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Finally, my mom speaks up. “Language, Stella!”
“Sorry,” she calls from down the hall. “But she is one.”
Mom spoons out some scrambled eggs and then sets the plate in front of me. She smiles widely at me. “It’s so great to have you home.”
Another crash. I jerk my thumb behind me. “Because I distract you from that?”
She scoffs. “Oh, baby, that’s mild. Those two aren’t going to kill each other. I don’t know why Stella doesn’t just go live in the dorms.”
I nod. “I agree.”
“She’s a momma’s girl. Doesn’t want to leave me like you and your brother did,” she teases, and I laugh as I shovel some eggs into my mouth.
“Hey, I’m back, aren’t I?”
She arches a brow. “Oh, I know you’ve got one foot out that front door.”
I shrug. “Maybe,” I say with a chuckle, and I don’t feel the least bit guilty. “Not because of you, I love you, but all because of them.”
Just then, Emery comes into the kitchen. Her hair looks like a bird’s nest, and she’s glaring. “Stella pulled my braid headband out of my hair and called me a dumb bitch.”
Mom lets out a long huff. “What did you do?”
Emery shrugs. “Pulled my sweater off her.”
“And messed up my hair!” Stella calls from the other room.
“Can you kick her out? When is it my time to shine?”
I snort. “Em, when don’t you shine?” I ask, and she looks at me, displeasure swimming in her light green eyes.
“Why are you even here? I feel like when people turn eighteen, they gotta go and can’t come back.”
Mom purses her lips. “Emery, you know that will apply to you.”
She shakes her head. “No, I can live here forever because I’m your favorite.”
“Only because if she says you’re not, you’ll kill her in her sleep,” Stella says, coming into the kitchen. “Can’t we send her to a loony bin?”
Emery glares as my mom rolls her eyes. “Lord, you two. Can’t you just get along?”
“Nope,” they say at the same time, in the same way.
With that defiant little tip of their chins and their arms across their chests. It’s insane to me how they can fight like cats and dogs, but be so fiercely protective of each other. I have seen Stella fight a girl because she called Emery fat. Emery isn’t skinny, but she isn’t fat either. Though, she sure as hell doesn’t skip a meal. Since my mom is trying to make the house go sugar-free, Emery uses her allowance to buy the vending machine out of snacks at school. She’s crazy, but she’s smart. When Stella decided she was going to take something from Em’s stash, Emery bit her. I’m not exactly sure how my mom had complete basket cases after two perfect sons, but I’m pretty sure it’s because they’re the girls, the babies, and rotten to the core. I won’t say that out loud, though. It’d be like throwing a slab of meat to a hungry pack of lionesses.
And I’d be the meat.
“Man, it’s great to be home.”
Stella shoots me a dirty look. “Aren’t you supposed to be finding a closet lesbian to fall in love with?”
I glare. “Stella, dude, you’re like nineteen. Grow up and stop being a dramatic ass.”
Before Stella can even utter a word, Emery yells, “Don’t talk to her like that!” I gawk at her as she continues, “Don’t worry about how old she is. Go convince your best friend to actually like you ’cause she’s probably the only person who can handle your dorky loser self.”
“I can’t win.”
Mom nods. “Nope. They’re like a small gang that hates each other but will kill for each other. It’s really fascinating.”
