“This Friday.”
“Oh, fuck.”
“You have other plans?”
“No, I just have nothing to wear. Again.”
I laugh, and she gives me her best offended expression. “Well, we can always go shopping in my car. I enjoyed myself alotlast time.”
“You’re not buying me any more sorority clothes,” she grumbles.
“Well, if you have something with sequins on, that’ll make Lola happy.”
“Sequins?I barely have something that isn’t black.”
“Okay, well, are you going to go or do you want me to make an excuse for you?”
She pouts beautifully as I take the pot of hot chocolate off the stove and nod to the cabinet where the mugs live.
“I don’t need you to speak for me, I’ll go. It’ll be good to get some dirt on you anyway.”
“Well, they have plenty of that,” I say idly, pouring the hot chocolate into the mugs and handing her one.
“Why don’t these have any handles?” she asks, looking at the hand-painted mugs she selected.
“They’re Japanese.”
“Of course they are.” She rolls her eyes at me.
We go back into the living room, and she curls up on the couch, her fingers hugging the cup gingerly. It’s suddenly turned chilly, and I throw her a knit blanket as I walk to the thermostat to turn up the heated floor.
“This is nice.”
I stop, my hand still on the dial, wondering if I really heard that. But when I turn, I realize she was referring to the hot chocolate.
She’s sitting, watching one of my fish swim lazily above her, her porcelain skin flawless in the blueish light.
“Which one of your sisters is the oldest again?” she asks as I head back toward the couch.
“Lola, then Maddy. My mom wasn’t well for a while, so she didn’t have any other kids until about six years later. Then there’s Erica, and Carrie’s the baby.”
“Carrie’s your favorite,” she says confidently.
“She is. Because she has abrain.”
Jax laughs, stretching out her legs onto the coffee table, and I throw over a cushion for her to rest her feet on as I sit down next to her.
“Is Flynn a lot older than you?” I ask.
She nods. “About ten years or so, but we’ve always kind of been thegrown-ups,you know? Flynn’s sensible, but not good at planning. He’s always relied on me for that kind of stuff.Scott and I are twins, but Scottneverplans ahead, always doing everything last minute. And Seb and Ben are idiots.”
The affection in her voice contradicts her words. It’s clear she’s crazy about all of them.
“It’s tough sometimes, being the one in charge,” I say absently, taking a sip of the hot chocolate and grimacing. “This is revolting,” I say, taking another sip as she smirks at me over the rim of her cup.
“I love it,” she replies as I roll my eyes. Silence falls between us for a little while, and then she lowers her cup to her thigh.
“Your dad passed away, right?” she asks quietly.
