“Is she like that skank, Brooke?”
I smiled despite myself. “You always hated Brooke.”
“Because she was a ho; trust me, women know.” Jiana sniffed in the cold air, because it was Ohio in February, and I just knew she wasn’t dressed properly. “So, is she?”
“A ho? No. She’s an A-plus student, a student liaison for the Academic Administration, and—”
“She’s a nerd?”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not nice.”
“Is she a nerd?”
“Technically, but—”
“You’re dating anerd? Don’t they have cheerleaders there?” Jiana sounded appalled. “Oh my God, if she is wearing a promise ring,run. She’s a ho.”
I barked out a laugh. “She is not wearing a promise ring. She is not a nerd. She is smart. Beautiful. Kind.”A liar. A spy.“You’d like her, she doesn’t take any of my shit.”
“Oh, I’m intrigued, tell me more.”
I talked with my sister on her walk home, telling her about Savannah, telling her about my roommates, telling her about school. Each word getting her further from that party. From Knox.
I heard a door open, followed by a mumble, and then amommy.
“Here, talk to Uncle D.”
“Uncle D-bag!”
I laughed. My nephew didn’t know he was calling me a name; my mom tried to get him to stop, but Jiana and I thought it was too funny. Nicky was three, and he saw us laughing, so he kept doing it.
I glanced at my watch. “Why are you not sleeping, squirt?”
“Poppi let me watch sharks.”
Which meant my grandfather let him watchFinding Nemo, and Nicky was scared of the sharks in it.
“Hey, I heard your mom was going to try and make you a D-cup special.”
His little gasp of excitement was all I needed to hear to make the shit of today go away. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“You have to watch!” I heard feet running and then more muffled voices.
Jiana came back on the phone. “We need to FaceTime, he’s insisting.”
“Let’s do it.” I switched to FaceTime.
My sister grinned back at me, and then frowned as she peered at the phone.
“What the fuck happened to your face?”
“Swears!” Nicky shouted, and then my pops took the phone.
“Dante?” he peered at the phone, and I got an intense close-up of his nose hair.
“Back up, Pops, back up, please!”
