Dirty Deeds by Stella Rhys

28

EMMETT

“I havefish guts on me,” Aly declared the second she got home.

I laughed and stopped in the middle of getting up off the couch, because I knew from the mild panic in her voice that she was warning me not to hug her.

“Got it.”

“Don’t come near me! I’m gross and I need to pop in the shower real quick, but I won’t make us late for dinner – promise!” she yelled from the foyer before dropping her things to the floor and rushing up the stairs.

“Now you get five more minutes,” I said to Ozzy, who was passed out on the couch with his head in my lap. I ruffled his head just as my phone lit up with more texts from Drew. He’d been live-updating me on his hangover since waking up literally an hour ago – which I guess wasn’t that bad for going to bed at 8AM.

DREW:Yeah so I have no idea what I did last night but I just woke up to this

Paired with the text was a picture of the insane mess in his living room. There were empty bottles, playing cards and women’s underwear littered all over the floor. His coffee table was turned upside down and strung in pink Christmas lights, which I was pretty sure he didn’t keep in the house, and weirdest of all, there was a huge, angry-looking cat sitting on top of his open fridge.

ME:lol whose cat is that?

DREW:Fuck if I know but he won’t stop staring at me send help

I laughed so hard I woke up Ozzy, who shot me a dirty look before hopping off the couch and trotting off somewhere else.

ME:I don’t know man I heard when you find cats in your house that means they’re yours now

DREW:Please no I fucking hate cats

DREW:This wasn’t what I meant last night when I asked God for some good pussy

ME:Jesus Christ

I tossed my phone aside, snorting to myself for a second while wondering how the hell I’d lived the same life as Drew just a month ago. We’d pretty much wake up late from drinking late, and after a workout, a few meals and a shower, we’d be back at it, getting dinner and drinks before hitting the club and letting the night go on from there. Night after night – rinse and repeat.

I’d never gotten sick of it, so I was surprised to realize now that I was content to move on from it. I’d spent most of my life partying my ass off, and I always figured that somewhere down the line, I’d start getting tired and ease out of it. Julian guessed it would happen in my forties.

But apparently, it was possible for it to just happen one day.

It was sometime during the last month, and I wasn’t sure when, but I did know it had to do with the fact that there was a girl in my house who I never stopped thinking about – who I couldn’t seem to spend enough time with. Apparently, the option of going to bed with her every night was all I needed to do a one-eighty.

DREW:You coming to 1OAK tonight?

DREW:Nevermind don’t answer that

DREW:Don’t know why I asked. I’m hung over

I snorted, about to reply till I heard a plastic bag rustling in the foyer.

“Hey!” I said, immediately popping up to get Ozzy out of whatever he was snooping into.

In the foyer, I grabbed a new tube of mascara out of his mouth before swiping the bag off the floor and bringing it into the kitchen. It was stretched and a little ripped thanks to Ozzy, so I couldn’t help but notice all the little drugstore purchases inside.

I smirked because the pink razor was definitely for Aly, but the rest was undoubtedly picked up with me in mind. There was no doubting that when it was a tub of the protein powder I’d just run out of yesterday, two six-packs of men’s socks since Ozzy had been hiding mine all week, and a pastel green card with a watercolor stroller painted on the front. There was a swoopy “Congratulations” printed at the top, and I didn’t have to open the card to know that Aly had bought it for whenever Julian and Sara announced the pregnancy.

I couldn’t help the big grin on my face as I imagined Aly perusing the aisles of the store and stopping when she spotted the card. I could just imagine the faint smile on her lips as she picked it up and looked at the pretty picture in the front.

It hit me with the sudden need to go upstairs so turning around, I headed up the stairs to her bathroom and walked right in while she was showering.

“Hey!” she said with surprise when I opened the door and laughed at the clouds of suds in her hair. “What’s up? What’s going on?”

I shook my head as if to say “nothing” but the words that came out instead were, “I love you.”

The smile on her lips faded only to light up in her eyes. They were bright and glittery as she stared at me for several seconds. Then she stepped out from under the water and came up to me, her wet hands soaking my shirt as she grabbed two handfuls, went on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my lips.

When she pulled away, she looked me in the eye, unraveling everything inside me as she murmured, “I love you, Emmett Hoult.”