Vacuum cleaners.

Grayson interrupted my moment with Corey over vacuum cleaners. He saw one online and wanted to know if it was a good Christmas gift for Grandma. I could kill him.

Corey left before I answered the call, but promised we'd talk later. I didn't want him to go, but it was for the best. If my mom caught us, whatever we had going would've been over before it began.

Sleep wasn't an option that night. My mind bounced between this all over bubbly, giddy feeling every time I replayed the kiss in my head to Grayson finding out and never speaking to me again.

A playlist of my favorite songs helped me block out the Grayson stuff for the most part. I'd have to deal with the fact that I might've ruined my relationship with my brother for good, but I didn't want to think about it.

Grabbing my beat up journal from my desk drawer. I laid on my floor, turned my music up and flipped through the pages and pages of lyrics. Whenever I heard a line in a song that perfectly described the kind of love I wanted, I wrote it down. Along with a copious amount of heart doodles.

The last page I worked on was full of lyrics from Sabrina Carpenter's latest album. Nonsense got a whole page because the entire song captured what I wanted from a relationship.

I listened to it now, adding a couple more dozen heart doodles to the page and coloring them in with a green marker that matched the color of Corey's hoodie.

One kiss and he had me giggling and drawing hearts like a girl with her first crush.

● ● ●

I must've dozed off at some point because next thing I knew, I woke up on the floor to Mom telling at me to get dressed. Because of Uncle Jabari backing out at the last minute, Thanksgiving was being hosted at our house. Mom had enough pressure on her with the unveiling of her new boyfriend. A family dinner only added to it.

After showering and getting dressed, I was still half asleep, walking through the store. Mom complained about Aunt Nicola who wanted to make the mac and cheese, but everyone knew she can't cook.

Then she mentioned Gray. My heart jumped like he was going to appear in the spice aisle and call me out for kissing his best friend. Mom said he was stuck at school until Wednesday. All I heard was that Corey and I had three days before my brother arrived and ruined everything.

Three days for us to figure out what last night meant.

I reached for my phone, wanting to text Corey. I'd been doing that a lot since last night. Every time, I stopped myself. What did you message a guy you kissed less than twenty-four hours ago? Wasn't there some kind of rule about this to avoid looking clingy or something?

Why did kissing Corey cause way more stress than wondering if he liked me?

"Harlow?"

"Huh?" I said with a start.

"You're blocking the aisle." My mom shook her head at me when I moved to let a woman and her basket through. "Y'all with those phones."

"Jealous because when you were a kid, tablets were made out of stone?"

Her mouth fell open, a smile slipping through. "Excuse me?"

"I've seen The Flintstones. I know how you used to live."

She bumped my hip with the shopping cart, laughing. "Smart ass."

The two of us circled the entire store, grabbing everything on the list. Sweet potatoes for the pies, sodas and waters, cute little Autumn themed cupcake liners for the cornbread muffins.

I met mom at the back of the very long checkout line. Six checkouts and only two were open? Why? "This was all I could find." I said, dropping two bottles of barbecue sauce into the basket. It wasn't the brand she wanted, but it was better than nothing.

"It's fine. Jabari's just gonna have to deal with the off brand stuff," she said, slowly inching forward when the line moved. She glanced down at her phone, a tiny smile on her face. It had to be Hudson.

She was too busy texting to notice the line move. "Ugh, you kids and your phones. Too busy texting your boyfriend to pay attention."

Mom chuckled, moving forward. "Hush."

"Are you nervous about bringing him to dinner?"

She tapped her finger nails on the phone case as she thought. "Not really. I'm more nervous for him. You know how our family gets."

Unfiltered, I thought. Especially cousin Tisha. She had zero issues asking about someone's sex life. Even innocent fourteen-year-olds just trying to enjoy their birthday cake. I could imagine Hudson going a million different shades of red if she asked him anything. Or if Uncle Jabari joked about him being white.

But the way he so easily handle Grayson's dislike of him, I had faith. "He went up against Gray. I don't think he scares easily."

Her lips turned up at that. "True."

Talking about Gray only made me think about Corey. How long could I keep the kiss a secret? "Why didn't you tell anyone when you first started seeing Hudson?" I asked Mom.

"I wanted to wait and see if there was anything to tell," she answered. "Plus, my sisters are nosy as hell and wouldn't let me have a moment of peace until I told them everything single detail about him."

Her answers eased some of the guilt I felt about not telling Grayson about the kiss. There was no reason to get him upset over a single kiss. It could go nowhere.

After we checked out and loaded up the car with groceries, I got a text from Corey that confirmed that things were, in fact, go somewhere.

