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“He’s not over the hump yet.”
“You didn’t get humped yet?” Eli slaps me on the back. “All those dinners out and you still haven’t sealed the deal? Time waits for no man, Erikson. You best get to tapping that.”
Gianna sets the bottle of ketchup down on the table with unnecessary force. “Gross, Eli.” She says this to her brother but she’s scowling at me.
“I’m just kidding. Grace seems really nice.”
I don’t look up at either of them as I pepper my eggs. “She is.”
She’s more than nice. Grace is also a good sport. That first weekend after our date, I planned to meet Grace and her friends at a house party after the football game. I mentioned it in passing to Eli, knowing two of his hometown friends were planning on hitting the party at Gianna’s sorority house with him. I don’t know why I was surprised when Gianna texted me with some fake emergency less than an hour after I met up with Grace. That’s how she operates. Gianna knows Eli is my Achilles heel. Hint at the slightest bit of trouble where he’s concerned and I’ll drop everything. She knows this.
She wasn’t tipsy when I got there, not even close. The laugh, the falling into me crap? Phony as hell. Her eyes were clear, her reasoning skills fully in tact. I’m trained in intelligence gathering, trained to read body language, trained to detect even the slightest change in a person’s expression or breathing pattern. But I didn’t need any of that to read her. I could smell the lie from a mile away. And Eli was fine. He was nursing his beer, talking to some girl—best I’ve seen him in weeks. No, Gianna was being a brat, plain and simple. She wanted to ruin my night with Grace and she succeeded.
Gianna reaches across and takes the pepper shaker from my hand before I can put it down. “Too bad you’re leaving in three weeks.” She tilts her head to the side when I look up. “Seriously,” she says, her words laced with false sincerity, “I feel bad for both of you. I wish you had more time.” When I don’t answer, she goes on to plant the seed. “There are parties most nights of the week around here. You can’t expect that Grace won’t move on. I mean, she’s no different than anyone else, but I do hear that Grace and her friends are, um,regularsat the frat houses.”
“You heard that, did you?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “College life. That’s how it is for some girls.”
Eli looks to ease the tension at the table. “You got your eye on anyone special, G?”
“Nope.” She looks down to her plate like she’s sad, and I have to hold back from starting a slow clap and announcing:And the Oscar goes to...Gianna Oliveri.She shakes off her pain—gag—and grants her brother a soft smile. “Most of the guys I hang out with are really immature. Anyway, I’m focusing on my work this year. I have to keep my grades up or I’ll get booted out of the nursing program.”
“I’d say most of the guys at that party last week were all right. One or two jerks, but most of them were fine.”
Eli looks off into space, something he’s taken to doing the past couple of months. Everyone needs to reflect and think, that’s fine, but he can sometimes do it mid-sentence.
He comes back to us not half a minute later, takes another drink of water and looks at Gianna. “But you should focus on your work. Nursing is no different from pre-med. Those classes are no joke.”
Eli looks between me and his sister. I still think he’d be pissed if he found out about my momentary lapse in judgment a couple of years ago, but I’m fairly certain there’s a part of Eli that would like nothing better than for me to become a part of their family someday—anofficialmember of the family. Ugh.
“How are your classes going so far?” she asks Eli. And when I look down at my plate and see the sliced avocado and the blueberries, see the care she took to bring her brother a fresh, healthy breakfast, my anger cools.
“So far, so good. As long as the professors don’t go running at the mouth, spouting off on shit they know nothing about, then I’m happy.”
“I don’t follow,” Gianna says.
“Nothing. Gets me aggravated just thinking about it.” He takes a calming breath. Looking to me, he changes the subject. “What are we doing this weekend?”
My priority is supposed to be Eli, I know that. And while I don’t resent him for needing my support, I feel like I’m constantly torn between this sense of duty I have to help Eli and my desire to spend every last moment I have here with Grace. I’ve only known her for a few weeks, so it’s crazy to feel the way I do about her, but it’s how it is. There are never enough hours in the day to satisfy my need to be with her, and I pretty much always feel like I’m being pulled in opposite directions. I’m trying my best to do right by Eli but there are times, like right now, when it’s hard.
“I’ve got plans on Saturday but let’s do something Friday night.” I ask Gianna, “Know of any good bands playing tomorrow?”
“Not off the top of my head, but I’d be down for that. But I’d also be down for a quiet night, just catching dinner and a movie.”
“I wouldn’t mind laying low tomorrow night either. I want to check out the rugby game on Saturday. Some guy in my European History class asked me if I might be interested in joining, so I figured I’d go watch and see what it’s all about.”
I tell him, “That’s great,” without thinking it through, and get an eye roll in return. Yeah, I was a tad too enthusiastic there.
“So,” Gianna gets up and goes to rinse her plate in the sink, “movie night here and take-out, or do we hit the town?”
“Just come over here,” Eli tells her. “I’ll order from that sushi place you like. And you can ask your friend Kayla to come if you want.”
“Oh, I can askKayla?” she teases.
He stands and scrapes his plate into the trash. “Yes, wiseass. You can ask your hot friend.” Turning to me, he clears his throat and adds, “Ask Grace if you want.”
“Or don’t,” she says under her breath. Piping back up, Gianna smiles like it’s no big deal, but it’s clear that she’s annoyed. “If you two are looking to double date, just say so. I’ll stay home.”
