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“Could’ve just finished the game instead of leaving her hanging,” Sly stated.
I glared at him. “I can do nothing right in this house, can I?”
“No, you can’t.”
“Kids.” Dad’s warning was underwhelming. He hated when we argued. I hated it too. Well, I only hated arguing with Sly.
“I’m going upstairs,” I muttered, wanting to escape all of them.
“What are you going to do upstairs?” Wavel asked.
I turned to her and shrugged again. “Paint.”
“I’ll come with you. I haven’t painted in months. I feel like I’ve almost forgotten how to paint,” she said with a soft chuckle.
“Oh, honey. You’ll paint something beautiful. I know it,” Mom said. “Before you go…come pick out which cake you want for your birthday tomorrow.”
Wavel grabbed my hand and pulled me to the kitchen. I was pretty sure Mom didn’t want me to pick. She wanted Wavel to choose because her opinion and likes mattered more than mine. Always had.
Mom showed us three pictures of beautiful, big cakes which looked like wedding cakes. But we were turning eighteen tomorrow, and she had promised to make a special one for our special day.
Not that I cared anyway.
“I figured I’d give you a few choices,” Mom said.
Wavel pursed her lips and looked at me. “What do you think, Caia? Which cake looks good to you?”
“You love raspberries, darling. How about this one?” Mom asked, pointing at the one with raspberries all over the top of a white frosted cake.
“I do, but Caia doesn’t really like them.” Wavel squeezed my hand, silently telling me that she had my back. In situations like these, Wavel had always looked out for me. Sometimes I felt like I was her baby sister when I was actually the one who was born seven minutes before she was.
“How about this one?” Wavel asked, pointing at a chocolate covered cake. “We both love chocolate. And you could add strawberries on there, Mom.”
“I haven’t thought of that,” Mom said with a tight smile.
Of course she hadn’t. “That one’s fine with me.”
“Perfect! We’ll be upstairs.” Wavel pulled me out of the kitchen and toward the stairs when Sly called out to Wavel.
“I’ll be done reading this book soon. You said you wanted to discuss it. I’ll come upstairs to tell you what I thought of it once I’m finished.”
Wavel smiled. “Okay, sounds good.”
I rolled my eyes at his try of making me jealous. Wavel and Sly often read the same books to then talk about them and give their opinions. They were mostly books from Dad’s library. His gaze locked on mine, and his eyes immediately darkened. “Should’ve read it as well and you could’ve discussed it with us.”
His mocking tone left me cold. Just like it had left him cold when I screamed at him in the bathroom.
I dropped my eyes to the book he was holding, recognizing it immediately. “Suzie was only dreaming. She fell asleep on the third page of the book and since then, the whole story is only a dream. She’ll wake up on the very last sentence. In my opinion, it was very predictable.”
I could see Sly tense. His knuckles were turning white as he gripped the book tightly.
“That wasn’t nice, Caia. Why would you ruin the book for him?” Mom asked, looking as disappointed as ever.
“Your mother’s right, darling. That wasn’t very nice,” Dad added, turning his head to face me before he looked at Sly. “But I guess no one’s safe from spoilers. That’s just something we’ll all have to face in life, son.”
Sly shook his head and sighed. “I know. It’s fine. I was struggling to get through this book anyway.”
His eyes met mine again, and I gave him a tight smile before heading upstairs with Wavel.
