He glared over at me like I’d grown four heads. “Bro, you do realize that you just sounded like a pussy, right? Please tell me you know that?

I rolled my eyes.

“You ask a girl like her out for one reason and one reason only. Do I have to spell it out for ya, Lucas?”

“I get it.”

“No I don’t think you do.”

“Shut your trap before I shut it for you,” I argued.

He laughed. “Awe, why so sensitive? Are you hiding something?”

“No.”

“What? Do you like Alex? Is that what this is about?”

“No,” I adamantly repeated.

“Good. She’s like our little sister. If you did, I might have to beat the living shit out of you. You know we all would. It’s not like that with her, for any of us,” he reminded me, adding to my confusion and insecurities of what Alex and I should be to one another.

“I know that.”

“I’m glad. She’s a kid, Lucas.”

“We’re all kids,” I stated, trying to sway the conversation away Alex without being overly obvious.

“No shit. But an eleven-year-old girl because that’s what she is, even though she would probably tackle me to the ground before admitting it,” he chuckled at the thought and so did I. “To an almost fourteen year old boy is way different. She hasn’t even grown into her body yet. Trust me, Alex is going to be fucking gorgeous. Which is all the more reason that we have to protect her. You want her datin’ some guy like us? You know how we are when she’s not around.”

I nodded. “Why are you lecturing me on shit I already know? You’re beating a dead horse. I’m fully aware. Relax.”

“Then ask Stacey out.”

I sighed, knowing I didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. Everything he said was true. Alex was young and she was like our little sister. I blurred the lines with that kiss and I needed to make my way back over to the side with the rest of the boys.

It’s where I belonged.

“Fine. I’ll ask her out on a date just to shut you up.”

“That’s all I ask, brotha’.”

The next day I asked Stacey out on a date.

This would be the first time that I walked away from Alex.

But definitely…

Not the last.

“Whatcha’ doin’?” Alex prodded, walking into my bedroom as I’m playing with my phone on my bed. It was an early birthday gift. She scooted next to me, moving my arm so that she could lay in the crevice of my chest.

“Nothin’ much. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to town with your mom today?”

“We are,” she snickered. “But she had to talk to your mom about something important and told me to come wait up here with you.”

“Don’t want to go shopping, huh?”

She pouted, glancing up at me. “Do I ever?”

“It might not be so bad, Half-Pint. It’s not normal that you don’t like to go shopping.”

She sat up, facing me with her legs tucked under her tiny frame. “Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Like to go shopping?”

“Hell no.” I sat up against my wall.

“Well then. Why would I?”

“Because you’re a girl.”

She punched me in the chest.

“Ouch!” I rubbed where she hit me. “What was that for?”

“You know why,” she giggled, seeing that her weak ass punch had an effect on me, dwindling sideways on my bed.

I shook my head. “You’re so violent.”

“I learned from you,” she justified, pointing at me, sitting upright.

I laughed because it was true.

“You meeting up with the boys?”

“Nah, I’m meeting up with Stacey in a few hours.”

“Stacey?” she asked, taken aback. “Who’s Stacey?”

“The girl from the beach.”

With widening eyes she sat up straighter, trying to appear much older than she actually was. “The big boobed girl?”

I grinned to keep from laughing. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you meeting up with her?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, we’re hanging out.”

“Oh.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

She lowered her head to my comforter and started picking at the seams. She only did that when she was nervous. “Is this a date?” she muffled.

“I guess.”

“Oh.”

“Why you keep sayin’ that?”

“No reason,” she lied.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothin’.”

“You know you can’t lie to me, so why don’t you just tell me what the sad voice and sappy face is for?”

She scowled at me. “I’m not lying.”

I stood, folding my arms over my chest and cocking my head to the side. She knew I wouldn’t let her leave my room if she didn’t tell me the truth. I would get it out of her, one way or another.

“I thought you didn’t like her. You said you didn’t,” she finally answered.

“I never said that,” I stated, taking in her solemn demeanor.

“Oh.”

“Will you stop speaking in code?”

“I’m not,” she scoffed, moving her legs to hang over the edge of my bed.

“I told you she’s just a girl and she is. That’s all.”

“Then why are you going on a date with her, if she’s just a girl?”

“Because that’s what boys do.”

Her lips parted, displaying her bright red tongue. She must have been sucking on a cherry lollipop, our favorite.

I almost smiled. “It’s not a big deal, Half-Pint,” I confessed, rubbing the back of my neck.

She nodded, her eyes shifting to the door behind me.

“Well…” She leaped from my bed to stand in front of me, barely meeting my chest, and I was reminded how small she really was, how young she really was.

“Have fun on your date.”

My eyebrows lowered. “Why you actin’ like this?”

“I’m not acting like anything,” she replied, shrugging, the attitude evident in her tone. “I’ll see ya later.” She stepped aside and walked toward my door.

“Alex,” I called out, forcing in the breath I hadn’t realized I held. “You’ll always be my brown eyed girl.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“You’ll always be my brown eyed girl,” he confessed in a tone I’d never heard before.

My heart beat rapidly with each passing second, and the longer I stood there not saying anything the more I felt it.

“I know,” I softly spoke, with my mouth dry and my heart heavy.

I didn’t know whether to smile with delight over the fact that he would always be my best friend or to cry with devastation knowing that maybe he’d never be anything more.

Would there ever be an Alex and Lucas or were we doomed to be Bo and Half-Pint for the rest of our lives?

“Alex! You ready?” Mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs, breaking the simple words that held us together.

I didn’t dare turn around to look at him. I pretty much ran down the stairs and into my mama’s car. I spent the rest of the day in town with her.

“Honey, what about this one?” Mom prodded, placing the hanger in front of me.

I eyed it up and down. “It’s a dress.”

“Yes. It’s a very nice dress.”

Which actually wasn’t that far off from the truth. It was light yellow with spaghetti straps, shorter than I was used to but not entirely hideous. The material was soft at least.

“Okay.”

“Really? You’re not going to fight me on this?”

“No.”

“Are you sick?”

I smiled for the first time since I left Lucas’ bedroom. “No.”

“What do you want?” she quickly added, making me laugh.

“Nothin’, it’s a nice dress.”

She skeptically looked me over for a few seconds and then nodded to go pay.

“Everything alright?” she asked on our way home.

I shrugged.

“What’s going on with you?”

“Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“Alex, you let me buy you a dress and I didn’t have to bribe you.”

I sighed. “Lucas is going on a date,” I blurted, surprised by my own honesty.