Best Friend’s Brother: Best Friend's Brother Romance by Rémi LeBeau Page A

culture knowledge to good use.
     
    “I really don’t care much about Julianne Moore,” Jakob said, unimpressed.
     
    “Funny.  I could have sworn you had a thing for redheads,” she flashed Zooey a smile and winked at her brother.  He nodded and leaned forward to shake her hand.
     
    “Touché.”
     
    They were the strangest siblings on earth.  Zooey looked back and forth at them and rolled her eyes just as the doorbell rang.  Jakob got up to go answer it.
     
    “Hey man!  You’re back early,” Zooey and Lauryn could hear Jakob.  Lauryn looked terrified.  A large anchor had sunk to the bottom of her stomach, and she tried her best to look like she was still afloat.
     
    Sure enough it was Ryan, back almost a week early from his trip.  He got permission to, but only if he came a month early to start work.  He had agreed.  He stopped at the hotel to drop off his bags, but was at the house to surprise Lauryn with an impromptu dinner date.  It was sweet.
     
    Lauryn collected her nerves and went upstairs to get changed.  Jakob and Zooey stayed downstairs with Ryan.  The two of them were about as good at lying and keeping secrets as they were at attempting to make birthday cake.  Zooey started sweating immediately, and Jakob scrolled through hundreds of useless pages on his tablet.  He didn’t even know what site he was on; he just wanted to keep busy to avoid any questions from Ryan.
     
    “How’s it been you two?” Ryan walked over and sat beside Zooey.  He wrapped an arm around her for a quick hug.
     
    “Swell,” Jakob’s eyes were glued to the screen in his hand.  Zooey didn’t have an escape.  All she could do was smile and nod.
     
    “Zooey, what are you up to tonight?” Jakob looked at her.  Zooey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
     
    “This,” she said.
     
    “Sounds fun.  Would you maybe wanna do this on a picnic somewhere?”
     
    “You mean now?”
     
    “I mean like a date, and yes like now,” Jakob chuckled.  It was a strange way to be invited on a date, but Jakob had strange ways of doing most things.  Zooey’s face lit up, and she nodded.
     
    This was going to be her first official date with the man of her dreams.
     
    *
     
    “ So you’ll never guess what happened to me last night ,” Lauryn called Zooey early the next morning.  The sun was up at least, but the phone call still woke Zooey up.
     
    “I can sure try.  But only if you guess about my night too,” Zooey croaked sleepily.
     
    “ Ryan said you and Jake snuck off on a date .”
     
    “We didn’t sneak.  But yes, it was an official date.”
     
    Jakob took her to the edge of town.  There was a bridge to cross in order to get over the border and into the next town, but Jakob made a sharp turn before the bridge, and drove in the middle of the woods for a while until they reached a clearing.  The moon was almost full, and the natural satellite illuminated their path.
     
    “ Did you guys hook up? ” Lauryn asked.  She cringed as she waited for a response.  She closed her eyes and gripped the phone tightly in her hand.
     
    “Maybe…” Zooey said.  Lauryn could picture Zooey’s face getting hot.
     
    “ You little tramp.  On the first date eh? ” Lauryn joked.  Zooey shushed her, but Lauryn giggled.  She knew what that meant.
     
    “What about you?  Did you tell Ryan?” Zooey avoided the question.
     
    “ I did .”
     
    “What the hell, Laur?  Why was that not the first thing you said?”
     
    “ Cuz I wanted to know how you and my brother were doing ,” Zooey knew that it was more for the sake of being nosy.  She laughed and asked Lauryn to keep going about her date from the night before.
     
    Ryan had surprised Lauryn with a date at a 4-star restaurant.  Nerves had gotten the better of her.  She acted like a mess the whole night.
     
    “ Everything was so awkward.  I tried not to get all crazy, but I looked guilty as hell.  He kept asking me if I was ok.  I