“Hey, you two, slow down!” Ava called out behind us. “Not everyone has your long legs!”
With a deep breath, I let go of Quinn as we waited for the others to catch up. I was not looking forward to this.
* * *
We’d taken two cars to get to Cardinal. Quinn had opted for an Italian restaurant. Smallish in size, it had a handful of booths and then a mix of small tables with red and white gingham tablecloths, with half-used candles in empty dark green wine bottles for authenticity, or something. I’d been to Italy many times,and I had yet to see a half-used, heavily waxed, empty wine bottle as a candle holder, but hey, who was I to raise questions about authenticity?
The atmosphere between us was, to say the least, awkward. Ash refused to acknowledge Quinn, Jett was whispering sweet nothings into Ava’s ear, and I was seriously considering faking an illness. Anything that would let me walk out of here without having to endure an hour of this.
Ava, through no fault of her own, managed to catch my attention, and I saw her happy smile fade as she read the tension in my eyes. With a quick glance, she looked at the other occupants of the table.
“Have you been here before?” she asked us all, and I wanted to pat her on the head for her feeble attempt at trying to make conversation.
“You know, Ava,” Ash told her with a grin, “this is the first time you’ve probably ever sat with four other people who are all as crazy about football as you.”
Ava beamed. There was no other word for it; she looked positively giddy with glee. “Oh my God, you are so right. You can talk routes and drives all night long, and I won’t even feel ignored,” she said to Jett with a smile.
“Or we can talk about other things,” Jett said to her as he kissed the side of her head, his hard stare on Quinn.
I saw her moisten her lips as she reached for a glass of water. “What else could we possibly have to discuss?” Her answering look was equally as hard, and I loved my brother, I did, but he deserved that virtual slap she just delivered him. This was not the time, and it was not the place. More importantly, he may be in love with his girl or whatever, but this was not a conversation for Ava to be party to.
Not now and possibly never.
“Who did you get to practice on today?” Ava asked her as she again quickly picked up on the tension and changed the subject.
“Basketball team.” Quinn smiled at her, and studying her, I saw it was genuine. That was interesting. I turned my attention back to Ava, my head tilting as I studied her. I just didn’t see this fascination they all had with her. What was she offering to make them all like her? She didn’t appeal to me at all, and honestly, I found her kind of irritating. For Quinn to willingly spend time with her, she had to have something to keep the ice queen interested in being her friend.
“Ooh, who did you get?” Ava leaned forward with a breadstick, eager for the details.
“You like basketball too?” I asked her. Maybe she was a sports “fan,” or maybe she was a stage five clinger.
“Yeah, don’t you?” Ava asked me curiously.
“Doesn’t really interest me,” I answered as I met my brother’s look. He arched an eyebrow, and I mimicked him. Snorting, he looked away with a small shake of his head.
“You don’t like me,” Ava blurted out. “I get it. We got off on the wrong foot, you know, the whole ‘you did nothing to stop Jett from almost decapitating me, then you had octopus hands, and I punched you.’ I get it, we’re not going to be besties and, dude, I am more than okay with that . . . trust me. But you are going to have to accept that I’m with Jett, he’s with me, and you’re his twin, so we can’t really avoid each other.” She took a bite of her breadstick and chewed as she waited for my response.
“Is that right?” Leaning back in the booth, I looked her over. Blonde hair in a high ponytail. Her blue T-shirt annoyed me on principle due to the school it represented. Her shoulders set, waiting for my reply, but her face was open, her words genuine. She had nerve; I’d give her that. “What do you propose we do about it?”
I watched her chew the inside of her cheek as she thoughtabout it. I could feel Ash tense beside me, waiting for my reaction. Quinn had leaned forward, her hand cupping her chin as her elbow rested on the table. Jett’s glare . . . well, I knew when to ignore my brother.
“I propose we do nothing,” Ava told me calmly as she broke another piece of her breadstick off.
“Nothing? You think that’s the best option?” I was testing her, and she knew it. With narrowed eyes, she looked me over as I did her.
“Actually, I would suggest something else, but I’m not sure if you aren’t a sensitive soul under all that outward testosterone.”
Ash’s cough covered his laugh, which broke the stare off, and Quinn was openly grinning at me, enjoying Ava’s spunk.
“I think I can take it,” I murmured as I waited. “Take your best shot.”
“I thought I did that when I decked you.”
Jett pressed his lips to the side of her head, and I saw his shoulders shaking. So, she amused him. Interesting.
“It’s nice that you have something else to latch onto.” Raising my water glass, I gave her a mock salute. Jett stopped laughing, Quinn lost her smile, and I felt my cousin press his leg against mine in warning.
“What do you mean?” Ava asked as she looked around the table, picking up on the shift in atmosphere.
