Blaire didn’t seem to hear her. “Was it magical? Did he touch your hair?” She sighed and fell back onto the couch, gripping the armrest. “Did you kiss him? Oh gosh, what do I do with this information? He’s… he’s…”
Dakota walked to the door. “Ugh, gross. I should leave.” He looked at Georgia. “Stop spoonin’ and kissin’ in public places, Georgia! At the church… at a youth event? Bleh…” He shook out his long arms as if chills ran down his spine.
“We WEREN’T SPOONING!” she yelled, feeling crazy.
Caroline popped in, joining Blaire’s enthusiasm, “But youdidkiss him?”
Ginny squealed in the background as Dakota fake vomited into the kitchen trash can. Ryan simply watched the volleying conversation, back and forth, long ago learning not to intervene in a Remillard family discussion.
“What? No! I didn’t kiss anybody.” Georgia let out a growl, “Ugh. If youMUSTknow… We held hands. And talked…” She loathed revealing the details to the entire room, but those stinking youth and Ginny apparently wouldn’t keep their mouths shut anyway.
“You talked?” Caroline asked.
“Yes. Talked.JUSTtalked.” She pointed her most annoyed grimace at Ginny who didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. “And I’d really love to not have a group discussion about it.”
Caroline looked slightly hurt. “So, he isn’t your boyfriend, then?”
“Would you keep it from me ifyouhada boyfriend?” Georgia crossed her arms.
Caroline threw her perfectly manicured hands on her chest. “Me? No. Of course not.”
Georgia jutted her chin and raised an eyebrow, proving her point, just as Ryan took it as his moment to chime in, “So,doyou have… a boyfriend, Caroline?”
Ginny rolled her sparkling brown eyes and shoved Ryan aside with a quick flick of her hand. “Bad timing, Ry. This isn’t about Caroline.” She strutted to the couch where her sisters still stared at each other in silence, and Blaire sat brimming with unspent excitement between them. “It's Georgie’s turn in the hot seat.”
She faced Georgia, bucking up to eye level against her eldest sibling. “Ya know, you could have warned me if you were gonna go after Lake. I told you I was into him.”
“You’re seventeen!” all three of Ginny’s siblings yelled, disgusted in three very different ways.
“Eighteen next month!” she answered back. “And I have more appreciation for…”
A well-timed, unforeseen knock sounded at the door, interrupting Ginny’s speech. All eyes turned to the door as Dakota opened it, finding Lake standing with a gift in his hand.
Looking positively delicious, he stepped through the door in worn jeans and a threadbare henley shirt with the buttons undone. His hair was still wet as if he’d just stepped out of the shower. Georgia saw a droplet glisten in midair as it fell from his hair and swore she could hear the chime of a tiny Christmas bell as it landed on his perfectly rounded shoulders.
Her shoulders sunk in defeat, and she was reminded of the pajamas she was still wearing. A smiling, pirouetting Santa on her feet gave her a mocking wink. The other girls lifted their jaws off the floor, and Georgia saw the all too familiar glaze fall across their eyes.Perfection.Lake Lovett was perfection itself, their ogling declared in one accord. It was a universal truth.
“Sorry.” Lake glanced around the room looking slightly embarrassed. “I am clearly interrupting something.”
“Oh, you definitely are.” Dakota gave Lake a friendly pat on the back, gripped his large hand onto Lake’s shoulder and leaned in close. Georgia heard him not-so-quietly whisper, “Don’t even think about spoonin’ my sister again,” before he stepped away with a glint of promised rage in his eye and left a confused Lake standing before him.
“Okayyyyy!” Georgia stepped to the center of the room, her arms spread out wide as if herding wild animals. “This has been fun, but you all need to leave. Like… now.”
“We do?” Blaire and Ryan both asked in unison.
Georgia looked at them, feeling equal parts guilty and overwhelmed. She put a hand to her face and blew a stray curl out of her eyes. “Ummm. Yes. Rain check? Please?”
They nodded and gathered their things, shuffling their footed pajama feet across the wooden floor. Blaire looked at the almost forgotten ice cream she’d dropped and mouthed a sheepish,Sorry… Call me later,before grabbing Ryan by the arm and pulling him through the door. Jumping into action, Georgia began waving her arms at her siblings who hadn’t moved an inch since her request.
Her hands shoved, lightly but firmly, against Dakota, who still held the tub of ice cream. “Go on now. Get. Shoo.”
Dakota put two fingers to his eyes and then pointed them at Lake over his shoulder, just as Georgia pushed him over the threshold. “I’m watchin’ you, man. But also… that’s a dope shirt…” He pulled away, wrestling out of Georgia’s grasp. “Geez, Georgia, when did you get so strong?”
She laughed, grabbed Ginny and pulled her out into the hallway. “Every embarrassing picture I have of you is being placed across every single social media platform tonight,” she promised and winked at her baby sister.
“You wouldn’t!” she cried.
Georgia pushed her further towards the stairs. “Oh, I will… mouth breathing sleep shots. Slobber. Bad haircuts. Halloween 2015… Everything. Buh-bye.”
