“Yes, all of us,” Ava answers matter-of-factly, using a hand to gesture between the four of us. “I’m letting Drew, Mia, and Annie know too because I know how much they love the franchise.” She turns to me. “And maybe you can bring your friend, Anderson?”
I can’t stop my brows raising at the mention of my co-worker. He’s still stuck to me like glue, no doubt keeping an eye on me for the chief, even though I have yet to miss a therapy session or have any issues in the field.
“Anderson?” Rumi questions, but I look down and see the curve of her lips, even with her mouth slightly ajar in shock.
The three of us look at the redhead as she sways side to side to keep Evee asleep against her. “What?” she asks, looking around at us. “He’s cute, and I need to get laid.”
“And maybe he’s aTwilight-lover too.” Emerson turns to me and realization dawns.
“I am not aTwilightlover,” I tell my sister, but it’s too late.
Rumi turns to me, and I miss the contact of her body the second she’s no longer at my side but standing in front of me, her hands on her hips, her eyes wide. “You too?” The way she says it is as if it’s the biggest betrayal.
“What do you mean, ‘you too’?” Ava exclaims, causing Rumi to turn and face her. “You’re the weird one here—the only person on the planet who hasn’t even seen five minutes of one of theTwilightmovies. You didn’t even read the books in middle school like a normal person. You skipped straight to the vampire sm?—”
“Hey!” Rumi interrupts her, but I know enough about romance genres to figure out what she was about to say.
“Yeah, even Jack read them,” Emerson adds, helping Ava’s argument but making me want to strangle her in the process, the same way Rumi looks like she wants to do to Ava.
Rumi’s eyes get even wider as she looks back at me. “Youread the books?”
I put my hands up in surrender, shaking my head, ready to explain. “It’s not?—”
“Of course he did,” Emerson answers for me. “He joined my mom’s book club during one of her chemo runs when they read the first one—he read it to her because she was so tired from the treatments.” I look to my sister, more surprised than upset that she offered the information so willingly to Rumi and Ava, knowing my mom’s cancer journey and the impact it had on her isn’t easy for her to talk about. “Then, he read the next three on his own.”
Ava and Rumi both look at me, and I decide it’s not worth arguing. I shrug my shoulders. “I wanted to know how the series ended.”
I don’t mention that the books were something I talked about with my mom, her having read the rest of the series on her own when she went into remission. We saw the movies together, knowing they weren’t masterpieces, but it was something we shared.
Rumi and Ava turn to look at each other, Rumi shaking her head, seemingly already knowing what Ava is about to say. “See, now you have to at least watch the movies.”
Rumi’s head falls back, and she lets out a dramatic groan.
“That’s the spirit,” Emerson quips.
Rumi’s eyes turn to slits when they land on my sister. “If I knew becoming your friend would result in another person telling me to consumeTwilightmedia, I wouldn’t have said anything about Hey Honey’s hiring in your presence.” Shecrosses her arms, and I have to roll my lips together to hide my smile at her defiance—one of my favorite sides to see of her.
Not that I could ever really pick a favorite.
Emerson brings a hand to her chest. “Aw, Rumi. I love you too,” she teases, making Ava snort, and my smile finally becomes too big to hide.
I watch Rumi roll her eyes, and she’s close to accepting her defeat. “What time is the showing?”
“At 7 p.m.,” Emerson and Ava say in unison.
With a sigh, she relents. “I’ll have to see if Sadie is free to watch Evee.”
Ava looks at me. “You’ll text Rumi what Anderson says, so she can let me know?” She raises a brow, and I’m not surprised her and my sister get along so well, their scheming tendencies are much too similar for my liking.
I nod, pretending not to notice her eyes flit to my sister who gives her a subtle nod, as if they’re two masterminds watching their plan come to fruition. “He should be free.”
Anderson works the same rotation as me, and he hasn’t stopped asking me about my friend’s “redheaded roommate” since the night we did the inspection at their duplex.
“Then it’s settled,” Emerson says. “You and Rumi can ride in your truck—the back will be perfect for the drive-in theater. Anderson and Ava can ride in his car.”
“What about you?” Rumi asks my sister. She’s found her place back at my side throughout this exchange, gravitating toward me slowly like she didn’t even realize she was doing it. I wrap my arm back around her waist, the smell of vanilla enveloping me.
“Oh, I’m not going,” Emerson answers.
