NADINE
“She’sthe Chastity to his Joey Donner,” is what Paisley had signed to me on the way out. A very niche joke about her brother and his girlfriend, comparing them to the self-obsessed jock and the self-centered girl who ends up with him in10 Things I Hate About You.
Spot-on.
Valerie did exude that mean-girl kind of vibe, and Camden was certainly a Joey Donner. Made me want to draw a penis on his cheek.
But then I walked into his apartment the next day to find a brand-new teakettle on his stove along with a giant box of different teas, all of them in cute, colorful tins.
I’d been so gobsmacked by the gift that I stayed silent when he walked into the room in only a pair of mesh shorts, his mile-long torso and arms on display. He grinned, each of his straight pearly whites glinting like a toothpaste commercial, at my slack-jawed surprise.
“Yeah, I know.” He gestured to himself, as if my being in his half-naked presence was the reason for my sudden speechlessness. When, really, it was his thoughtfulness.
But I wasn’t about to tell him that and changed the subject. “How was your sleepover?”
He tugged his Under Armor compression shirt on. “You interested in my sex life, River?”
I paused, my hand hovering over the teas, wondering if he’d suddenly lost a few brain cells since yesterday. “Rivera,” I corrected, though it came out more like a question. Then I explained, “I’m only interested in so far as I need to know what to tell Paisley when she will inevitably bring it up to me.”
He waved away my reasoning. “She’s not going to bring anything up. Valerie came over to eat dinner and then left.”
I tried very hard to keep my features blank. Because I didn’t care about that tidbit of information. Especially when he said, “I wasn’t comfortable having her sleep over with Paisley here.”
I wasn’t glad because I was jealous of Valerie.
I was glad because Camden was being a responsible adult with a young, impressionable girl in his house.
And maybe he wasn’t a total Joey Donner. Only, like, 92%.
Because the following day, I arrived at Camden Long’s usually spotless lair to find the kitchen littered with reusable shopping bags, an open package of double stuffed Oreos next to a variety pack of snack-sized chip bags. Paisley sat on top of the counter, her legs swinging as she ate her way through a Lunchable.
“Camden took me to the grocery store. Let me get whatever I wanted,” she signed, and I opened the refrigerator to find the shelves full of food. Fruits, yogurt, string cheese, milk, and three different kinds of juices. Then I threw open the other hidden door next to it, revealing the freezer full of pizza rolls, Texas Toast, and multiple gallons of ice cream.
And that Joey Donner percentage dropped even more. Especially when he appeared dressed for another workout, hurriedly holding out his fist to his sister for a bump then ruffled her hair, earning a thoroughly happy grin and playful swat. He passed me by with a jut of his chin. “See you, Riv.”
Now, the prick left me his credit card and explicit instructions to take Paisley out to buy the essentials. “Whatever she needs to be comfortable.”
It’s the first day of training camp, so we have hours to test drive his Amex. Being Erik Rivera’s sister, I’m used to the luxuries that come with a professional athlete’s lifestyle, and it’snice.
I have no compunctions about accepting any gifts my brother or Camden wants to offer. They have literal millions to spare, and I live on a teacher’s salary. So, like any well-intentioned person with an unlimited budget and a goal to make a teenage girl happy, we start online shopping. We spend the morning next to each other, sharing links and screens, photos of inspiration boards for what will become her bedroom, with a vintage-looking lamp, twinkly lights, and new bedsheets and comforter. We buy a pink and gold rug, bookshelf, and multiple artificial succulents.
After, we head to a salon so she can have her hair and nails done and then enjoy a late lunch, where we chat over fancy mocktails and salads that have no business being twenty dollars. It’s while we’re eating our caramel cheesecake dessert that I sign, “Is there anything else you want to do today?”
She shrugs. “What else is there?”
“We could walk around and explore.” When she wrinkles her nose, I laugh. “It is pretty hot out. We could keep shopping.”
She thinks for a few moments, swallowing the last of her dessert, then signs, “I don’t really need anything else.”
“But there is something youwant?”
She slants her gaze toward the window, the sunshine streaming in hitting the new purple highlights in her hair. She was worried Camden would be mad, but I told her I’d take care of him. If she wanted purple highlights, she was getting purple highlights.
After all she’s been through, there is nothing short of permanent body modification that I wouldn’t agree to and defend.
“The penthouse is kind of lonely,” she signs after a while, and I wag my head side to side. I could understand that.
It’s cold. Not in the physical sense, but in the emotional one. It’s like Camden moved in and hasn’t touched anything since. Everything in his life is meant to show his status, but nothing of his actual heart.
