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The Girl Before Eve by Lisa J Hobman (2)

Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)

Before Eve

Adam and Lily had always been there for each other. It was just how things were and everybody knew it. Primary school was fine. Everyone thought it was sweet that they were best friends. It didn’t matter to anyone. They never suffered teasing because it was just the norm.

As they grew up, Adam was always the one to oversee the potential boyfriends Lily had chosen. If he didn’t think they were good enough, he would tell her straight. More often than not she agreed and the boy was rapidly kicked to the curb. Likewise, Lily had very strong opinions when it came to potentially sacrificing time with her best friend to another girl. She didn’t beat about the bush making her feelings known.

High school had been a nightmare for Lily. She developed quickly and got a lot of attention—very positive attention from boys, but jealousy, spitefulness, and negativity from the girls. She earned a reputation not at all befitting her, learning quickly that teenage girls can be extremely cruel. She made no female friends, and so her reliance on Adam was further compounded. He tried on so many occasions to stop the wretched rumour mill from turning. But his efforts were futile. Regardless of what he said, people would believe what they wanted to believe. She appreciated his efforts and told him so frequently.

Her Spanish heritage, womanly curves, bright blue eyes, and dark unruly curls gave her a combination of being both exotic and a little wild, rather like the character Cathy from Wuthering Heights. She already had the personality, and all the boys wanted to take her out. Looking back on it, she knew Adam had done his best to wheedle out the wheat from the chaff, but there came a point where he had to grow up and realise there were only so many times he could butt in. Playing the big brother was hard work.

Adam was there for Lily through every bad boyfriend, through every heartache. He came running when she needed a shoulder to cry on. He was such a good friend. Aside from her parents, he was the one constant in her life.

During the summer of the year they both turned eighteen, however, there was one heartbreak he couldn’t help her through. Why could he offer no solace?

Because he could never know about it.

The summer break prior to starting university had been a fateful one for Lily. One that in some ways broke her, but in many more ways one she couldn’t possibly regret. It was the year she realised she was in love.

With Adam.

She didn’t mean to fall for him. It was a complete accident. But fall for him she did.

And hard.

She didn’t want to be in love with him at all, but as she discovered the hard way, you simply cannot help who you fall for nor can you help when it happens. She knew Adam simply didn’t see her that way. He never would. He had always been her big brother, her protector, and her guardian angel.

He was tall and had dark floppy hair back then. His chocolate brown eyes sparkled when he spoke and his full lips were so kissable. He had saved up and bought a set of weights, which he used religiously. She used to laugh at him and call him vain, at first. But other girls started to notice.

Looking back, she couldn’t quite put her finger on when she actually fell for him, but she could remember the day she realised that it had happened. It was the day they had played tennis at the local outdoor courts. He had overheated and removed his T-shirt…

♥♥♥

High school summer break - Jedburgh

“Forty thirty!” Adam huffed as he pulled his black Pearl Jam T-shirt over his head and tucked it into his belt. In doing so, he exposed a broad chest and shapely biceps. His abdomen was sculpted and almost every muscle was visible under his tight, sun-kissed skin. He bent to rest his hands on his knees.

Lily may have been losing, but she was putting up a good fight. She was thankful that she’d put her shorts and a tank top on, as the summer heat was almost unbearable. Sweat ran down her spine, and she pulled up her hair into a scruffy knot on top of her head, securing it with a band she carried around her wrist.

Lily panted. “Well, that last ball was out as far as I’m concerned.”

“It was not!” Adam’s voice rose an octave. “You’re just a sore loser.”

“Ha! Says the man who emptied a bag of cheese puffs over my head when I beat him at gin-rummy!”

Adam straightened and pointed his racket at her. “That was an accident and you know it.”

Lily huffed. “Accident-schmaccident. You don’t accidentally do something like empty a whole bag of snacks on someone’s head! If it’s an accident you stop when you realise! I wouldn’t mind but I’d only just washed my hair and the crumbs made it all greasy.” She pretended to sulk.

Adam bent double again but this time it was through laughing. “Yeah…you smelled pretty bad too. You came close to getting a new nickname from that incident. Well…I say pretty close…Cheesy.”

That was it. She decided to seek revenge and there was no time like the present. Dropping her racket, she set off running towards him at full pelt, and before he could protest or get out of the way, she launched herself onto his back.

She clung onto his body with her thighs. “Time to pay, Adders.”

“What are you doing?” he gasped in between loud guffaws. Spinning around, he tried to release himself from her grasp. His laughter caused him the weakness she needed to finish him off and so the struggle ensued. “God, you have the thighs of bloody She-Ra!”

She squeezed him tighter. “And don’t you forget it. Maybe you’ll think twice about pouring snacks on my head in future, eh?”

He coughed. “Gerroff me, you loony!” Still laughing he struggled to keep his footing, but she was relentless in her attack, and he stumbled toward the grass at the edge of the court. He slumped to his knees and then onto his stomach. Lily fell flat on top of his back still holding on.

It was then she began the tickling. “Do you surrender?” she asked as her fingers dug into his apparently sensitive ribs.

He squealed in a high-pitched, girly voice. “Never!” And so she continued her revenge assault and he continued to yell. “Get off, Lily! Pleeeease! I’ll pee in my boxers!”

Out of breath, she finally stopped, and he rolled onto his back. His chest heaved as she laid half on and half off him, her hands flat on his toned, bare, glistening chest. She locked her eyes on his and suddenly felt trapped in his melted chocolate gaze.

Her smile disappeared. His smile faded too as he stared up at her and his hold on her upper arm tightened slightly. His heart pounded underneath her fingertips. His cologne, mixed with the manly scent from his damp body, infused her nostrils and her heart rate accelerated. God, he was stunning. She inhaled sharply at the realisation, and heat rose in her cheeks. He frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but she broke the spell.

Clambering to her feet and turning away from him, she spoke as breezily as she could. “Come on. We need to get going. I think we can safely say that you won.” She turned to where Adam still laid on his back, propped up on his elbows, brow furrowed and looking confused. “Adders! Come on!” She feigned frustration and made her way out of the tennis court.

Back at home, after they had parted at the end of her street—neither willing to discuss the moment they had shared—Lily went straight to her room and sat on her bed. With her head in her hands, she recalled his toned body and his smell. Oh shit. Not Adam. Please not Adam. She sent up a silent prayer to God, willing her feelings to revert to the norm she was used to.

She had never really had a first love—until now—she’d had several boyfriends but none of the heartbreaks had been that serious. She always made them out to be worse than they were simply because she liked the attention she got when Adam thought she had been wronged in some way. Now the pieces had clicked into place. Now she understood why his attention had always meant so much. He was the reason. He was the one she was in love with. Please let it be a phase. Please. Just a phase…please?

Neither broached the subject after that. Things went back to normal, whatever normal was. It turned out that God had more pressing issues to deal with, and so to Lily, normal became loving Adam from afar. Adam’s normal was playing tennis and dating girls, lots of girls.

How different one person’s normal can be from another’s.