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This night had been a dream. Josh was so sweet to do this for me. I wouldn't have wanted to meet his entire family when we had been dating less than a week. I had caught my dad frowning at his tattoos a few times, but other than that I thought that my family was being super chill.
The night was winding down and we once again found ourselves sitting around the table. The table was now bare of dishes, and we could see each other better. My head was resting against Josh's shoulder and my legs were intertwined with his.
"So Lily," Jessie said. "How's work?"
"It's actually going really well, thanks for asking," I said. Work has been going well recently. "I think that I am finally getting some traction with some of the bigger brands. Hopefully I will be able to book some bigger jobs soon."
"Your last shoot was with a big brand," Cami added helpfully. I shot her a look to cut it out. Cami didn't care, she loved embarrassing me.
"What brand?" Josh asked. I could feel his chest vibrate as he spoke. His faint Mexican accent and the deepness in his voice was enough to make me swoon. I almost hadn't heard the question, I was so focused on his voice.
"It doesn't matter," I said with a wave of my hand. I felt Josh tugging on the ends of my hair absentmindedly and it made me smile a little.
"What were you modeling?" Cami asked in such an exaggerated way that all other conversations ceased and heads turned our way.
Fuck you Camille. You know what my last job was.
"It just got really quiet," I laughed awkwardly.
"What was your last job Lils?" Noah asked me, repeating Cami's question, only genuinely.
"Lingerie," I mumbled.
"I didn't quite catch that," Cami antagonized.
I lifted my head from Josh's shoulder. I looked the only person I could in the eyes, who also happened to be my betrayer, and told Cami in my full tone of voice, "Lingerie, Cami. The last job that I modeled was lingerie."
The silence that fell over the table was deafening.
"Lingerie," two voices repeated. Their reactions were completely different however.
My boyfriend sounded very interested. Under different circumstances, I would have teased him about it, maybe even modeled some for him, but the other voice rid me of any fantasy like that.
My brother sounded appalled. Noah looked like he had just seen a ghost.
"Yes," I said much less confidently than I had only seconds ago.
"Good for you Lili," Jessie said. "Modeling lingerie is hard."
"Thank you Jessie," I said. I was thankful for more than the complement.
My moment of diversion didn't last long when Noah unfroze. "You modeled lingerie?!"
"Yeah," I shrugged, "So what?"
"You're my little sister- you can't... I... You..." Noah groaned at his loss of words.
"I can't do what, Noah?" I asked. "Because I'm a woman?!"
"What?!" Noah said. "No! I didn't mean it like that, I love it when women wear lingerie." My dad sighed audibly and put his head in his hand wearily. "Ugh, I didn't mean it like that!" he said defensively. "You're just my little sister and I don't like it when-"
"So you get to dictate all of my actions?!" I asked incredulously. I wasn't actually mad, or incredulous, or outraged. I had leaned a long time ago that playing the feminist card made Noah easily flustered. Then his attention would be moved to mopping up the mess that he had created instead of whatever he was mad at me about.
"I never said that!" Noah complained. He slumped back on his chair, defeated. "If my teammates show me those photos when I get back," he muttered to himself.
"Oh Noah," Cami said fakely. "All of your teammates already want to fuck your sister."
He shoved Cami's shoulder as Josh pulled me closer to him protectively. "Are you going to hoard off an entire NFL football team for me?" I whispered to him.
"If that's what it takes to see those photos," he whispered back.
I scoffed at his boldness in front of my family, even though none of them had heard him. I blushed furiously. "You can't say that in front of my family," I hissed.
He just laughed and brought attention to us.
"So," Cami breaks the stillness. "How long are you guys in town for?"
"I have a game this Sunday then I go back to Dallas," Noah tells her. She nods and then everyone turns their eyes to Alex.
"We are heading back on Sunday too," He wraps an arm around Jessie's shoulders.
"Me too," my dad agreed. That meant that I only had two days left with them. That was a little sad, but walking around with Jessie McRoy, Alex Dawson, and Noah Dawson drew paparazzi at every turn. The articles ranged from Fun Family Outing to Noah Dawson's Mystery Girl Rumored to have an STD. Reading an article where you get called your brother's girlfriend and you're told you have an STD is almost laughable. Cami still finds it laughable.
I glanced at Josh's watch. The time read 12:03 am. It was getting late, and I am not known for my ability to stay up late. Then I remembered, "Don't you three have a match tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Cooper agreed as he stretched his arms into the air. "It's an afternoon match against Harvard."
"Shouldn't you guys be getting some sleep?" I asked.
"Nah, it doesn't matter," Cooper waved his hand. "Harvard sucks ass."
A couple of scoffs ran around the table.
"Looks like Danny disagrees," my father noted. I glance beside Cooper to Danny who has fallen asleep. He looks exhausted, between going premed, being on the hockey team, and having a daughter, Danny really is superman.
"We should probably be heading home," Josh relented. Everyone got up, with scraping chairs, and collecting bags. Cami gently woke Danny up and we all got up and walked out of the courtyard. After hugs, goodbyes and promises to see each other, Noah drove Cami and I home.
