I Faked Sleep for My Stepbrother's Friends, but Nobody Was Fooled novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Gabe

I slept in my own bed on Sunday morning, alone, with the door unlocked.

Nobody had told me to stop.

I had not told anyone to start.

I woke at nine to the smell of pancakes and the sound of somebody swearing softly in the kitchen.

I came down in an old T-shirt.

Gabe stood at the stove in boxers and an apron that said KISS THE COOK.

He was flipping a pancake that had folded in half.

He saw me and went pink to the ears.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi."

"I'm making breakfast. I'm not good at it."

"Dean is in the shower and Finley went for a run and Drake is..." He waved the spatula. "Somewhere."

"Is that why you're up?"

"I'm up because I wanted to be the one." He set the spatula down. "If that's okay."

I sat on a stool at the island.

"Make me a pancake."

He made me three, and they were terrible, and I ate every one of them.

When I was done he took my plate and washed it, with his back to me.

"Callie," he said.

"Mm."

"I need to say something, and I'm going to say it fast so I can't stop."

"Okay."

"I've liked you since the first Thanksgiving." The words tumbled out.

"Drake brought me home with him. You were in the kitchen with flour on your face, arguing with your mom about the stuffing."

"You looked up and asked if I was the one allergic to shellfish. I said yes, and you made me a separate gravy."

"I remember the gravy."

"It was the nicest thing anyone had done for me in a year." He turned around. "I never said anything. You were Drake's sister, and then you were gone."

"And he never looked at anybody but you. I figured that was the way it was."

"Gabe."

"I'm not saying it to get anything. I just want you to know it's not only a game with me. Whatever happens."

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