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She pressed her lips into a thin line. The table had gone suspiciously silent apart from some mild squabbling between two cousins over the syrup.
Haley shrank deeper into her blanket-robe. She dropped her gaze and that was all the answer I needed.
Chase pushed his chair back, crowing with victory.
“Now that I’ve properly put my sister on the spot, I’m going to make my exit before she kills me.”
“I’ll get you back for this later,” she grumbled into her mug.
“I’m sure you will,” he replied with a quick kiss to the top of her head. “Love the frumpy bedbug look, by the way.”
Haley squawked with indignation and shoved him away. I wasted no time and slid into Chase’s empty seat until I was pressed shoulder to shoulder against Haley. She gulped and stared at me.
“Promise me something?”
She nodded. I lowered my voice and leaned in to make sure that she was the only one who could hear what I had to say.
“Pick a really good guy to be your first kiss, okay? Don’t just grab any dude who’s willing to give you a little tongue.”
Haley’s face turned tomato red.
“Did you have to say it like that?” she hissed.
I grinned. “You’re adorable when you blush.”
She grunted and pulled the blanket over her head.
“Theo!” Chase called. “Let’s move. We’re burning daylight already.”
Haley peeked out from her blanket cocoon.
“Where are you going?”
“Snowboarding,” I replied. “You’re welcome to tag along.”
“No, no, no,” Chase said, poking his head into the kitchen. He hopped on one foot as he tugged his boots on. “Little sisters are not invited.”
“This one is.” I patted Haley on the shoulder and gestured toward the stairs. “The truck won’t be warmed up for another ten minutes. Go get dressed.”
She flung her blanket aside and flew from the room, her footsteps pitter-pattering up the staircase.
I smiled to myself as I watched her go. Chase crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes in my direction.
“Dude, this was supposed to be a guys-only outing.”
I shrugged. “She could be sexting all day instead.”
Chase grimaced. “Good point. Let’s make sure we wear her out until she’s too exhausted to do anything else, shall we?”
Chapter Three
Haley
My crush on Theo Greely was definitely not getting any better.
Yesterday, we snowboarded for hours. I was clumsy and struggled to stay upright, but Theo remained by my side, holding my hand the whole time so I didn’t fall.
It had been two days since then and I still couldn’t stop thinking about the firm clutch of Theo’s hand enveloping mine, strong, steady, reliable.
