"You did eat all those pancakes at breakfast, Garrett," Hunter said.
"Don’t even start with me."
Hunter stared at me. "And you had a plastic straw."
"Penny ordered some online."
"Aww. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is!" Archer said. "Smuggling in plasticware!"
"At least Penny is better than any of Archer’s girlfriends, Hazel excluded," Hunter said, looking back at his computer.
"I think she’s friends with Hazel," Mace said. "They went to high school together. She would fit right in."
"Stop trying to dictate my life."
"You should ask her out," Mace said.
I clamped my mouth shut.
"Come on, we can role-play," Archer said, standing up, half-eaten taco in his hand. "Pretend this taco is Penny, and pretend like you're going to ask her out."
"I already asked her out." I mumbled.
"You what?" Mace shouted.
"Are you deaf or just dumb?" I snapped.
"When was this?"
"Was that the breakfast date?" Archer demanded.
Hunter wrinkled his nose. "I hope that wasn’t your first date, Garrett. Honestly, you’ll give the Svensson brothers a bad name if people think that’s the best you can come up with."
"You’re one to talk, considering we’re all still paying for the aftereffects of Meg," I hissed at him.
"And that’s why you should all learn from my mistakes and plan better dates," Hunter said.
"That wasnotwhat I planned. I am excellent at planning. Way better than any of you. That was a working breakfast," I retorted.
"Hazel said there wasn’t much working going on," Archer stage-whispered.
"So you asked her out after?" Mace pressed.
"This evening." I looked at the window. "She said no."
"She said no?" My brothers were flabbergasted.
"Ouch."
"Rejection."
"Ask her again!" Archer demanded.
"She said no. I’m not going to turn into a stalker. I’m her boss. I never should have asked."
"Technically—" Archer began.
"There’s no technicality."