● ● ●

Mom left with Hudson thirty minutes ago to go to Hudson's sister-in-law's Friendsgiving party.

As soon as she left, I ran to my room to change out of the clothes I threw on earlier. Corey was on his way, and I didn't want to look like I'd just rolled out of bed. But when I looked down at my jeans, I realized how weird it was to be dressed up on a random Sunday. So, I changed again. And again. And again.

I was debating whether or not my SpongeBob sweats were too casual when he messaged me to open the garage.

When Mom asked what I planned on doing all day, I told her Corey was coming over to install some shelves. It felt like everything I said was a lie, since I hadn't told anyone about the kiss. I had to tell the truth about something.

Corey ducked under the garage door before it fully opened, carrying three wooden boards that were painted white. He wore olive green joggers and a matching hoodie. He looked so good in green.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning. We kissed. Last night. He parked the Cordell & Cordell Landscaping truck right in the spot where it happened.

The thud from him setting the wooden boards down forced me to pull my eyes away from the driveway. Neither of us had said anything. One of us should speak.

What if he didn't want to talk about? What if he thought it was a mistake? What if him coming over to put up the shelves was just his way of letting me down easy?

Here, have some shelves and let's never make out again.

"Harlow?"

I jumped, my arms flailing and knocking bottles of nail polish and acetone from my work desk.

Corey laughed, helping me clean up the mess. I narrowed my gaze. "What's so funny?"

"I never met anyone so clumsy."

For the first time since he walked in, we made direct eye contact. His face turned my brain to mush. The slope of his nose, his deep-set eyes, his lips. I kissed those lips last night.

Corey stood up abruptly, dumping bottles of nail polish on the desk. "I need to grab the brackets."

I watched him in disbelief as he went back to the truck. He was thinking about brackets while I was thinking about last night? Really?

Whatever. I'll played it cool, waited for him to bring it up. He returned with the brackets and a drill. When he did finally open his mouth, it was to explain how to hang shelves like I was a new trainee.

"Are we not going to talk about it?" I blurted, tired of waiting.

He set the drill down on the desk, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them and turning to me. "I don't want to talk about."

Oh...

"I want to repeat it."

Oh...

"Kissing you was the last thing I thought about before I went to sleep. My first thought when I woke up. And it's the only thing I've been thinking about since I walked in here."

A variation of that was definitely written somewhere in my lyric book. And Corey Michaels said them. He thought about the kiss as much as I did. Probably spent the night doing the male equivalent of doodling hearts. My face flushed at the thought.

"But before I can do anything about that, I have to get the shelves up. Or else it'll never get done."

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak after what he just implied.

He focused back on the drill and the long screws he had. His brow furrowed, eyes intense as he got to work. I wondered if he had to fight as hard as I did to keep my hands to myself.

"We need music." I pulled my phone from my pocket, opening Spotify. An Alessia Cara song started.

Corey glanced at me over his shoulder. "That is music?"

I rolled my eyes. "What's wrong with this song?"

Instead of answering, he started up the drill. I felt weird just standing there as he drilled holes into the wall, so I made myself useful by handing him screws.

● ● ●

When I handed Corey the last screw and he secured the final shelf, there was no obnoxiously loud drill to stop us from talking about or repeating last night.

We stood shoulder to shoulder, admiring his handiwork. We stared at those shelves well over what was acceptable. I didn't think neither of us were that fascinated with them.

"Corey--"

"I should sweep this up," he said, talking about the drywall dust that covered the floor.

Was he nervous? No way was he thinking about sweeping. I turned to him fully, arms crossed over my stomach. "Is that really what you want to be doing?"

He met my gaze, a hint of a smile on his lips. "No. Not really."

"But?" I asked, sensing one coming.

"But...there's a lot to consider if we do this."

Grayson. "You mean my brother?"

He nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I saw the look on your face when he called last night. You were terrified."

I hated that he saw that. "Yes, my brother calling zero-point-two-seconds after I kissed his best friend freaked me out," I admitted. "I thought maybe he had cameras set up or something."

An amused smirk formed on his face. "That's not the only reason. You've been happy now that you're talking to him again. I don't want to mess that up for you."

I glanced down at the space between us. He was right. "Why would he even care? I thought being his friend made you exempt from his dumb rule?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "Actually, I might've been the reason for the rule."

Slowly, I looked up at him as his words settled. Grayson started the no boy rule in ninth grade. It was weird because he never cared about anything I did until that point. But the part of me that missed my brother didn't mind. Gray was acknowledging my existence. Even if it was only to lecture me about boys and parties and drinking. He was talking to me.

"It was December of freshman year," Corey continued, confirming my suspicion. "I was going to send you one of those candy gram things."

