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Brooke shook her head and turned, probably to hide a snicker. “Never mind. Don’t do the hair flip. You’re banned from that move.”
“Good,” Remi said, untangling the lamp from in her hair. “Because that move sucks.”
“Just snuggle up to him during the movie. I think you can handle that one, right?”
The thought of snuggling up to Colton made heat rush to Remi’s face. Could she be that bold? It seemed awfully forward. But she wasn’t about to admit that to Brooke. “Sure,” she said, trying not to let her voice squeak.
“Are you going to change?”
“No.” Why would she?
Brooke gave her one last frowny-face-scrutinizing look before she nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”
The sun had set and the heat of the day had evaporated, leaving a pleasant evening with a cool breeze. Remi knocked on Colton’s door.
“Hey, Brooke,” he said, rubbing his neck. His face flushed. He let them both in. “Hi, Remi,” he tacked on.
Brooke raised one eyebrow and gave Remi a meaningful look, but Remi had no idea what it meant.
“I brought popcorn.” Remi held up her microwavable pack.
“Great. Uh, I’ll put that in later. Let’s sit down first.” He plopped down in the middle of the couch and put his arms over the back. “Have a seat.”
Remi sat beside him, and Brooke gave her another meaningful stare before she sat on the other side of him. What was her problem? If she thought she was communicating something, she was sadly wrong. Remi was clueless.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Colton hopped up and grabbed a package from the desk. “Twizzlers. They always go with scary movies.”
Brooke jumped up from the couch. “Scary movies? No one said anything about a scary movie. I don’t do horror. Sorry. But you two go ahead. Remi, I’ll see you later.” She winked and then bolted out of the room, slamming the door.
Colton’s shoulders dropped and his whole countenance soured. “Did I do something wrong? Your sister used to watch scary movies with us.”
Remi’s mouth dried up. Great. She wanted Brooke there so it wasn’t obvious that she was trying to get close to Colton. And what does Brooke do? She makes it super obvious that she’s leaving the two of them alone. Remi tried to swallow, but she didn’t have enough spit so instead she just coughed. “She’s been acting weird lately. We should ignore her.”
“Oh.” Colton sat back down and ripped open the package. “Well, I guess that leaves more for us.” He pulled out a Twizzler and then offered her the bag.
“Right. More for us.” Remi pulled one out and bit off the end. It tasted like hot summer nights and lying in the grass watching the stars with Colton. Her heart warmed.
“I’ll start the movie. I’m so excited for you to see this.” He grinned at her, his dimple coming out, and she couldn’t help but smile back. This was the Colton she knew. The one who used to spend hours at her house during the weekends. Her best friend. The one she’d fallen in love with. She was glad. The deflated Colton bothered her. It was like he was crushing on Brooke or something.
She froze, her blood turning cold. Was Colton sad when her sister left because he liked Brooke? It made sense. He did stare at her earlier, on the beach. And Brooke did catch men like Remi caught colds. Her stomach dropped.
Colton had a thing for Brooke.
At least, that was what it seemed like. Maybe she should check to make sure she wasn’t jumping to the wrong conclusion. Something subtle. A sneaky small thing that would tell her the truth, but that Colton wouldn’t really notice.
He started the film and sat back into the seat. She tried to think of some way to trick him into telling her if he had a crush on her sister. She held her breath, then blurted out, “Do you like Brooke?”
So much for the subtle. She was no good at that anyway. She was about as subtle as a drag queen.
His mouth dropped open. “Was it that obvious?”
Remi’s heart sank. It was true. He did like Brooke. “A little.”
He gave her a pitiful look. “Do you think I have a chance? Like, at all?”
Nice. Now he was askingherif he had a chance with herolder sister. Remi wanted to shove him off the couch. Or punch him in the throat. Or both. Instead of resulting to violence, she cleared her throat to give her time to think of what to say. “I don’t know.” Brilliant.
“Did she say anything about me when you guys were alone?”
