Page 36 of Every November

“If we plan something, I’ll definitely take the time off work.”

“Melissa and I will make a plan then,” Mom says, easily on board with the idea. “Now, come on. Let’s eat dinner.”

I pull my phone out before heading into the dining room and see a text.

Marcus:

I can pick you up. Text me when you’re ready.

For some reason, it makes tonight feel even more like a date with him offering to pick me up and booking the hotel room. I offered to book it this year, or split the cost, but he refused.

I eat lightly in anticipation of what’s coming, then shower and prep methodically in a way that almost helps quiet the nerves underneath the excitement. For all my family knows, I’m heading to the bar with my friends, not to a hotel room to get fucked by my Thanksgiving hookup for the third year in a row.

The same thrill I felt when Marcus pushed me against the brick wall is back, only stronger. This year isn’t just a random run-in fueled by chemistry alone. This year, there’s more history behind it. A year of texts, yearning, hoping, wondering if he feels it too.

I don’t know what tonight will feel like with all of that underneath it, but I’ve been waiting for a year to find out.

Me:

I’m ready

CHAPTER 13

Marcus

Me:

I’m here

Ihit send and set my phone in the cupholder, staring at the house in front of me.

Evan’s parents’ house is across town from where I grew up. It’s two stories with white siding, and there’s a huge bare tree in the front yard. They already have their Christmas lights strung along the roofline, and the porch light is on. Through the front window, I see the flicker of what’s probably a TV.

It looks happy.

That’s the only word for it. The house just looks happy—the kind of place where people actually want to be. It’s so similar to the house I grew up in, yet it feels fundamentally different. Maybe it’s because I know how happy Evan is.

Meanwhile, I haven’t even told my parents I’m here. I told them I was coming up early tomorrow morning because I had a work thing I needed to finish tonight. My mom sighed dramatically, but she didn’t push. She never does when it comes to me. It’s Lily she cares about and fusses over, especially now that she’s pregnant. She and Sean got married last summer, which meant an entire year of comments about my little sister getting married before me. Add it to the growing list of things I’ve disappointed them with.

Little does she know, my mind’s been wrapped up in one person for longer than I want to admit. Just not someone she’d ever approve of.

Every day for a year, Evan’s all I’ve thought about. He always texts me to initiate new conversations, even when I’ve gone quiet. He clearly has no shame about double texting, and I don’t know why he keeps doing it. I’m well aware I haven’t given him much reason to.

I’ve tried to rationalize it a dozen different ways, but I’m not sure what he sees in me. It has to be the fact that he wanted to hook up again this Thanksgiving, which explains why I’m sitting outside his parents’ house at nine o’clock the night before Thanksgiving waiting to take him to another hotel room.

My phone buzzes, and I grab it from the cupholder.

Evan:

Be right out!

My stomach flips knowing I’ll see him any minute. He’s sent me enough photos to know that his mustache is still there. I also know that the ends of his hair curl a bit more when he’s sweating from a long day outside. And now, I can’t stop thinking about the one he sent me in his swim trunks. Summer clearly agrees with him, and so do those legs. Maybe we need a summer version of Thanksgiving. A Fourth of July tradition, so I can see those shorts in person.

All the anticipation makes me pause to look at my own reflection in the rearview mirror. I look tired from the drive, dark circles under my eyes with slightly tousled hair, but that isn’t new, and for some reason, he seems to like me anyway. At least enough to spend tonight with me.

Evan steps onto the porch with a small bag, pulling his jacket tighter, and even from here, I can see the smile on his face. God, he’s attractive. I can’t wait to get him naked and put my mouth on every inch of him.

He rounds my Jeep, breath visible in the cold air, and I unlock the passenger door. He climbs in, bringing a rush of cold air with him as he settles into the seat.