Faster We Burn

returned.
    “This is Adam, and um, we’re getting married.” She held up her left hand to show a simple gold band and beamed at the terrified-but-trying-to-hide-it Adam.
    There was a half-second of stunned silence and then house exploded with noise as everyone started talking and yelling at once.
     
    Katie
     
    I couldn’t believe her. She’d mentioned a guy in a few of her emails, but never his name and never that she was serious about him.
    I was torn between being so happy to see her and super pissed that she didn’t tell me, but that was just like her. She’d been all set to get her Master’s degree, but then she decided that helping people in third world countries was more important. She didn’t tell us she’d dropped out of school until the night before she was set to get on a plane.
    “What the hell, Kayla?” I said when Mom finally stopped freaking out. I felt bad for Stryker. He sat in the living room by himself and I could tell he was regretting that he’d come. Poor guy.
    “I’m sorry, it just happened so fast.” She glanced over at Adam, who was getting grilled by Dad, and then her eyes found Stryker. Everyone else was talking to Adam all at once, including Grampa Jack, who’d levered himself off the couch to come and inspect his soon-to-be grandson-in-law.
    “Who’s that guy?” she said, loud enough for him to hear. He pretended to be very interested in the couch.
    “Ah, that’s Stryker. He’s a friend,” I whispered.
    She crossed her arms and gave me a look.
    “Now who’s keeping a secret guy?”
    “It’s not like that, Kayla. It’s more of a…friend’s with benefits thing,” I said even lower so only Kayla could hear, my face turning red despite my best efforts.
    Kayla gave me a knowing smile. “Of course it is. Come on,” she said, linking her arm with mine. “I wanna meet this guy.” There was no way I was going to win that battle so I let her drag me to the living room. I tried to give Stryker a look to warn him, but he was still staring at the couch. He got up when he saw us coming for him, his hands making sure his shirt was tucked in the right way. He really looked damn good all cleaned up like that.
    “Well, well, well, look at you,” she said, giving him the once over as he stood still, awaiting her inspection. I had to give him credit; he didn’t even flinch. They stared at each other in complete silence and I could sense they were having a conversation without saying a word. Stryker’s jaw tensed and Kayla’s eyes narrowed before she slowly smiled at him.
    It was one of the weirdest non-conversations I’d ever seen, and I’d watched Lottie and Will do their twindar thing any number of times.
    “Stryker, this is my sister Kayla, Kayla, this is Stryker,” I said, to try to break up some of the tension. They shook hands and Kayla’s gaze went back and forth between us a few times.
    “So, what are your intentions with my sister?” Stryker thought about it for a moment, leaned in and winked at me.
    “I’m just using her for sex,” he whispered. Kayla’s eyes went wide and then she started laughing. Stryker relaxed a fraction. He’d taken a risk, saying something like that. It sounded more like the Stryker I was used to. 
    “I like him. He’s not a douchebag. That’s a first.” Stryker nodded at Kayla and his lips twitched as if he was trying not to smile.
    Seriously? “He just said he’s using me for sex and you think he’s not a douchebag?”
    She shrugged. “How do you think Adam and I got together? Nice to meet you, Stryker” she said, patting him on the shoulder and going to rescue Adam from my dad.
    I stared after her, shaking my head. “I don’t understand what just happened,” I said.
    “Go with it. We should probably check the brie,” Stryker said, stepping around me to go to the oven.
    “Right, brie.”
     
    ***
     
    Kayla definitely took the heat off Stryker, which was a good thing. Mom was too busy gushing over Kayla’s announcement to worry anymore about Stryker’s appearance. She was shocked for as much time as it took Kayla to tell her that Adam was in medical school and was on his way to being a doctor with a huge salary and then she was ready to throw them a wedding in our living room right then and there. Dad just laughed and shook his head and told her not to get carried away.
    Adam was quiet initially, but Kayla got him talking about their time in Africa and how they met and all the adventures they’d had