I gave her another forced smile, my throat tight when her arms wrapped me in a hug. She just kept handing them out without hesitation. Maybe they costhernothing. For me, the price of trusting, of letting people in…. I couldn’t even fathom how I’d begin to afford that.
As I stepped into the humid evening air, wind thrashing my hair around, doubt settled heavy in my chest. Vinny had to help me. He was family. He had to.
I climbedthe cracked aged stone steps to Vinny’s two-flat building, the early evening drizzle sticking my hair to my cheeks and neck. With each step, my anxiety grew, knowing I’d have to admit the depth of my failure to my cousin.
His Jeep sat parked out front in the driveway. It was flashy in bright blue with a sunroof, which was likely a more expensive add-on than my monthly rent. Just as I was about to ring, Miranda, his first-floor tenant, came out with a large stroller and her baby. After helping her, I climbed the stairs to his apartment on the second floor, unclenching and clenching my fists before knocking on the door.
“Yo, pizza’s here!” Vinny shouted from inside. A second later, he appeared at the door in a tank top and basketball shorts. His light-brown waves were greasy and mussed, and his eyes hardened when he registered it was me standing there.
“Nina? What are you doing here?”
My lips curled into something closer to a grimace than a smile. “Hey. I, uh, I need to talk to you.”
He frowned. “Now’s not a great time. I’m leaving for a trip tomorrow, and I have?—”
“Just five minutes.” I pushed past him into the living room. My pulse thundered in my ears. The blinds were drawn halfway, letting in slats of yellow-gray light over well-kept furniture and stacked, unopened mail.
Lounging on the oversized sectional by the huge windows, beer in hand, was the last person I wanted around for this. Lincoln. In his blue-eyed, blond-haired, dimpled-smile awesomeness. The tones of the dusk sky formed a halo around him.Really, life? A halo?
With a leg stretched over the ottoman, he was scrolling through his phone, wearing casual gray jeans and an open flannel shirt. His eyes flicked up lazily, locking onto me, and he tipped his bottle to me, malicious amusement curling at the corners of his mouth.
Great. Just fucking great.
“Look what desperation dragged in. Is she still cleaning your room, Vinny?” Lincoln drawled, taking a sip.
Vinny laughed weakly. “Shut up, man.”
“Ah,” Lincoln said, drawing out the syllable until he gave it an edge. His gaze raked over me, lingering on my drenched sneakers, then he tipped his head to the cupcake logo on my shirt. “So, Reyes, did you bring us any cupcakes?”
My throat closed around my words, but I forced them out anyway. “I came to talk to my cousin, not you.” I faced Vinny. “Can we talk for a minute, please?”
Vinny tensed, the muscles in his forearms showing, before he glanced at Lincoln and then me. “You can just say whatever now; if you’d called, I’d have told you it wasn’t a good time.”
Typical Vinny. Dickhead level always rose around Lincoln.
I exhaled, readying to bid farewell to my dignity. “I need a favor, Vin. I need to move to a cheaper studio, but… I can’t provide two months rent up front, so I need a cosigner. Just until I build back up. Please.”
Vinny tapped on the doorframe, a restless rhythm that filled the silence. Nothing good would come out of this pause. Vinny’s eyes darted from Lincoln to me. “I don’t know, Nins. That’s… risky.”
“It wouldn’t cost you anything,” I rushed out, voice trembling. “Just your signature.”
Then the quietness continued, adding weight. Shame wrapped around the words as I drowned in need and humiliation.
Lincoln chuckled softly, and the sound scraped down my spine as if made of broken glass. “Listen to yourself.Begging.Kind of pathetic.”
I ignored him, turning back to Vinny, desperation clawing up my chest. “Please. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t urgent. You know Ineedto cover expenses other than rent.”
I stepped into my cousin’s eyeline, forcing him to meet my eyes. His pupils dilated, and the pulse on his neck kicked up. His gaze swirled with apprehension and understanding. He knewI needed insurance. And for a second, I almost breathed out relief. His steely eyes met my brown ones with… care. He’d help me.
Lincoln snickered.
And Vinny’s gaze fell from mine as he scratched the nape of his neck, shrinking into the awkward space between obligation and self-preservation. Any hope I had inside me, burned and crashed all the same. “Nins, you know what they say, don’t mix money and friendships.”
I huffed, eyes going wide, fingers twitching. I glimpsed Lincoln covering a laugh with his fist.The nerve.I’d helpedVinny with homework and girls and watched his parents take my hard-earned money to give to him to go havefun.
“Vinny, I’m not a friend,” I said, seething. “I’m family. Wasn’t that your parents’ point when I moved in with you guys? We’re family?”
Lincoln rolled his eyes, mocking me. “Come on, Vinny, she’sfamily.”
