His / l.h ✔️

8

~Asteria's POV~

Xavier and Cormac arrived at Luke's beach house around four hours or so later, maybe ten minutes after I'd finished unpacking all of my things, Xavier's car engine rumbling in the driveway. Cece and I looked over at one another as we sat in the big living room together, watching TV. "They're here!" She squealed excitedly, shooting up off of the couch and running down the stairs before I could even stand up.

Appalled, I watched her run to the front door as I stood up from the couch, and then I heard it opening and closing. I headed down the steps and out the front door, letting it swing shut behind me. Sure enough, Xavier's dark blue mustang was parked in the driveway and Cormac and Cece were holding one another in a loving embrace. I began to walk down the driveway and heard the sound of footsteps following me down, which I knew could only belong to Luke, since he'd been the only other one that was left in the house with me. Xavier's eyes landed on me and he grinned, slamming the trunk of his car closed. "Ria!" He exclaimed excitedly, his brown eyes peering over at me as I neared him. "Hello to you, too." I laughed, throwing my arms around him in a hug. Xavier and I had been friends for four years, the same with Xavier and Cece's friendship. He'd started out as just Cormac's friend, and then he became our friend as well.

Cormac and Xavier both had dark hair, but they both looked much different. Cormac had blue eyes while Xavier had dark brown eyes, and Xavier had fuller lips than Cormac. Xavier had dark skin and a small afro, while Cormac had pale skin with black curls on his head. Although Xavier was just about a year older than us all, he had kind of a baby face and was about five-foot-nine, standing at the same height as Cece. On the other hand, Cormac was maybe six-foot-one.

"I missed you." Xavier cooed, playfully patting me on my butt. I laughed, patting his right back. "Missed you too." I smiled, pulling away from him. Had it not been for the fact that I knew Xavier was very gay, I wouldn't have been comfortable with him touching me like that. However, I'd learned he was definitely not even remotely attracted to girls over the years, so I had no problem with it. It was easier to be comfortable with your guy friends doing that type of thing when you knew they weren't doing it because they were attracted to you. That was just how Xavier was. "It's good to be out of the car with that moron." Xave confessed with a roll of his eyes, gesturing in the direction of Cormac. I couldn't help but to giggle as I pulled away. "Why's that?" I asked, having a feeling I already knew exactly why he didn't like riding with Cormac.

"Because he kept whining about how much he missed Cece and how he couldn't wait to see her and blah, blah, blah." He groaned, rolling his eyes as he picked up his suitcases off the ground. I couldn't stop myself from grinning, not at all surprised to hear that. We all knew that Cormac was crazy about Cece. "Oh, calm down. At least we know he's good for her. That's all I ask." I chuckled, helping him grab his bags since he'd brought four of them. He brought more shit than I did.

To be honest, I thought that it was sweet how much he loved her. A lot of times, I was envious of how much he loved her, of the type of love that they had together. I wished I'd had a guy who loved me the way that Cormac loved Cece, but I didn't. All I'd gotten was—

"Come on, Ria. I need to put these heavy ass bags up." Xavier complained, lugging his bags past me up the driveway. I snapped out of my thoughts and grabbed his bags better, nodding my head. "Okay, sorry." I grinned sheepishly, following after him up the driveway. As I turned around, Luke's gaze met mine and I gave him an awkward smile as I struggled to pull the bags past him. He didn't return the smile. Instead, he just looked over at Cece and Cormac, scowling when he saw Cormac feeling up his little sister. I kept walking, hearing the sound of Luke yelling at Cormac to keep his hands to himself.

A snicker left my lips as Xavier and I began to struggle to get the bags up the porch steps, Xave's dark eyes glancing over at me. "That's Cece's brother, then? Luke, right?" He asked, curiosity in his voice. I lugged his bags up the final step onto the porch and groaned with effort, nodding my head. "Yeah, that'd be the one." I confirmed, letting out a huff as I opened up the front door and let Xavier go in first. He entered and I followed, kicking the door shut behind me. "He's hot." Xavier said bluntly, following me up the stairs. I laughed and glanced at him over my shoulder, a grin on my face. "You gonna try to get with him? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm pretty sure he's strictly pussy bound." I said, causing him to laugh and shake his head. "Not after seeing my package." He joked, earning a laugh from me.