“Mm-hmm,” she hummed. “Do you want any eggs?”
I glanced over her shoulder at the viral sensation fail in front of her. “I’m good. This is pretty filling.”
She dished up a couple of plates for her and Shane with toast, sliced tomatoes, a couple of slices of crispy bacon, and the eggs. Shane dove in immediately. Apparently, he wasn’t concerned about soupy eggs at all. Adleigh poked at her plate with a fork while I mixed up my green powder in water.
I hated this shit. But the internet told me it was good for my muscles. So there we were.
“Are you going to be okay for Pilates?” I asked my mopey sister. “Are you sick?”
She looked up at me with watery eyes and shook her head. She was still in her pajamas with no makeup and her hair loose around her shoulders. How did she roll out of bed and still look so stunning?
We were both shorties and very petite, but that was where our similarities ended. Where I was all edgy and back-off vibes, my sister was basically Snow White.
She had long, luxurious, flowing hair compared to my short style. My hair was longer than it had been recently. I’d let it grow out into a straight-edged bob and dyed it back to its original shade of dark brown. She was softer, curvier, voluptuous, and I was all hard-earned muscles and rigid workout schedule. She was gentle, soft-spoken, and reserved. I was opinionated, sarcastic, and obnoxiously driven.
We got on each other’s nerves often, but we loved each other fiercely. Her morning melancholy bothered me. She wasn’t usually this... depressed.
“I’m good,” she said, still staring at her eggs.
“Okay...” I glanced at Shane, but he was still grinning. What was going on? “Well, will you be ready to go in a couple minutes?”
She finally looked up at me with her big sad eyes and attempted a smile. “Yeah, can’t wait.”
She was definitely lying, but I decided to wait until I had her alone to call her out on it. “Sure. Great. I’m just going to grab my shoes and my water bottle, then we can go, yeah?”
“Yep.”
“I’ll deal with the eggs, Ad. Let’s try this recipe another day, okay?” Shane suggested. He was so good to her.
Seemed like he was picking up on her weird vibe too.
I took an extra minute to scroll through our texts and make sure I hadn’t accidentally pissed her off somehow. I didn’t find anything out of the norm, though. I wasn’t worried about her keeping something from me. We told each other everything. But it didn’t make sense how happy Shane was and how upset my sister was.
Instinct niggled in my gut, but I stomped it down. I didn’t want to think about what this could mean. I didn’t want to have to face my feelings about it.
When I left my room for the second time, Shane and Adleigh were whisper-arguing. They jumped apart when I cleared my throat, but things looked tense.
“Um, are you sure you want to go, Ad? I’m cool on my own. I’m planning on heading to Jen’s afterward anyway.”
“I’m good,” she insisted. “I want to go.”
She leaned on her tiptoes, and Shane met her halfway so they could kiss goodbye, then we headed into the hallway. We were quiet as we rode the elevator to the ground floor then stepped out into the June sunshine.
Our trendy apartment was nestled into the same cool area of Durham where Craft was located. It was all young people and nightlife over there. Almost everything we needed or wanted was in walking distance from our place, including a hip, organic grocer, a beautiful park with big trees, and a cozy amphitheater that held summer concerts by local bands or Friday night old-timey movies—like the one Adleigh and Shane had been to last night. Our Pilates studio was only five minutes away. And my Muay Thai gym was five minutes past that in an industrial building with a huge garage door they usually kept open all summer long.
Those were the reasons I stayed in Durham. Well, the non-people reasons.
On the street, I nudged Adleigh with my elbow and demanded to know what was going on. “Okay, spill it.”
“Spill what?” she asked with big, innocent eyes.
“Spill whatever’s killing you.”
“How do you know something’s killing me?”
“Are you serious, Ad?” I laughed. “You look miserable, for one. And for two, you’re literally the worst at keeping secrets. Something’s eating at you. And my guess is that it’s something you have to tell me but don’t want to.”
Her chin trembled as I hit my mark. “I just love Shane so much,” she said in a way that felt like I’d broken the dam to her thoughts wide open. “You know, I never thought things would get so serious, right? Like, I had no intentions of dating in college, let alone finding someone I actually love.” She was full-on sobbing now. It was a little awkward since the sidewalks were so busy.
