“Oh, you wanna hear all about your brother being naked? Perhaps some details regarding how big a certain anatomical part is?”
She pulled a face. “Ew, no. Just let me enjoy the part I played.”
“What do you mean the part you played? Does this have to do with the parent trap comment your mom made?”
“Reverse parent trap,” Niki corrected, as if that were the most important part of the question.
Julie arched her eyebrows. “Explain.”
“I didn’t get it at first. Then mom told me about this old movie, where two girls discovered they were twins. After their parents divorced, each parent took one of them and they were young enough they didn’t remember, or find out about it until they ended up at the same camp.”
“That’s disturbing.”
“Yeah, flawed logic at best. But I made my roommates watch it, and the twins switch places and basically force their parents together. It’s rocky at the beginning, but then”—Niki clasped her hands to her chest—”they realize they’re still in love.”
“Sounds mighty convenient.”
“Maybe a little, but love’s never really convenient, you know?”
Unfortunately, she did. Because ever since waking up this morning, she’d look at Gavin and experience this intense heart-squeeze that spoke to more than friendly feelings, and more than her body enjoying his. Thanks to the madness of the day, they hadn’t had the chance to even have a private conversation.
Not that it’d change anything.
Would it? Last night there’d been talk of future “beeping,” claiming her breasts with flags, and he’d said it was amazing for him, too. Fucking incredible, that was, and along with a flare of heat, Julie’s heart swelled as she replayed the words.
“Girl, that face is proof enough that you get it.”
“It’s just my face, Nik,” Julie automatically said, and then she glanced around the room to ensure no one was eavesdropping. Least of all Gavin, who was obviously not in the mood to discuss any of this with his family. So she quickly turned the tables. “You haven’t mentioned much about the guys at college. Anyone catch your interest?”
“I wish. College guys are so immature. I thought it’d be better once I graduated high school, but nope. If I could choose my sexual orientation, I would go for pretty much any other option. Female, robot, alien—whatever.”
Julie gave a sympathetic laugh. “I’m so sorry. But I get what you mean.”
“Don’t get me started on how they react when I tell them I play basketball.” Her upper lip curled, packing a whole lot of disgust for such a tiny movement. “They’ll say things like ‘oh, that’s so cute.’ Ummmm, no it’s fucking not. I’m a certified badass.”
“Hear, hear.” Julie held up her palm for a high-five, and Nikita’s smack verified her statement.
“The other thing I get asked is if that’s how I ended up at such a good college, as if I don’t belong there. Or some guys get competitive and challenge me to a game, and then they turn into literal crying babies when I wipe the court with them.”
A whorl of anger rose on Nikita’s behalf. “Dude, that’s so wrong. People assuming you’re not smart enough, or you don’t belong, and as for those guys you beat playing ball? They should be impressed.”
“Right?” Niki sank farther into the loveseat and put her feet up on the glass table Darlene was constantly wiping clean.
Out of the corner of her eye, Julie caught sight of Gavin. He and his dad headed in the opposite direction, holding a bag of charcoal. “Not that I’ve had a lot of experience, and I’ve dated my share of jerks—”
“Like Brad the Bastard?”
Julie tugged her gaze off Gavin’s backside and returned her attention to Niki. “I see Gavin told you about the super nice nickname he gave Brad.”
“Yeah, and I agree with him. That guy was the worst.”
A pang darted around Julie’s rib cage, and she sat up straighter. “Wait. Did Gavin tell you about how…” Hmm, now that she’d gotten herself into this pickle, how did she ask without revealing too much? The thought of having to repeat it, or of everyone feeling sorry for poor unexciting Julie, left her throat too tight. “About the boring thing?”
“Gavin never mentioned how boring the guy was, but it doesn’t surprise me.”
“I mean how when he dumped me, he told me it was because I was boring.”
The line of Niki’s jaw went rigid. “He said what now?” She cracked her knuckles. “Sounds like I need to have a little chat with the guy.”
“Funny enough, your brother felt the same way.” And probably still did. “But honestly, it’s okay. This trip has helped me realize our breakup was for the best. Now that I’m not paranoid that every story I tell about work will be met with disdain, I feel more myself. It was suffocating to be editing everything I wanted to say all day every day.”
The confession hit her, along with the truthfulness of the statement. Why would she stifle who she was for someone else? While most everyone had work stories that could be considered boring, when you cared about someone, they didn’t shame you over the things you were passionate about.
Since this conversation was supposed to be about Niki and had kind of veered off track, Julie attempted to bring it back around. “Anyway, my original point was that you have to wade through a lot of frogs to find your prince.”
“Ick. Gotta say, kissing them sounds like more fun.”
“Not if they’re slimy, unsatisfying, and give you warts,” Julie said, and then she and Niki both burst into laughter as they shuddered over the disturbing images she’d conjured.
Granny Frost popped up her head and peered at them from over the top of her glasses. “Are you two behaving over there?”
“Nah. Behaving is boring.” Niki jabbed her elbow into Julie’s side, and then Granny Frost lifted a hand to the side of her mouth and stage-whispered that her granddaughters were wise beyond their years, and to never let anyone tell them otherwise.
Julie supposed it might be weird to other people that she referred to Gavin’s grandmother and grandfather as hers as well, the same way he did to both sets of her grandparents, plus their parents on both sides. But they’d been in one another’s lives for so long, they’d been a giant, mishmashed family for as long as she could remember.
It was fairly obvious they weren’t all related, but she loved that their family went beyond skin color and blood. Wasn’t that the goal, even if it took years of dating and even marriage to get there?