Liam tossed another popcorn kernel. “Hey, pick a movie. Only rule is no crying scenes. Unless it’s right before a scene with massive explosions.”
“Rain check?” I tried. Any other night, this would be great. My brothers actually wanted to hang out with me again. It was pretty much miraculous. After weeks of glowering at me, all three of them were here, ready to comfort me, or whatever.
“Give up,” Tuck advised. “You know we’ll wear you down.”
So incredibly sweet. But I had a heist to execute, wrongs to right, and dragons to humiliate. Maybe I could watch with them for a little while, then think of an excuse to leave….“Pass the popcorn.” Sitting down in the chair, I curled my legs underneath me and dug for the butteriest pieces.
“Let’s go with the best movie ever made.” Liam wielded the remote like a light saber.“Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope.”He added sound effects.
“One half hour,” I repeated.
He queued it up and hit play.
“Mood lighting!” Tuck jumped for the light switch. Shadows shifted as he flicked off the light. But it wasn’t shadowy enough for me to slip out unnoticed. Maybe they’d get sucked into the movie and I could slip out while they quoted Obi-Wan. Chords thundered through the room, and the opening words scrolled up the screen.
“Anyone think to bring sodas?” Liam asked.
“I’ll get some,” I offered.
“Sky, stay,” Charles ordered. “Tuck, get the soda.”
“Why me?” he whined.
“Because this is for Sky.”
“Oh, right.” He peeled himself off my bed and trotted out the door. There went that opportunity to escape.
On the screen, the stormtroopers blasted through a door, and Charles passed me more popcorn. “Do you want to have a conversation about feelings?” he asked.
“Not really,” I said.
He exhaled in relief. “Good.”
I smiled. “You would have done it, if I’d asked, would you?”
“We’re here for you, Sky.” He meant it.
“What if I wanted to talk about makeup?”
“I think mascara is creepy,” Liam volunteered. “Like lots of spider legs on a girl’s eye. Really freaky part is if she starts to cry, and the spider legs dissolve and walk down her cheeks.”
I tossed a popcorn kernel at him. “Girls don’t wear makeup for you.”
“Sure they do,” Liam said. “Every girl I’ve ever dated puts it on before a date. Even if it’s just a barbecue.”
“They don’t do it for you,” I reiterated. “Girls wear makeup to feel stronger. It’s armor for your face. You guys are stuck with the faces you have, which, in your cases, is unfortunate.”
Liam snagged a pillow off my bed and threw it at me as Tuck came through the door holding cans of soda. He tossed one to each of us. “You shook them, didn’t you,” Liam accused him.
“Anyone who spills soda in my room cleans it,” I said.
Tuck halted in the middle of the room. “Silence, everyone. Leia’s on-screen!”
“Mm, should have watched the gold bikini one,” Tuck said.
“Amazing she can keep that dress so clean in the middle of a battle.” I dug my hand into the popcorn bucket. We hadn’t done anything like this in forever. Just hung out. Just been nice to one another. Not since Mom had disappeared. I’d missed this.
“Spoiler alert: the hair buns are headsets,” Liam said.
