“Shoot,” I say as I swallow, giving her my full attention.
“Who do you admire the most and why?” She asks, beaming at me. It reminds me ofhow Delilahlooks at Derek and my stomach flips at the thought.
“My sister,” I say without hesitation.
Jules will always be the strongest womanthat Iknow, from her struggles with anxiety and dyslexia, to becoming a supermodel and salutatorian of her graduating class. I don’t believe that there’s anything my older sister can’t do, and I strive to be just like that.
“Juliette went from being the kid in the back of the class who kept her head down to a runway model. She inspires me in more ways than one but her perseverance makes me admire her.” I shrug. Juliette can be annoying like any other sibling, don’t get me wrong, but she was my first best friend. She was thefirst person to take me in and make me feel welcome and for that I admire her just a bit more.
“Your sister’s a model? Which one?” Cleo asks, still recording as I chuckle bitterly.
“Jules Avery.” I sigh as her eyebrows shoot to her hairline.
Yup. An average reaction to my sisters name.
“You’re Jules’ brother?! Dude, she’s best friends with my cousin!” Cleo’s voice is high as she continues to record my face yet shuffles around in her purse for her phone.
I furrow my brow at her as she goes through her phone, excitedly scrolling. Maybe she hasn’t seen the messages, yet. Cleois grinninglike a mad man when she pulls up a picture of Jules and Zahria, one of Jules’ model friends in New York.
“You know the Z’s?” I ask shifting my gaze between Cleo and the phone.
“Know them? I used to live with them every summer!" She exclaims.
“Our parents are siblings—same with Sienna. There’s me, Aunt Lyric, Aunt Melody, Uncle Major, Dad, the twins, Zay, Ryan, Mama, and Papa,” she says pointing to each of the notably famous people in her phone. I reel back as I look over the screen, shocked I hadn’t put it together sooner.
“Your grandparents are Apollo and Marie Jones?Thejazz singers?”
Cleo nods like this isn’t a huge deal. Her grandparents made my childhood!
Every Sunday, my mom played Marie Jones while cleaning, and Dad would play Apollo J every nightwhen hecooked dinner. My jaw is agape as I look further at the photo.
“Zayden Jones as inthe Quarterback?” I gasp.
How much cooler can Cleo get?
“Yup. The one and only, he’sactuallysuper annoying once you get to know him. No sense of personal space whatsoever.” She rolls her eyes.
I try to mask my fanboying, but I fail. Cleo’s laughing, likeactuallylaughing at me, as I continue gawking at her phone.
So let me get this straight. Not only was her dad one of the best in the NHL and her mom is an Olympic gold medalist. Her grandparents are legends in themusic industryas well asher aunts, uncle,andcousin. Also, the number one draft pick is her cousin?
What's next? Her dog is a fucking movie star Chihuahua?
Cleo's phone dings loudly, drawing her attention away from me. She frowns as she looks at it and sighs, running a hand through her hair.
“Speaking of those devils… I forgot that Sienna and I have to talk to the twins and Zay tonight. You ready to go?” She asks, looking up briefly as I nod, collecting our bags.
“Thanks for today, Blake. I think that these clothes should be good for this weekend, right?” Cleo asks, turning in the passenger seat to look at me as we pull up to a red light.
“What’s this weekend?” I question, briefly looking over at her before the light turns green.
“Fall Fest. G told me it’s a big deal here so we’re going for eachof the daysto get the full experience.” She beams, bouncing in her seat excitedly.
Fuck, thatisthis weekend. I need the guys to keep it together. We can’t have any distractions with our first gamerolling aroundnext week.
I have to make sure Jace and Charlie go home alone this weekend. Last Fall Fest, those two dumbasses brought back five random girls to the house. And that was just between the two of them, the fuckers nearly started a war with the basketball team because of it.
“Did you hear me?” Cleo’s voice drones back in, catching me off guard as I continue driving to her apartment. “I asked if you were you going, we could get some good clips for the documentary!”
