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“Oh, come on!” Thea begged. “You gotta get out and have some fun! You sound like a goddess in the shower when you’re singing.”
“I think my brothers would beg to differ.” Piper laughed.
“Your brothers!” Thea exclaimed. Piper narrowed her gaze, not liking the excitement behind Thea’s eyes. “Do they happen to have any attractive friends you could date?”
“You’re not actually suggesting I date one of my brothers’ friends.”
“Colin’s cute. He has to have cute scientist friends, right? And what about Carter? He’s just plain sexy. He probably has some friends here that are hot. His roommate, maybe?”
“I’m pretty sure Carter would be annoyed if I was dating his roommate considering they live together and I’d be invading his privacy. And you’re not allowed to think my brothers are attractive.” Piper got up from the table, snatched up the tub of ice cream, and wandered into the kitchen to put it away.
“I can’t help it if your brothers are hot. If I didn’t have Yuri, I would definitely ignore the girl code for Colin or Carter.”
“Here.” Piper grabbed a pan from the decorative hanging rack she installed when they first moved in. “Hit me over the head with this, will you?”
“In all honesty, your uncle is—”
“Fucking hell, will you shut up?” Piper interrupted. “I already have to hear gross things about my uncle from my aunt. I don’t need you talking about it, too.”
“Oh? Well, don’t be close-lipped about it. What did Talia say? I bet Walker’s a real freak in the sheets. All those tattoos scream sexual deviant.” Thea bounced on the balls of her feet, always extremely into any discussion revolving around sex.
“You could just ask her yourself,” a voice said from the living room. Piper jerked her head to the open olive-green front door, and she and Thea broke into grins as they sprinted to envelop Piper’s aunt in a tight hug.
“You didn’t tell me she was coming!” Thea complained to Piper. “I could have made scones.”
“She didn’t know I was coming,” Talia explained. “She told me about Todd this morning. Amala’s covering the store, and I told my ‘freak in the sheets’ that I had to take a little trip to cheer Piper up.”
Back in Piper’s hometown, Talia and her best friend, Amala, ran a grocery store that had finally been renovated completely from its original look. The modern color-pop design Piper had helped create was one of her favorite designs to date. It was weird that she missed grocery shopping, of all things, but she did. One more year of school, and she’d get to finally return home for good.
“So, he is super kinky, then?” Thea asked, with no self-consciousness whatsoever.
“Whatever Walker is, I’m much, much worse.” Talia winked, and Thea high fived her.
“Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!” Piper slapped her hands over her ears, and Talia barked out a laugh.
“Okay, so, what’s the plan? Are we eating ice cream out of the container, dyeing your hair a different color, watching a sappy rom-com, blasting grunge music—my personal favorite—or slashing Todd’s tires?” Talia set her hands on her hips.
“We’re going to a karaoke bar!” Thea announced.
“I already said no.” Piper sighed.
“We have to. Piper, if I had your voice, I’d be forcing it on people all day long,” Talia said.
“You still do sing all day long,” Piper pointed out. “I’m surprised that Walker hasn’t completely lost his hearing by now. And, speaking of, you didn’t tell him, did you?”
After taking guardianship of Piper and her siblings when their parents died, Walker had become a bit pissy and protective when it came to Piper’s dating life. The last time she had gotten dumped, she had to beg him not to drive down and threaten her ex. It was a four-hour drive to campus from Archwood, and Walker had already gotten one hour in when Piper—or Talia, rather—convinced him to turn around.
“I told him you got a B on an essay. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Ah, speak of the devil…” Talia pulled her vibrating phone out of her pocket and held it up for show. A picture of Piper’s uncle on their wedding day was displayed on the screen with a video chat request. Talia swiped to answer. “Hey, hun. I made it!” She turned the camera to include Piper and Thea in the shot, both girls waving at Walker.
“Good.” Walker smiled on screen and waved back. “Piper, let me know if you need any help with your B that I know is really a boy problem.” Talia’s mouth dropped open, and she offered an apologetic glance in Piper’s direction.
“Nope! Don’t need any help, thank you,” Piper said quickly.
“Okay, but—”
“We’re just about to leave to go karaoke,” Talia cut off her husband.
Walker grimaced and asked carefully, “You’re gonna… sing?”
