“It’s not what you think.”
A growl escapes from his chest and his eyes turn to angry slits. Fuck. Okay, that wasn’t the best opening, I admit.
“Okay, it’s what you think,” I backtrack.
“Of all the girls, man. You can have any other one, but not her. Not my baby sister.”
“I’m sorry if it pisses you off. Maybe I should have told you. Not because I think I need your permission, but out of respect. I’m sorry for that, but I’m not sorry for digging your sister. She’s awesome and I like her a lot. I don’t need your permission,” I repeat. “And Ginny doesn’t need it either, for any guy she decides to date.”
“Ginny said as much.” He stands. He’s a good three inches taller than me and he uses every single one. “You can honestly tell me you think you’re good enough for her? Fuck man, I see how you are with women. I don’t want that for her, is that so hard to understand?”
He doesn’t wait for my answer before heading to his room and slamming the door.
“He and Taryn are sitting guard in the living room,” I tell Ginny on the phone later.
The two of them never hang out at our apartment. That’s part of the Adam Scott boyfriend experience—bending over backward for his girl and always staying at their place. Or that’s what I hear. Since this is my first year living with him I don’t really know, but Rauthruss made an offhanded comment once that Adam hardly ever has girlfriends sleep over.
“So, I’ll just come over. What’s he going to do? Kick me out?”
“No, but he might kick me out.”
She groans. “This is stupid. I can date whoever I want.”
“He’s just looking out for you.”
“I don’t need him to look out for me.” She sighs into the phone. “I guess it’s best to give him a couple of days to cool off.”
My chest tightens, and I wonder if in a couple of days she’ll decide it isn’t worth making waves. Maybe that’d be for the best.
The next morning, though, she’s waiting outside of the dining hall for me and a goofy grin pulls at my lips.
I hug her and she laughs. “Miss me?”
“Yep.” I take her hand and follow her through the line for omelets.
“I need my hand back,” she says, and I realize I’m still holding her palm in mine.
We take our usual table. Mav drops into a chair beside her a few minutes later. “Hey there, Romeo and Juliet.”
Ginny laughs. “Their families were enemies—this isn’t really that sort of thing.”
“Well, it is a Shakespearean tragedy, anyway. What are you going to do?”
I shrug. Thought about it all night long and I still don’t have an answer.
“I’m heading home tonight. I’m sure by the time I get back on Sunday, he’ll be over it.”
I’m not so sure.
After my morning classes, I head back to the apartment. Ginny’s on her way home for the long weekend, and the prospect of spending that many days without her is a real bummer.
Rauthruss is on the phone with Carrie. Mav and Adam are still on campus. I’ve got my newest package from Chloe and Nathan, so I grab it and walk to my room.
I call him as I cut open the tape.
“Hey,” he answers on the second ring.
“Hey. Got your latest box.”
“And?”
As soon as I pull back the flaps, a deep chuckle escapes from my throat. “This one is all you, bro.”
“What? How can you tell?”
“It looks like you went down the aisles at Target and just threw random things in.” I pull out deodorant, body soap, condoms (major eye roll), toothpaste, pencils, a giant tub of my favorite protein, and an Xbox gift card. “Plus it’s all just shoved in here. Chloe’s boxes are packed a lot nicer than yours.”
“I knew I should have had her wrap it all up.”
I chuckle again. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Sitting in my desk chair, I lean back as he catches me up on the latest wedding details. Getting married takes an awful lot of planning, apparently.
“So, spill,” he says eventually when he’s done with the rundown on dinner entrees and cake tasting. “What’d you think of Kevin?”
“He was fine.” I shrug even though Nathan can’t see it. “Mom’s happy so that’s good, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so. It’s weird seeing her with someone else though. No matter how nice he is.”
I hum my agreement.
“Are you still calling her and checking in to see how she’s doing?”
“Nah. I mean, we chat every other week or so, but she doesn’t need me to do that anymore. She’s got Kevin, plus Uncle Doug is still checking on her.”
“Yeah, I guess. Chloe and I are going to fly up to have Thanksgiving with her. Bummed you can’t make it.”
“I’m sure you guys will make the most of it.” We’ve got a game on Saturday, so it’ll just be another Thursday around here, although the extra days off school are nice.
“I could never make her smile like you could. Remember that time we went to the water park in Wisconsin?”
I smile, knowing exactly where he’s going with the story.
“She got up on the top of that big slide and she wouldn’t budge. The line was backed up and people were yelling for her to hurry up. There were six-year-old kids going down that thing.”
“She hates heights,” I say.
“Yeah. I’m not even sure why she attempted it in the first place.”
“Because I was too scared to go on my own and you were whining about me tagging along with you and that guy you used to hang out with…”
“Lee,” he fills in.
I nod. “She came up there for me. I knew she was scared too but I didn’t care.”
“Dude, you were like nine.”
“I still knew it was a bad idea.”
“You sang to her, at the top of your lungs, the whole way back down the line.”
“I had to scream so she
