Platonic [H.S] (Book 1)

23 | Birmingham

Before I can even touch the handle of my car door, I see Nathan quite literally bouncing towards me with every step. Ivy follows behind him from their front porch, rolling her eyes in good nature of his behaviour. Nathan acts like such a big kid sometimes for a twenty-five-year-old man, and it seems as though Ivy keeps him in check a lot of the time, but they have always balanced each other out. Ultimately they are brother and sister, but they are also best friends and business partners. They know at what times to be which to each other without it being personal, which I find admirable.

"Olivia!" Nathan cheers and smiles widely, holding his arms out to engulf me in a bear hug after I shut the car door behind me.

"Nathan!" I laugh, locking my arms around the back of his neck as he holds me as tight as he possibly can as we sway on the spot together. 

He seems to have gotten a lot stronger since the last time I saw him, and he is crushing me in his arms.

"You're suffocating the poor kid," Ivy scolds him. 

She notices I am having difficulty breathing by the expression on my face, making him scoff and release me.

I ruffle his dark brown hair, and he reciprocates by pushing me with a gentle shove of my head. Ivy catches me in a hug as I stumble at the unexpected action, and we both laugh while hugging each other, making Nathan smile fondly at us. When his blue eyes widen as they land on something behind me and his jaw drops, I immediately know he has spotted my car, and I mentally brace myself for the conversation we are about to have.

"Holy shit!" Nathan's voice incredulously rises in pitch as we move to the side to allow him to approach the car in complete and utter shock. I have to pull my bottom lip between my teeth to fight my smile at Nathan's reaction. "Liv, how?!"

"Wait a second," Ivy says as she holds onto my forearm. "Is this the-"

"Range Rover?! How did you afford this?" Nathan interrupts Ivy from finishing her question as he turns to face me. "No offence," he adds with an apologetic smile before looking back at the car to survey it from all angles.

"No offence taken," I answer after I giggle. "I thought I told you?"

"You told me," Ivy laughs before turning to her brother, attracting his attention. "She didn't buy this car, Nate."