Page 52 of A Curvy Girl’s Hurricane Survival Guide

Oh God, what am I doing?! Am I seriously trying to make the female character in my game look like Cai?! I can feel the heat rise to my cheeks. “Well,” I say quickly. “I think you get the idea. Work on refining some of that, and then we can reconvene and see what you come up with.”

I log out before they can protest. Before they can push me for any more answers. But boy, if she is this entrenched in my thoughts when I just saw her a few hours ago, am I in trouble!

Rule #21

REMEMBER, SOME SEEDS ONLY SPROUT AFTER A HURRICANE

CAI

As I walk back to my parents’ house, I spot Crispi dragging downed branches into a pile by the house.

“Holy shit,” he says when he sees me approaching. “You actually came back.”

“Yeah, duh. I told you I would,” I say, rolling my eyes.

Crispi shrugs. “Yeah, but I figured you meant way later, or you would’ve gotten distracted or something. You know how you are.”

“Oh my God, Crispi. I don’t always go MIA when I say I’ll be back…”

“Holy crap, you’re back!” Alex calls as she walks up, sounding genuinely surprised.

“See!” Crispi exclaims, suddenly vindicated. “Told you!”

Their reaction stings more than I would’ve expected. “There have not even been that many times when I have ever gone to meet a guy in my life for this to be a thing.”

It’s Alex’s turn to shrug. “Enough times that it made an impression.”

“Well, don’t worry,” I mutter. “I’ll be gone soon, so you won’t have to deal with my annoying comings and goings anymore.”

Both of them threw their hands up at the same time.

“Why do you have to go there?” Alex asks. “Did anyone say that we wanted you to leave? Can you stop being such a drama queen?”

There it is. The family’s second favorite insult for me. “I’m not being a drama queen,” I say. “I think I’m calmly pointing out that you guys like to generalize everything I do as if it’s my entire personality.”

Cripi sighs. “Fine. You’re not dramatic. You’re just the perpetual victim.”

“That’s worse!” I fire back.

“Then stop making everything about you!” He retorts. “Look, we all get teased. Alex gets roasted for being obsessed with her hair and is super grossed out by feet. I get teased for never getting married and for always wasting money on stupid gadgets. We all have our thing. You are the only one who acts like this is all some personal conspiracy against you. You want to be treated the same? This is us, treating you the same.”

The words land like a slap. I open my mouth, but then close it. He is absolutely right. I have been making it all about me. I can feel my face flush, ashamed of my reaction.

Alex speaks in a gentle tone, no doubt noticing my distress, “The thing is you are really sensitive about that stuff, so probably it affects you more. But that doesn’t mean you care more or we care less. Like, it really bothers me that you ghost us whenever you get into a relationship. And that you moved away, and we barely ever see you. That sucks.”

I feel tears prick my eyes for a completely different reason now. “You do?”

“Yeah, duh,” Alex says, suddenly looking embarrassed. “Shut up.”

I smile despite myself. Crispi adds, “I guess Sonny was right.”

“What do you mean?”

“He told us during the hurricane that you’d love to hear that we wanted you around more. says you didn’t realize it. He’s a good dude.”

He really is.

A good dude I watched drive away, thinking I was still hung up on some loser I should never have been with in the first place. I want to throw up at the memory of our exchange. The ache in my chest sharpens.