Melting Hearts (Loving the Soun - Kat Obie Page 0,1

we won't make her mad; she has the night off."

"Perfect. Since you’ve had a rough night, you get to pick the movies."

Petey was so glad she was smiling again and looked so much happier than even a few minutes before. They headed to her car and started to order all the Chinese food the both of them could ever want.

Maddy

Going to pick up Petey was impulsive, but she needed a friend. Breaking up with Jared was never going to be easy, but she needed to do it.

Of course, Jared accused her of cheating on him and wanting him to be Petey. Petey was her best friend and confidant. Him coming home for the off-season and being single wasn't the reason why she wanted to break up with Jared. She'd needed to do it for weeks now and had just been putting it off. But when he’d grabbed her this evening, it was the last straw.

It wasn't hard to text Lucas and see if he minded her tagging along to pick up Petey at the airport, and he was all for her coming. Hell, he even told her to make sure Petey got home okay. Lucas was either trying to give them some alone time or wanted to hook up with a girl. With Lucas, it was hard to tell.

She was so damn grateful for Petey's suggested plan for the evening. It was the perfect way to forget about an ex-boyfriend.

They ordered so much food. There were dumplings of all types, egg rolls, General Tso's chicken, beef & vegetables, and a few other dishes that were delicious—she couldn't remember what they were called. It was all spread out in front of them on the coffee table, with chopsticks in a few of the boxes.

Best of all, she got to cuddle up next to Petey. His body was so large and comforting. There was nothing that could go wrong while he was around.

The two of them were snuggled up watching The Notebook when Lucas came to the doorway. "Don't you two look comfortable."

The thing was, she felt comfortable being wrapped up in Petey's arms and munching on dumplings. She could forget all the accusations from earlier in the evening and just move on. It was good to hang out with her best friend again. To outside eyes, it probably looked super romantic, but Petey was just being an awesome friend.

Petey looked up and said, "Thanks for leaving me in good hands, bro. Although, you could have warned me that you weren't going to show up at the airport."

Lucas grabbed one of the food containers as he flopped onto a cinema chair that was off to the side of their joint seat. "I knew you would rather spend time with her." He looked up at the screen. "Really, The Notebook? Couldn't it at least be Miracle or Goon?"

She didn't expect Lucas to like her choice in movies, although she was impressed that he knew what movie it was. "Shh. It's my favorite. Although, we were talking about watching Slapshot next."

"So, all night movie fest on Aaron's first night back?"

It was strange to hear Lucas call Petey by his actual name. He'd been going by Petey for so long that his own brother should be calling him Petey by now.

Petey said, "Yup."

Lucas took a break from shoveling lo mien into his mouth with the chopsticks. "If I didn't know better, I would think you two are a couple."

Petey shot his brother a look. "Let's not talk couples tonight. Maddy and Jared broke up."

Lucas nearly choked on his noodles. He hopped off the chair and said, "Oh shit. I'm going to leave you two, then." But he looked at the table and grabbed another pint of food as he stalked out of the room.

She looked up at Petey and asked, "What was that about?"

"No clue. But it's Lucas."

Petey was right. His brother could be as flighty as Petey was steadfast and responsible. But it was nice to be able to watch movies with Petey alone. All the stress from the early evening was completely gone.

2

Petey

As he packed things up from the summer to head back to Lager's house in Cleveland, one of the butlers came up and said, "Master Aaron, Miss Williams is downstairs in the parlor for you."

He nodded in acknowledgement as he set down clothing in his bag. "I'll finish this later, Charles."

He hoped he would let him pack stuff up, but he knew there was a 50/50 chance the butler would do