“Pay attention to the road.” Her hand flaps in the air. “I can text him for you.”
“Absolutely not,” I hiss. “Put my phone down?—”
“Aw, Barbie, he’s now asking if you’re okay,” she cuts in. “Let me tell Unphotogenic you’re okay.”
“Betty is now my favorite sister,” I declare, and she cackles.
“Just for that, I’m texting Unphotogenic about the road trip incident?—”
“If you do that, I’ll tell Betty you were the one who broke her porcelain doll, not Pie.”
“It wascreepy,” she protests. “Its vacant eyes followed you wherever you went.”
“Just put my phone down,” I say. “Please?”
“Ugh. Fine.” She lets out an exaggerated sigh and sets it back into the cupholder. “Out of the generosity of my heart, I’ll leave Unphotogenic on read for you.” She pauses. “But really, though. Is he an actual pilot, and can we get free flights?”
I snort. “He’s not a pilot, Bell. It’s… an inside joke.”
In the corner of my eye, my sister lifts a brow. “Oh? An inside joke with whom?” she asks, adding a suggestive note to her voice.
Despite myself, I can feel my cheeks blooming with heat. More so when I can sense the giant, shit-eating grin spreading across her face. I stare pointedly ahead and mutter, “It’s Ethan.”
“Who the fuck is Ethan?” is her immediate and extremely blunt response.
“Carter.”
Her head jerks, and she gasps. “The fucking sheets guy?” She snatches my phone again before I can respond. “This is the guy you’ve been arguing with for over two years now? I wake up at seven a.m. every morning because of him?”
“He’s not so bad,” I reply, biting back my smile. “We hashed things out. My last month at the company should be a lot smoother?—”
“Oh my God,” she says in an accusatory tone. “You like him. Youlike-likehim.”
“What are we, in middle school?”
“I know when you have a crush on someone,” she responds. “Your eyes get all googly, you’re all smiley, and—aha—you’re wearing your locket.”
“It goes with my outfit.”
“It goes with everything,” she retorts. “You never wear it unless you’re harboring a big-ass crush.”
“Okay. I wouldn’t say it’s a big-ass crush,” I counter. “But he was surprisingly really sweet. And funny. And nothing like I had expected.” I trail off at the sudden fluttery feeling in the pit of mychest and stamp the thought from my head. It does little to stop the sharp pang of melancholy following in its wake.
“Oh my God,” she repeats slowly. “You slept with him.”
“Bellie,” I choke out. “Jesus.”
“I don’t want to know the details,” she continues, “but I’msohappy for you for finally moving on from that shithead. Even if it’s with the sheets guy. When do you plan on seeing him again, and can I break the news to Bets?”
“I…” My bottom lip worries between my teeth. “It was a one-time thing. We don’t have plans to see each other.”
She jerks her head again, this time with a groan as she brings her hand to her neck. “What? Besides Bets, you’re the most monogamous person I know. You’ve never been a one-time thing girl. All of your relationships have been long-term.”
“And none of them worked out,” I remind her. “Look. I don’t mind being friends with him. It’s for the best. I’m gonna be busy with the internship. We don’t live in the same state. And he’s settling down if he hasn’t already. I’m being practical here.Logical. Sensible?—”
“Okay, okay.” She shakes her head as she deposits my phone back into the cupholder. “I get it.”
I give her a curt nod, then return my attention to the road. Traffic has barely moved.
