“This babysitting gig blows,” I gripe.
“I think it’s obvious that we’re the ones babysitting you,” Lil claims.
“You two are annoying.” Everything that comes out of my mouth is a grumble now.
“No, we’re charming.” Ariana grins and fucking curtsies. My heart does that flip-flop thing again for like the hundredth time in three days.
I hate it.
“Are you two always like this?” I ask.
“Yes. Welcome to your crash course on why no one likes this job.” Lil grins at me.
“Sully was so glad when Dad finally let him off Lil and Ariana duty. We drove him crazy for years.” Ariana tosses a bag of licorice in the cart.
“Is he still mad about the time we wrapped his car in plastic wrap?” Lil asks, throwing a couple boxes of Band-Aids withFrozencharacters on them in.What the fuck?
“Probably. And when we covered it in sticky notes.”
“That was only two weeks ago, Ari.”
“Exactly. He should be over it by now.”
I follow them to the checkouts and find myself glaring at a couple of guys who look at them for too long. I’m a big dude and an expert in pissed-off facial expressions. I don’t even have to train for that. It just comes naturally. The guys quickly look away and move to a different line after mumbling to each other. Ariana raises an eyebrow at me, then shakes her head with a soft smile.
Lil doesn’t smile. She tries to murder me with her eyes. “He’s going to be as bad as Dad when it comes to people checking us out.”
Ariana just shrugs a shoulder and starts unloading the cart.
“Hello, my lovely girls.” The cashier smiles at them. She’s probably got grandkids our age, and she’s even taller than Lil.
“Hi Diane, how’s the new grandbaby?” Ariana smiles back.
“Don’t tell the rest, but he’s the cutest one yet.”
“I’m totally texting April. She thinks she’s the cutest one,” Lil tells her.
Diane laughs and starts ringing up the stuff. Her gaze narrows on Ariana after a few seconds, then on me. “First time you two have had a babysitter in a long while, but I’m guessing I know why you have one all of a sudden. I’m surprised your dad put one so young and handsome with you,though.”
Lil tilts her head toward me. “That’s Luca. He’s my grumpy and annoying cousin.”
My eye twitches, and I cross my arms over my chest.
Diane makes a humming noise like she agrees with Lil. “Ari, you okay, sweetie?”
“I’m good. Just some rando who thought he could get away with shit.”
The alcohol moves closer to the scanner. “This is really stupid,” I mutter to Lil under my breath. “None of us are twenty-one.”
“I didn’t take you for a goody two shoes, Luca.” She bumps her shoulder into my arm.
“I’m not,” I hiss. “But our cashier is literally the grandma of one of your friends, so excuse me for thinking there’s no way this is going to work.”
“Trust the process, oh pessimistic cousin of mine.”
“I’m just trying to figure out how long it’ll be before one of you needs bailed out of jail.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. Definitely not the last, either.” Lil shrugs. Fucking hell.
