Her Best Friend's Brother by T. Dell (read the beginning after the end novel .TXT) 📕

“And while it isn’t haute couture it also isn’t exactly priced to move.” Grimacing at the price tag Libby mentaly calculated how many batches of cookie dough she would need to slave over to cover the price of the dress. Not that working at her mom’s eat your heart out café and bakery was ever realy slaving. She loved baking and it sure beat the retail job Mel was stuck with. That reminded her that Mel’s lunch break was almost over and a decision must be made if she was going to take shameless advantage of her friend’s employee discount. “Maybe I should try the pink one again?” She reached for the cocktail length dress chosen from the clearance rack.

“Absolutely not. This is a grown up event, and that is a little girl’s party dress!” Mel took a deep breath and started again in what she obviously thought was a casual tone. “Tony is flying in tonight, did I mention that? He decided he could use a break after his finals after al. And he didn’t realy want to miss Olivia’s wedding anyway.” Libby’s stomach turned over. “I thought he got a job for the winter break.”

“He did. Some newspaper— something gazette or herald or … whatever. He doesn’t start until Monday and mom and dad paid for his plane tickets so he’l be here tonight, go to the wedding tomorrow, and fly back Sunday afternoon.”

Actualy it was The Examiner in Trenton. He had rented a cheap apartment in New Jersey for the next two months and his salary would only just cover the rent, but he was so excited about the job he didn’t care if he ended up losing money. That was why he hadn’t originaly planned on making it to his cousin’s wedding. He was worried he would run out of cash and was hesitant to buy the tickets home. Of course Libby couldn’t exactly correct Mel.

Because Melanie didn’t exactly know that Libby had been talking to her brother lately. Wel not talking realy, but they had been trading short emails, and there had been a few late night online chats.

It was mostly just sily stuff. It must be hard for him to be away from home and it wouldn’t be very macho of him to be talking to his baby sister al the time, so Libby figured this was just his way of staying plugged into Lindstown. It was such a smal town they didn’t even have their own Examiner. So it was hardly like he could get his home-sick-fix any other way.

Anyway, there realy wasn’t that much to say. A couple times a week she would get a thril when she checked her email and saw [email protected] pop up in her inbox. It was never more than 3 or 4 lines.

Usualy about something sily in his day or lately about how much more stressful exams were as a sophomore as opposed to last year. Sometimes he would ask her about her schoolwork, or about the bakery. Once, he had sent her text message with a picture of a guy using an electric razor on the subway and the caption ‘only in NY, gotta love it’. It was the only time he had ever texted her, and she shamelessly looked at that stupid photo approximately 12

times a day. It made her grin so uncontrolably that she was careful not to sneak any peaks when Mel was around.

Twice, when she’d been online later than was normal for her TMarchetti: had popped up in a chat window over her email account. Both times they chatted for over an hour.

Talking to him was so easy; especialy online because if she wasn’t fighting the urge to swoon every time he smiled the conversation didn’t have any awkward pauses.

Tony was in the middle of his sophomore year at Columbia in New York. Libby knew he had recently decided on a journalism major. It made sense to her; Tony had a way with words. He always told the most bone chiling scary stories when they were kids. “So wil he be going to the wedding … with us?” Libby felt her face heat up and began concentrating on the hem of the gown in question. It was too humiliating that she couldn’t even muster Mel’s level of false casual tone.

“He doesn’t have a date if that’s what you mean.” Mel’s grin split open behind her, but the mirror stil gave Libby three horrifying views of it. “It’s is about time he noticed you weren’t a little girl anymore, and that dress wil get the message across loud and clear.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Mel.” Libby blustered her denial even as she made the decision to buy the red gown.

A girl was only young once right? And she could put in some extra time at the bakery over Christmas break anyway.

“Please, you have been drooling over him for years.

Not that I know why – you have seen his bedroom right?

The whole room ought to be condemned!”

“I don’t make a habit of hanging out in your brother’s room.” Libby caled from inside the dressing room where she was hurrying into her own clothes. It wasn’t precisely true, but there were some things a girl couldn’t share even with her best friend—especialy if that girl was in love with her best friend’s brother. “The red dress. You’re right, it is perfect and with your discount I can afford it.”

“Good. I am pretty sure my lunch break was up like 4 minutes ago.” Mel held out her arms for the dress as Libby emerged from the dressing room, and the girls headed for a cash register. “I’m not exactly glad that things with Cory didn’t work out, but as far as dates go I could do worse than you.” Mel linked arms with her best friend. The only reason Libby even had to spring for the stupid-beautiful-look-how-grown-up-I-am dress in the first place was because Mel and her boyfriend, Cory, had split up after Mel had rsvp’d a