Forever and Always by E. L. Todd Page A

his weight on the couch.
“Would you like to go out to dinner?” Ryan asked us. He was looking
at Janice, but I knew he was addressing me as well.
    “ You must be hungry,” I
said to Janice. “The food in coach sucks.”
    “ Yes, I’m
starving.”
    We rose from the living room and
walked out the door then made it to the street. Cortland drove us
to Pike’s Market, and we went to the Italian restaurant that
Cortland and I had visited a few weeks earlier. Cortland sat
directly across from me and Janice sat across from Ryan.
    Cortland and I shared glances,
silently communicating with each other. Ryan kept starting at
Janice, but then he would look away when she noticed his stare.
They continued to sneak glances at each other. They were acting
like they were in high school. I knew Janice was very forward when
she had a love interest, but she was being shy. I wondered if it
was because she really liked Ryan, or if it was because he was my
brother.
    “ So, are you seeing
anybody?” I asked Janice.
    She smiled at me. “No.”
    I nodded. “Cortland has a
girlfriend—she’s Brazilian.” That was my way of saying Cortland was
off limits, leaving Ryan for the taking.
    She laughed. “That’s
interesting.”
    “ Ryan owns a tattoo shop,”
I said. I knew I was doing most of the talking for my brother
because he was being particularly quiet, not his normal self at
all. I assumed that meant he really liked Janice, even though
they’d just met.
    “ But it doesn’t look like
you have any tattoos,” she said as she looked at Ryan’s
arms.
    Ryan smiled. “Well—I—yeah just don’t
really—want one,” he mumbled incoherently. “Yeah.”
    Cortland covered his face while he
laughed and I tried to swallow my giggles. My brother was making an
idiot out of himself. He wasn’t the charming stud that he usually
was with girls.
    “ That’s cool,” she said
apprehensively.
    I tried to break the awkward moment.
“When I came to Seattle, my brother took care of me. He let me live
with him rent free and even gave me an allowance. He’s very
sweet.”
    “ That was so nice of you.”
Janice smiled at him. “I wish I had a brother like
that.”
    Ryan cleared his throat and didn’t
look at her. “Thanks,” he said. He looked down at his menu and
ignored her stare.
    I covered my face with my hands,
embarrassed for my brother. “He normally isn’t like this,” I
whispered to her. “He’s just nervous around you for some
reason.”
    “ I think it’s cute,” she
said loudly.
    Ryan’s cheeks turned red and he
continued to look down, avoiding her look.
    “ Anyway,” I said, more
embarrassed by my brother with every passing second. “So how are
things with you? Other than the nightmare at work?”
    Janice laughed. “It’s okay,” she said.
“I’ve missed you a lot, Scarlet. The truth is I’ve been pretty
miserable without you.”
    “ I missed you, too.” I
smiled.
    “ Promise me you won’t
ignore me like that again,” she said. “Even if I really piss you
off.”
    “ Okay.” I laughed. “I’ll
yell at you next time.”
    “ What did you do?”
Cortland asked.
    I spoke before Janice could answer.
“She borrowed one of my outfits and never returned it.” Since Ryan
was interested in Janice, I didn’t want him to know she’d slept
with Sean. It wasn’t a fair first impression.
    Cortland raised his eyebrow for a
moment, confused that I would cut out a friend over something so
petty, but then he nodded and didn’t comment.
    After we finished our dinner, Cortland
tried to pay for the whole check, but Ryan convinced him to split
it with him. Normally, I would just pay for our meal, but since
Janice was there, I let Ryan do the check dance.
    When we got back to the apartment,
Ryan went into his room then came out a few moments later. “I
changed the sheets and got the bed ready,” he said. “You are
welcome to sleep in my room.”
    Janice smiled. “I don’t mind sleeping
on the couch.”
    “ I