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

Libby almost thought Tony might have been the nervous one, but that was probably just her over active imagination Shaking off the weird moment Tony produced a very battered monopoly box from under his arm. “I thought we could play. Maybe it’s time we had our own slumber party rituals.” The last part was said with a teasing grin and despite the fact that her heart was desperately trying to pound its way out of her chest an easiness settled back over them. Tony sat cross legged at the foot of the bed and set up the board between them.

They played for hours, and talked the whole time.

It was the first time Libby could remember having any lengthy conversation with Tony that didn’t also include another member of the Marchetti clan. And they talked about a lot of stuff. First they debated the strategy behind great monopoly players: green properties vs. blue (green obviously), and utilities vs. railroads (railroads if you could get al four of them were the better deal by far). Eventualy the topics spun off and they were discussing life, and classes, and coleges. When Libby admitted she had tried out for cheerleading at the end of the school year Tony laughed.

“You would make a terrible cheerleader.”

“I wasn’t that bad.” Libby whispered practicaly too herself. She could jump and giggle as wel as anyone else. Besides she knew perfectly wel that Tony had dated else. Besides she knew perfectly wel that Tony had dated Elen Kirkpatrick for months his senior year, and she had been the cheeriest of cheerleaders.

“Don’t get al sulen on me, Libby.” Tony chuckled and shook his head at her. “Every year you come over for the super bowl, and every year you make me explain the rules of footbal, and every year you fal asleep before it’s over! And that’s the most exciting game of the year. No way you make it through a high school footbal game every Friday night for an entire season. No way.”

“You might be right about that.” Libby chewed on her lip as she counted out the price for Pacific Avenue. “I think I am going to try out for track and field. I like to run.” Tony stiled for a moment and raked his eyes over her the length of her body. “Yeah.” His voice was a little huskier than normal. “I could see that. You definitely have the legs for it.”

Just remembering the appraising way his eyes had settled on her legs where they were stretched out along the edge of his bed was enough that she could feel a blush rising to her cheeks.

Every now and then Tony would smile at her. Like when she told him that she remembered what a good story teler he had been as a kid, and that journalism sounded like a good idea. It was not the I love my life easy-going-Tony smile she was used to. It felt like a new only-for-Libby smile. When Libby could no longer hold back her yawns they checked the time; it was actualy early morning and Tony had long ago missed The Top Ten.

“Should we cal it a draw? Or see who has the most cash?” Tony smiled slyly and Libby knew exactly what he was up to.

“No way Marchetti! I have 3 monopolies! You might have more cash but a few more turns around the board and it wil al be mine! Nothing doing – we can finish tomorrow.”

“How do I know you won’t cheat during the night?” Tony played along with mock outrage. So they carefuly wrote down who owned what and their cash totals and they even went to the extreme of carrying the board to the garage and locking it inside. When the door was locked and the key solemnly slid underneath Mr. and Mrs.

Marchetti’s bedroom door (for safekeeping) the hilarity of it Marchetti’s bedroom door (for safekeeping) the hilarity of it al (compounded by the fact that it was now almost 2:00 in the morning) over took them and they exploded into giggles. Giggles! Anthony Marchetti actualy giggled!

Libby grinned at the memory.

When they caught their breath Tony walked her back to her room, his room realy, and for one excruciatingly long moment things got weird again. Exciting weird. At the door to his room she turned to say goodnight, and found him only inches away from her. With one arm braced against the door frame over her shoulder he leaned in and was so close she could almost taste his breath. It occurred to her that if she arched into him even a little bit she would feel his hard chest against her body. And after eight summers of beach vacations with him she had a true appreciation of his upper body.

“This was fun. You know, Libby, I think this is the first time we have ever played together. We should do it again.” His voice went al husky and low. Was he flirting with her? No, he couldn’t be— but stil this was new.

“We can finish the game tomorrow, and we play scrabble al the time at the beach.” Scrabble was a Marchetti family vacation staple. Tony looked almost confused for a moment, and then his smile returned. Not the only-for-Libby smile, but the old friendly smile.

“‘Night Lib.” Tony straightened up, reached out to open the door behind her, and turned and walked down the hal. For one fantasy moment she had thought Tony had actualy been about to kiss her. Even though she was exhausted it took her a very long time to drift off to sleep that night, and she nearly slept through Mrs. Marchetti’s huevos rancheros the next morning.

The next night instead of sitting on the bed Tony wheeled in his father’s office chair. It made the smal room even smaler, and Libby felt a certain loss at sitting on the bed alone. “I must be getting too old to sit up al night with no back support.” Tony joked as he settled