"And what, Gray stopped you?"

"No, I sent one. Paid the two dollars and everything," he told me with a little laugh. "Gray was dating the girl who was passing them out. I guess she told him. Next thing I know, he's threatening to kick my ass if I ever tried to ask you out again. I guess he didn't want it to look like he was targeting me specifically, so he so he started threatening any guy who breathed in your direction."

So, Grayson kept me from dating all these years, just so I wouldn't end up with Corey? I dropped into the chair at my work desk, trying to wrap my head around that.

"I thought I was over my crush on you," he continued, leaning against the desk. "That's why when Gray told me to keep an eye on you while he was gone, I agreed. But when I saw you go into that treehouse with Travis..."

My eyes darted to him. "You didn't go up there because of Gray?"

He shook his head. "I didn't call him until after I got up there and realized what I was doing."

There was something satisfying about knowing Corey was jealous that night. I glared up at him. "You said you should've let me fall."

"I saved you and you were still being a brat," he retorted. "And you still haven't thanked me for it."

"I didn't get the chance with you pushing me off you."

"Having the girl I'd been crushing on for years laying on top of me made me forget my manners."

A snort slip from me. Soon, we were both cracking up. At ourselves, at everything.

"What changed?" I asked after we sobered up. "What made you come lurking up my driveway last night?"

"Nobody was lurking," he said with a smile. "But I don't know. The party, I guess. When I told Gray you almost fell out of the treehouse, he got mad at me. Telling me I should've made you leave the party as soon as I saw you there. It hit me that he couldn't control you or me while he was at school. I basically told him that and he went off. Told me if I tried anything with you, he was done with me. So, I hooked up with Shamika."

That conversation we had in his truck after he saved me from Maverick's party came back to me. I knew a friendship like there's couldn't have ended over a single girl. Hearing the full story it all made more sense.

I slit my eyes at him. "You used her to get back at my brother?"

"No! I mean...kind of, but she knew. Not the whole situation, but she knew whatever we did wasn't serious," he explained. "Shamika doesn't do relationships. That's why she and Gray never got together. He wanted a girlfriend. She wanted to have fun. Regardless, I felt like shit after and told her."

I remembered that night Corey came over looking for Gray, but he was out with Shamika. I thought my brother didn't invite him, but maybe it was Shamika who didn't want him there.

He stared down at the concrete floor. I felt bad for him. He tried to do right by his friend, but Gray could be a stubborn idiot sometimes. I almost wanted to call my brother and tell him about himself. Tell him that his best friend missed him and he should stop being a moron and make up with him.

But last night complicated things. I could only see three outcomes with my brother. Neither of them involved Gray being happy about Corey and me dating.

"That still doesn't explain why you were creeping outside," I joked, ignoring the decision I was going to have to make eventually. Grayson or Corey?

Corey snorted. "I wasn't creeping. And I was trying really hard to get over my feelings for you. Especially after what went down with Shamika. But you're not easy to get over."

A swarm of butterflies fluttered in my belly. How was he able to be so open with his feelings and not die of embarrassment?

"That's why I agreed to help you find a boyfriend," he said, glancing over at me. "I thought, if you were dating someone else, then I'd have to get over you. But all those dates failed. And when you invited me over the other day, I thought you were trying to tell me something."

I buried my face in my hands. "It wasn't a date, I swear." I heard him laugh.

"I left that day because I was trying to respect your brother's wishes and I didn't trust myself in a house alone with you." His fingers brushed mine as he pulled my hands away from my face. "Last night, I realized I don't want to deny my feelings for you anymore. That we didn't have to end as friends. That it could be more. Even if it means Grayson might murder me."

That brought me back to the night of the party when I told Maverick I wanted someone to stand up to my brother and fight for me. Corey was willing to do that. He was doing that.

He still held my hands in his. I interlocked our fingers, moving from the chair to stand in front of him. "If it comes down to that, I promise to visit the unmarked grave he'll bury you in at least once a week."

He laughed, eyes crinkled at the sides. I couldn't hold back any longer. I kissed him.

His lips were warm and soft, like fresh out the oven cookies. I melted into him. His fingers pressed into my waist as he pulled me closer, positioning me between his legs. My fingers raked through the curls at the nape of his neck. His teeth grazed my bottom lip, then his tongue, asking for permission. I was in no position to deny any of his requests. Every inch of me screamed for more.

I didn't know how long we'd been there--minutes, hours, days. We parted, just enough for me to rest my forehead against his. I couldn't look at him without giggling and neither could he.

"Are we really doing this?"

He kissed me again, quick and sweet. "Yes, we're doing this."