River arches one perfect eyebrow, making him look like a very pretty, displeased villain. “Because no brother wants to know those things about his sister.”
“But it’s okay for me to know that you all need giant condoms and liters of lube?” I fire back.
“This is better than watching HBO.” BJ pops a chocolate-covered almond into his mouth. He would dip everything he eats in chocolate if he could.
Kodiak raises a hand in the air. “I’m voting this conversation ends now and doesn’t get picked back up again after Lavender has had a few drinks.”
“I’m in agreement.” River says.
Lacey motions between herself, me and Lovey. “We can talk about this later.”
I give her a thumbs-up.
Kodiak gives me a disbelieving look. “You talk to Lovey and Lacey about our sex life?”
I shrug. “Sometimes. Don’t you do the same with your friends?”
“I can’t talk to Mav.”
“You have other friends.” I motion to BJ.
“Kodiak is as tight-lipped as a Vox when it comes to this stuff,” BJ informs me.
Kodiak squints at me. “Who else do you talk to?”
Lovey tries to smooth things over. “I hope my next boyfriend shows the same level of dedication to making sure my needs are taken care of.”
BJ opens his mouth, likely to say something inappropriate, but thankfully, the oven beeps.
“That’s the lasagna!” I all but bellow.
I grab a set of oven mitts and skirt around Lovey and Lacey. I would be more embarrassed, but honestly, aside from Josiah, Lovey and Lacey are my best friends; of course I talk to them about sex. That’s what girls do.
I’ve grown up in a house with a mom who always told me I should know my body before someone else does and a Gigi who is very pro-self-exploration. Sex talk isn’t something new.
Lovey and Lacey swoop in with mitted hands to help with the lasagnas, and we put the garlic bread in the oven on broil while we bring everything else to the table.
“Wait, where the hell is Mav? Please don’t tell me he’s taking one of his pre-drinking naps,” BJ says through a mouthful of fresh-out-of-the-oven garlic bread.
“He went back to Chicago,” I say. “Didn’t he tell you?”
“No. He did not.” BJ frowns. “Did he get called into the gym or something?”
“Nope. Said he needed to get a head start on reading for next semester,” River says as he slaps BJ’s hand to keep him from stealing another piece of garlic bread before it even reaches the table.
“Wow. That’s—”
“A load of bullshit?” Kodiak supplies as we all take our seats.
“I mean . . . he was failing that psych course at midterm. Maybe he’s legit worried about his marks this semester? But it still seems unlikely that he would miss New Year’s to start reading for a course that doesn’t begin for another five days,” BJ says as he cuts into the meat and cheese lasagna while Lovey and Lacey start on the vegan one.
“I don’t know why he’d be worried about his marks at this point. It’s not like he’s going to get passed over when the NHL calls us up,” Kodiak says.
“Maybe he has a girlfriend?” Lovey suggests.
“We wondered that too, but it seems unlikely,” I reply.
“Doesn’t that go against his four-week rule anyway?” BJ mangles his piece of lasagna so it looks more like a casserole.
“He doesn’t really have a rule, does he?” I’m aware he never dates anyone for long, but I thought the rule was a joke.
BJ and Kodiak shrug.
“He hasn’t dated anyone seriously since freshman year, and that lasted all of what, two and a half months?” Kodiak looks to BJ for confirmation.
“That sounds about right. He broke things off right before holiday break, and she pretty much stalked his ass for the rest of the year,” BJ agrees.
“I didn’t know that.” I let Lovey serve me a piece of the vegan lasagna. It’s better I avoid the ones with real cheese unless I want to spend most of tomorrow in the bathroom with a stomachache.
“You were still in high school, then.” Kodiak kisses my shoulder. I can feel the penance in his words and his lips. Back then things hadn’t been good between us. And holiday break of his freshman year had been particularly bad. But here we are. Together, after years of separation and Kodiak feeling like he wasn’t good enough for me. “He mentioned that he was seeing someone who wasn’t into the party scene around the time we started dating.”
“That must be long over, then,” BJ says around a mouthful of lasagna.
“Maybe.” Kodiak shrugs. “Probably.” He reaches across the table and grabs the bottle of wine. It’s actually more of a wine cooler. I don’t have very sophisticated taste in drinks and neither do Lovey and Lacey.
BJ takes a picture of the table and sends it to Mav with the message: Y we not cool enuff 4u?
Despite the amount of food, most of it gets polished off, with the exception of some salad and two pieces of vegan lasagna. Now that we’re carb-loaded, the real drinking begins. And so do the board games. This is 100 percent my kind of New Year’s celebration, and it’s Kodiak’s favorite too. Just our closest friends. No bars, no hundreds of people we don’t know.
And I’m hyperaware that next year it’s probably going to look a lot different. While most of us have a year or two left in college, Kodiak will likely get called up to play for the NHL in June. Next New Year’s Eve, he might be playing, and there’s a chance I’ll be sitting in the stadium, watching, and I’ll get to celebrate with him afterwards.
I have no idea how many wine coolers I consume, but by the time New Year’s rolls around, I’m a little sloppy and slurring my words.
At twelve thirty Liam and Lane, Lacey and Lovey’s older twin brothers show up with Quinn and a whole bunch of people from a bar and crash our party. Laughlin, Lacey and Lovey’s older brother, saunters in twenty minutes behind them, reeking of weed and looking like he’s plotting someone’s murder. He doesn’t say anything to anyone, just plunks himself down in a recliner, steeples his fingers and starts rocking.
Two random guys I’ve never met before start chatting up Lovey and Lacey, and a girl I recognize vaguely, probably a local, heads for BJ. The way his eyes light up tells me he recognizes her too, in a good way.
Kodiak leans in and whispers, “Let’s cut out while everyone is distracted.”
“Aren’t you worried about all these people we don’t know in your house?”
He lifts a shoulder and lets it fall. “Dracula will guard the castle.” He’s referring to Laughlin. I never really made the connection until now, but he’s not wrong. Like his siblings, Laughlin has the same fair skin, but unlike the rest of his fair-haired brothers and sisters, Laughlin has dark hair. It’s almost the same color as Kodiak’s, but his eyes are a shocking, icy blue that make you feel like he’s looking inside you, instead of at you.
Kodiak inclines his head in the direction of the pool house-slash-his apartment when he comes to visit his parents. I glance around the room; everyone is occupied. Laughlin is staring at the wall. Or through it, with his X-ray vision. Seems like a good time to make a hasty exit.