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Skylar had gotten her period for the first time three months after their mom died. Their dad had already been deep in the bottle by that point, so Nate had run out to buy her tampons. That had gone well enough. The humiliating part came after, when he’d tried to explain to his then-twelve-year-old sister how to use said tampons.
Nate had no clue how those things worked. He’d Googled it and ended up delivering a stilted presentation that involved cranberry juice, flower analogies, and one traumatized tampon before a horrified Skylar cut him off and said she already knew how to use one. She’d taken sex ed, thank you very much.
The presentation remained one of the most cringe-inducing experiences of Nate’s life, second to his, er, nutty visit to the ER.
“Sorry.” Skylar giggled before the wariness returned to her eyes. “So you’re not upset?”
“Of course not. You can come to me about anythingif you want to.But I’m not equipped to handle all the inner workings of the teenage female psyche.” In truth, Nate was relieved that Skylar had someone else to talk to. He tried his best, but some things were meant for female ears only. “But if there’s anything big going on—any reason you joined this organizationnow—let me know. You don’t have to tell me the details, but we’re family and we got each other’s backs, right?”
Skylar’s lower lip trembled. She nodded once before she flew across the space between them and tackled Nate in a blur.
He grunted at the sudden impact.Oof.
Nevertheless, he hugged her back, a mess of emotion clogging his throat. The last time they’d hugged like this had been on the one-year anniversary of their mom’s death, and that had been a sad, we-have-to-hold-each-other-up-or-we’ll-fall-apart hug. This was a decidedly happier embrace.
“There’s nothing out of the ordinary. I joined now because I didn’t even know MentHer existed before. Promise.” After a minute, Skylar seemed to realize she was a teenage girl and it was uncool of her to hug her brother. She unwrapped herself and wrinkled her nose. “You’re all gross and sweaty. Like I said, you need a shower, Stinky.”
She squealed when Nate grabbed her in a playful headlock and tried to make her smell his armpits. “Who are you calling Stinky?”
“Ew, stop!” she scream-laughed. “Mynose!”
They tussled for a few minutes before they called a truce. By then, they were both winded and Nate’s sides hurt from laughing.
Man, that felt good after a craptastic morning.
“You’re a good brother,” Skylar said. “Even if you sweat like a pig.”
He bumped her shin with the toe of his shoe. “Seventeen-year-olds. Queens of the backhanded compliments.”
“Don’t you forget it,” she sassed before switching topics. “So, you didn’t answer my question earlier. What did you do to Kris?”
Nate’s smile faded when he remembered how he’d left Kris in Runyon Canyon. Sort of. He’d technically waited for her, and she’d left with some other guy—unless she’d been lying. But she had no reason to lie.
Guilt and jealousy churned in his stomach.
“I was an asshole to her,” he admitted.
“Language.” Skylar giggled when Nate bopped her with a throw pillow for turning his own words against him.
“Apologize,” she said. “Kris is great. I wish she could be my official mentor, but she’s too young. The MentHer staff is only letting it slide for now because they’ve been so busy and there’s a shortage of volunteers.” Skylar sighed. “She taught me how to do a smoky eye and gave me boy advice.”
Nate flinched. “You’re dating?” That was one area of Skylar’s life he didn’t want to dwell on. Just thinking about her prom night gave him an ulcer, especially when he remembered how he’d spent his own prom night—in a hotel room with the head cheerleader, doing things that would make a porn star blush.
He’d been a teenage boy himself not too long ago, and he knew exactly what went through teenage boys’ minds.
“Not yet.” Skylar grinned. “Don’t worry. Kris givesgreatadvice.”
“Oh, yeah?” Nate narrowed his eyes. “Like what?”
“Apologize to her and maybe she’ll give you the advice herself.” Skylar’s grin widened at his sour expression.
“Way to take sides,” he muttered, even though he knew she was right.
He owed Kris an apology, and soon.
