the first one • j. hughes

7

"Funny how it all comes full circle," I say. Luke looks at me like I'm speaking Latin so I keep going. "We shared this room first. Then the switch around happened. Now we have to share it again."

The two downstairs kid rooms at the lake house both have two beds. One of them was my permanent one. When the Hughes' would stay overnights, they had to split us all up somehow. Holly and Penn got to keep their single-bed rooms upstairs. Meanwhile, I got Luke in the bed across from me. Quinn and Jack in the other double. Our two rooms have a Jack and Jill bathroom or whatever it's called and sometimes the three boys would switch beds in the middle of the night.

Then, around middle school, things got switched around. Quinn started staying in Holly's room upstairs. Luke got put in Quinny's spot in the other double. Holly got Luke's. I was so annoyed by it. The parents somehow failed to realize that a connected bathroom meant moving around was easy. It was like a schedule of roommates. Holly one night, Jack the next, Luke after, and even sometimes I'd have Quinn across the room.

Penn didn't get the splitting room appeal. He'd wrinkle his nose at even the suggestion he could leave his privacy. The only time he's ever done it was the last night of the summer before he went to college. The boys were there. Penn still got a bed to himself. Luke, Holly, and I squished into the other. Jack and Quinn brought in an air mattress from the garage.

"What's gonna happen when we all have someone to bring?" I question, peeling back the expertly made covers. "I mean, will I and my fiancé have to share this bed and you and your fiancée have that one? Holly and Brosie could have just shared that one still. No need to change the assignments yet again."

Luke laughs. "Don't make me feel worse for your future husband than I already do."

"Hey!"

"Hi." He lays back on his bed. Not even properly laying down. Just laying back from where he was sitting in the middle back across it.

I, however, climb into my bed like I'm ready to sleep. 'Cause I am. I'm showered. I'm a little sunburnt. A little buzzed still. And I get to see Ki the day after tomorrow. This is about to be one of the best goddamn sleeps of my life.

"Your future husband will be fine with having to share a room with me and my wife," Luke says. "Mainly because he's shared rooms with you and me about a million times in his life. So, y'know... What's one more person?"

My pillow is very suddenly uncomfortable. "Has anybody ever told you how not funny you are?"

"Nope."

"Weird. I swear I have."

"You're tired."

"Nope," I say. A lie.

"You're getting all cranky." He sighs in the way he does when he rubs his face in annoyance. "I still have to shower. Jack takes fucking forever."

I turn onto my side, watching Luke's chest rise up and down. "Go upstairs."

"You have to go through a bedroom to shower upstairs."

"Penn wouldn't mind." Just as I say that the shower turns off. Luke starts getting up. "Hey, you better be quiet if I'm asleep by the time you're done. Also, turn the lights off while you're up."

He scrunches his nose up. "You want me to get ready for bed in the dark? Quietly?"

"Preferably, yeah."

"I'm just gonna send Jack in to be your roommate."

"What? You're my favorite roommate though." Quickly, I add, "Other than Kiana."

"Wow! Okay, no, I'm definitely switching with Jacky."

I roll my eyes. "Fine."

"Don't act so disappointed." He smiles and walks away before I can argue.

We have a trust system in place for the bathroom. Door closed simply means don't go in. Using the locks caused one too many issues with forgetting the door was locked. This led to arguments because that bathroom is much more convenient than going out into the hall to use the half bath.

Jack closes the door behind him. The faint sound of the shower and Luke's shower playlist starts going. God, who let him go last? Wait, I did. I pulled the birthday week card to get first dibs. Shit, I left my stuff in the shower. Luke's gonna use—

My brain short circuits, taking in Jack as he untucks the covers on the other bed. He's shirtless. His back is so nice. Is that weird? He rolls his shoulders and I realize it can't be weird. Nothing should look that nice if compliments were weird for it. My eyes snake up to his hair, obviously still wet. It looks...

This isn't me. This is the tiredness and the day of drinking. This isn't me. I'm not noticing these things like this. Like a teenager with her crush. Her really good-looking crush. Really good looking. Jack turns around and I screw my eyes shut.

"Do you think Lukey knows he can have his music at less than full volume?"

My eyes open. "Do you know your shorts are supposed to be more on your hips than that?"

He looks down at his shorts that, yes, are a bit lower than they should be. This adds to my whole this isn't me and actually a teenage girl possessing me thing. What do I care if his shorts are showing some of his underwear's waistband? Showing that v-line thing that isn't the craziest one ever but it's still there and the way his hip bones— Stop it! God, I'm depraved.

"Sorry," he says with a small smirk, pulling his shorts up to the proper hip placement. "Forgot how much you like my thighs."

"Shut up," I mumble, closing my eyes. "Trying to sleep."

"The lights aren't off."

"Then turn them off, Row."

"Ask nicely."

My breathing's slowing but I manage out, "Please turn the lights off."

Life feels near perfect with the sound of mine and Luke's favorite song muffled through the door and Jack's laugh before I drift off the sleep.

* * * * *

Something's nudging me. Aggressively. Over and over, I keep getting pushed in the shoulder. It's getting really fucking annoying.

I squeeze my eyes closed even further than they are, gritting out a quick, "Luke Warren Hughes, I'll punch you in the dick."

"Yikes," a male voice says. I'm too tired to try and pick out whose. Could be either older Hughes.

The nudging continues. Practically shoves by now. My eyes snap open and I push a hand out towards them, a slap to whatever body part is in front of me. A sharp gasp comes from my victim and I realize nobody in this house could get their hair that texture. Or their skin that dark without a concerning amount of fake tanner.

"That was my tit, you ass," Ki huffs.

* * * * *

"A whole car ride with Penn, eh?" I tease.

Ki and I are on the back deck. The parents all left. The Reed house is for the kids 'til Thursday. Patton has to leave later today for a work trip. Brosie and Holls managed to get the days off as a surprise for my birthday.

She rolls her eyes. "Shut up. That was a last-year thing." That thing is her totally having the hots for Penn for whatever reason.

"Mhm."

"Speaking of things though—"

"Nuh-uh," I cut her off. "Lu has already been too set on the fact that it's happening. I can't take anymore."

"You guys shared a room last night."

"We've shared a room a million times before. We've shared beds. Chairs. We share. So do me and Luke, me and Quinn, me and Holly—"

"Okay! Okay, fine." She doesn't seem to believe it very much. "You're definitely not going to fall for the dude this summer."

"Well..."

"Well?"

"I don't know."

"It's not a choice," Luke says in an obnoxiously high-pitched voice, joining us in the chair to my other side. They share a look. A look that I know from both of them means they have ideas. Plans to put in place.