“I know.” She smiles, more to herself than to me. “Not to change the subject, but how is everything going with the new roommate? You two seemed to be getting along pretty well at the party last week.”
“It’s been pretty good. Now that classes are in full swing, she’s not here as often, nor am I, but when she is, she actually talks to me like she doesn’t hate my guts.”
“Well, that’s good at least. It probably helps that you share a common enemy.”
“True.”
She paints the final layer of topcoat on my little toe. “All done.”
“They look great.” I nod in approval.
“Perfect for the sandals you plan to wear.”
“I still wish you could come. You’d make it so much more fun.”
“I know.” She flashes her perfect white teeth at me. “But at least you’ll have Kai.”
“Kai will run off with my brother the second we get there.” I snort. Jackson and Kai have been friends since high school, and when they get together, they act like they’re still in high school.
“Lyric isn’t going?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I think she decided the Rose family’s annual hog roast was too much for her last year. Then again, with the way my cousins pestered her the whole time, who could blame her.”
We’ve been doing this family get-together every year for as long as I can remember. My entire family, both close and distant relatives, all attend. It’s the only time of year that I see Aunt Bree and Uncle Tony, as well as my two younger cousins, Jas and Joslin—twins who just turned fourteen this past summer. Then there’s my aunt Helen’s kids. All boys. Four of them. All varying in age from ten all the way to nineteen. The younger ones are the ones you have to watch out for. Rambunctious as all get-out.
“I doubt that’s it. Lyric would have a cookout in the pits of hell if she knew it would make you happy,” she corrects. “She tutoring?”
“Yeah.”
“Look at it this way. At least you have a family to do stuff like this with. My family is so small that I basically grew up all by myself. I have no siblings. Only one uncle, who never had kids. And a couple of second cousins that I see maybe once every five years.”
“I can’t imagine growing up an only child. I don’t know what I’d do without Jackson.”
“I always wanted siblings. Especially a sister.”
My mind drifts to Lily. I had a sister once. She died when she was two, though I can’t bring myself to think about the circumstances surrounding her death, even now, all these years later. We were three years apart, which would make her sixteen going on seventeen. I can’t help but wonder about the person she’d be now if she were still alive.
“Yeah.” I try to shake off the guilt that settles on my shoulders like concrete, threatening to press me into the earth.
“What was Jackson like growing up?” she asks, sensing the shift in my demeanor.
She knows about Lily, of course. I told her and Lyric about her one night after too many drinks. I woke up the next day filled with regret, but neither of them seemed to hold it against me, nor have they brought it up since, like they somehow knew I didn’t want to talk about it any further.
“A pain in my ass.” I huff out a laugh, forcing myself back to the present. “I mean, he was great basically all the way up until I turned fifteen. Then he became like a second father, critiquing everything I did. What I wore. What boys I was talking to at school.”
“And Kai? Was he as bad? I know he was around a lot when you were younger.”
“Kai was kind of the in-between. He was protective of me but also treated me like my own person and notjustJackson’s little sister.”
“Between you and me, did you ever consider hooking up with him? I swear I won’t tell Lyric.” She leans forward, elbows resting on her knees.
“No. I mean, obviously, he’s gorgeous. And sometimes he would teasingly flirt with me and I would wonder what it would be like to hook up with him, but he was so much like a brother to me that the thought kinda grossed me out.”
“I guess I could see that.”
“Anyway, you sure I can’t change your mind about coming with me?” I pout out my lower lip.
“I would if I could, but River gave me specific instructions not to make plans for Saturday.”
