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“I played soccer,” I tell her. “Caleb was into those anime shows.”
“And I did martial arts,” Dominic adds. “Rich got me into it, after the bullying in middle school.”
“I was in marching band,” Sienna confesses. “I played the clarinet.”
“I can see that,” I tease. “You look like a band geek.”
“Yeah?” Sienna playfully narrows her eyes. “Well, I was getting laid in marching band. Were you getting laid playing soccer?”
Dominic and Caleb both let out a whoop and Dom points at me from across the table. “She’s got you there, bro,” he teases.
“I hope he wasn’t getting laid by the soccer boys,” Caleb adds.
“I’ll have you know I was the stud of the team,” I brag, flexing an arm. “All the soccer groupies were after me.”
“You mean all the soccer girls were after you because you broke their hearts,” Caleb accuses. “I heard the stories.”
“I was always a gentleman,” I insist, sniffing and turning up my nose. “If anyone was a heartbreaker, it was Caleb,” I shoot back. “He had that whole sensitive nerd thing going on. Girls flocked to him.”
“If I was such a heartbreaker, how come I didn’t get laid until senior year?”
“You know that has nothing to do with it,” I protest. “You had a new girlfriend every week.”
“If by girlfriend you mean girl who was a friend,” Caleb said, ears turning red. I smirk and bump his shoulder.
“You have the Ravenwood genes,” I tell him. “Means you’re irresistible to the ladies.”
“I dunno about that,” Dominic protests. “I had one steady girlfriend through most of high school.” He turns to Sienna. “She was nice, but she went away to school and we broke up.”
“You said you guys broke up because she didn’t like the Ramones,” Caleb says, pointing an accusing finger at Dom.
“That’s not a reason to break up with someone,” Sienna protests.
“The Ramones are his favorite band,” I say, chuckling. “Grace never liked Dom’s music taste. I think that her leaving for college was the excuse he used to break up with her.”
Laughter erupts around the table as we continue to share memories of our time in high school with Rich and the things we got up to, including the time we snuck out to see an R-rated horror movie.
“Rich was so mad,” I say with a laugh. “But he said that we wouldn’t get in trouble if we wrote an essay explaining the poor psychology behind the film’s premise!”
Sienna laughs so hard she’s got tears in her eyes. “Did you do it?”
“Dominic did,” I confess. “And Caleb started but got distracted. I ended up being grounded for a whole month. I was so mad that I threatened to sign up for the military.”
“Dang, that sucks,” Sienna says. “Did you sign up?”
“Nope,” I shake my head. “We ended up with different plans.”
“Is that when you met Emily?” Sienna asks, her smile suddenly turning sober. “Oh God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”
Dominic glances at me and the three of us exchange looks, a silent understanding passing between us. It feels like it’s time to talk about her, to finally tell Sienna the story about her, and her place in our lives.
My gaze drifts to the empty chair where Rich used to sit, a pang of loss echoing in my heart. “No, it's fine,” I say, my voice tinged with melancholy. “We’re ready to talk about her.”
34
SIENNA
“We’re ready to talk about her,” Bastian says.
