"

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