Aiden Taylor is Liv’s oldest brother. I’ve known him since I was a little kid, and I’ve had a crush on him since I was ten and he was sixteen. Not that he ever gave me the time of day. I was always his annoying kid-sister’s best friend. Well, almost always. There was one time that I was more than that. One time that we shared a moment that I’ve relived every day of my life since it happened. Only it’s not something I can talk about with him. Not at all. I’m lucky that he still talks to me after that little episode. And we’re the only ones who know. Well, we were the only ones who knew. Until very recently. I didn’t tell Liv at the time, and she’s my best friend. I wanted to tell her. I really, really did, but how do you tell someone something like that? How do you tell your best friend that her brother was right, and that you’re the bad influence that no one wants in their kids’ lives? I guess I should be grateful that Aiden never said anything. I suppose he was embarrassed as well or something. I mean, it’s not exactly something you shout out to the world. “Hey, Liv, I slept with your best friend. In fact, I took her virginity.” Yeah, he didn’t say that. And I didn’t tell Liv, either. How could I tell her that I’d crept into her brother’s bed with the hopes of seducing him? How could I tell her that we’d made love and that it had been the best night of my life? I didn’t know how to tell her, and then I’d felt too guilty to bring it up, but now she knew and I honestly didn’t feel better. I knew now that the one person I really needed to talk to about that night was the one man who wanted nothing to do with me.
“Alice!” Liv shouted as she walked into the apartment. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the living room!” I shouted back and then lowered my voice. “Why are we shouting by the way?”
“I’ve had a brilliant idea.” Her eyes were sparkling as she ran into the living room. She clapped her hands and did a little dance as she grinned at me, her enthusiasm for her idea refusing to be quelled.
“What’s the idea?” My eyes narrowed as she finally stood still.
“I have a way for you to start talking to Aiden again.”
“Oh?” My heart raced at her words. I looked up at her and studied her face carefully. “A good idea or a harebrained idea?”
“Alice,” she pouted, her eyes looking at me wickedly, “since when have I had harebrained ideas?”
“Since you became my best friend.” I giggled and shook my head at her. Unfortunately it was true. We both seemed to have spur-of-the-moment ideas and plans that always seemed to get us into trouble. To be fair to Liv, I was the one who usually had the really stupid ideas, but Liv had been giving me a run for my money lately.
“We’re going to join a flag football team.”
“Say what?” I frowned.
“Flag football,” she said excitedly. “Xander was telling me about it. He’s going to be on it, too.”
“Okay,” I said, not feeling as excited. “How is this going to help me get Aiden?”
“He’s going to be playing on the same team.” She grinned. “It’s going to be perfect.”
“I don’t know about this, Liv.” I chewed on my lower lip. “Do you really think me playing football is going to win any guys? I’m not exactly the queen of anything sporty.”
“Trust me.” She grabbed my hands. “That’s not the only plan I have. That’s just step one.”
“Step one?” I groaned, but my stomach was doing flip-flops in excitement. I wasn’t a huge football fan, but if joining a team meant I would get to see Aiden weekly, then I was all for it.
“Oh yeah, baby.” She grinned. “I’ve come up with a surefire way to make sure you and my brother get together.” The look on her face looked so satisfied and excited that I held in my second groan. I didn’t want to rain on her parade, but I’d also had a surefire plan once and it had blown up in my face.
“What’s your surefire plan?” I asked weakly. There were times that I didn’t love that I had rubbed off on Liv so much. When we were younger, Liv was innocent and quiet and I was the rabble-rouser, always looking to get into something. I always had a plan or a scheme, and they had never worked out as I’d planned them to.
“You’re going to go to the flag football games with me and Xander. You’re going to look pretty and flirt with all the attractive single men. You’re going to be nice but not overly friendly to Aiden. You’re going to let him see what he’s been missing all these years.”
“You think he’s even going to care or notice?”
“I’m positive of the fact.” She grinned. “Now that I know what happened between the two of you, I understand the dynamic between you both a lot better.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes.” She nodded. “I always wondered why he used to look at you with such protectiveness, but also with a kind of possessiveness and jealousy.”
“He treats you the same way.” I rolled my eyes, but my hopes were rising.
“Nope.” She laughed. “Yes, he is overprotective and a bit of a jerk, but he’s never acted jealous when I’ve talked about another guy and he’s never acted possessive or upset when he’s seen me with another guy. He couldn’t care less. You know he told me he’s glad I’m dating Xander because now Xander can worry about me.”
“Yeah, but he’s just saying that. He loves you.”
“Yes, he loves me. I’m his sister.” She grinned. “But he has feelings for you as well. Feelings that are about more than being your honorary big brother. I bet he’s confused.”
“Confused about what?”
“He’s confused that he had this night with you all those years ago that he enjoyed, but feels guilty about it and now he’s not sure what to do.”
“You think so?” I asked hopefully.
“Yeah, I really do.” She nodded. “The problem is he still sees you as a teenager. You need to show him you’re a woman now.”
“And flag football will do that?”
“You, in some short-shorts running down a field, with hot guys chasing you as your long blonde hair flies in the wind, will do that.” She grinned again. “Come on, Alice, you know how guys are.”
“But what about Scott? And what about my Facebook message?”
“Ah, forget them. They mean nothing.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.” She nodded.
“What do you know?” Xander’s voice filled the room, and I groaned.
“What are you doing here?” I asked accusingly, and he laughed.
“Nice to see you too, Alice. I’m taking my girlfriend out to dinner. Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” I looked at Liv and she grinned.
“He was parking the car,” she explained. “I left the door open for him to come in.”
“Oh, okay. I was wondering if you gave him a key already.”
“Would you have a problem with that?” Xander teased me. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t.” I shook my head at him.
“I bet you wouldn’t mind if Aiden had a key, though.” He winked at me. “Maybe this time he can be the one to slip into your bedroom and bed.”
“Liv!” I screamed as my face went hot. “You told Xander?”
“Xander!” Liv turned to him with angry eyes. “What were you thinking?”
“What?” he asked innocently.
“Why would you tell Alice that I told you?” She sighed and looked at me with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry, but he wanted to know what was so important that I’d kick him out last night.”
“So you told him?” My jaw dropped. “I can’t believe you told Xander that I lost my virginity to Aiden.”