AllFreeNovel
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He grins at me from his desk chair. “Oh, hey, little sister,” he says. “Thought you were someone else.”
I step inside, catching a full view of the empty room. No Drew.
“Who?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“Literally anyone,” he jokes. “Any of the assholes who live on this floor.”
I laugh. “Fair enough.”
I swallow the last of my nerves and present him with the picture frame face down.
“What’s this?” he asks.
“A gift.”
Seth takes it with curiosity. He flips it over and grins as he recognizes himself in the portrait. “It’s me!” he says.
“It’s you.”
He tilts his head. He tilts the portrait. He squints. “I’m passed out, aren’t I?” he asks.
“Yes, you are,” I say, smiling.
“What a beautiful memory.”
“I’ll certainly never forget it. And if I have to remember it forever, then you have to, too.”
He laughs. “You really drew this?”
“Yeah. I started it on the beach, brought it back, tweaked it a little...”
“Damn.” He nods. “I didn’t know you were this good.”
I blush as my pulse leaps at his approval. “It’s not that great…”
“No, really, you could, like… Etsy this shit or something.”
I chuckle. “Perhaps.”
“Thanks, little sister,” he says. “I love it.”
“You’re very welcome.”
As he sets it up by his computer monitor, he taps my initials on bottom left corner. “Cool sig,” he says.
“Thanks.”
“So, Dad called me last night.”
I pause, briefly taken back. “What did he want?” I ask.
“Just checking in as usual, but he asked about you.”
I pique a brow. “Really?”
“Unprompted, by the way.”
“Hmm...” I bite my cheek. “Not sure if I should applaud the state of progress or dread the incoming doom.”
