I forced myself to look away from Charlie and over toward Jamie, and suddenly his shit eating grin made perfect sense to me. I not-so-playfully punched him in the leg. “Jerk! You told me you had a brother.”
Jamie laughed. “Actually, I didn’t. You just assumed that.”
“Well, you certainly didn’t correct me,” I argued.
Jamie was now laughing so hard that a few tears ran down his cheeks. “First of all, I was teaching you a lesson. I’ve told you multiple times that you shouldn’t interrupt people and you totally interrupted me when I was about to say twin sister. Also, you shouldn’t assume. You know what happens when you assume.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re such a teacher,” I groaned.
“And you’re ridiculously predictable. I knew you would be drooling over my straight, blonde sister.”
I wiped my mouth, hoping there wasn’t actually drool there.
Jamie realized what I was doing and laughed even harder. “Emphasis on the straight, Reagan. You can erase all of those thoughts from your head right now.”
I scoffed at his words. “Whatever, Jamie. I don’t go for straight girls.”
He lifted one eyebrow at me. “Since when?”
I squirmed a bit in response to his stare. “Since the last time I went for one and said I was done with it. What was that? Like three months ago? Plus, I totally don’t go for straight sisters of my fake boyfriend.”
Jamie simply shook his head and pat me on the knee. “I know you don’t.”
The moment was interrupted when we heard a knock on Jamie’s car door, which Charlie proceeded to tear open. “Well, aren’t you two just adorable?” She tilted her head in a way that was actually adorable. Ugh. I needed to stop. Jamie was right. Pining over his sister, no matter how hot she might be, was a bad idea for so many reasons.
“Sis!” He jumped out of the car to wrap her in a hug. “Sorry I couldn’t make it to your graduation. I couldn’t get enough days off to fly out to Cali. It’s hard to get any time at the end of the school year.”
Charlie gave her brother one more squeeze before pulling back. “No worries. It’s completely understandable. Plus, it was ridiculously boring. I would’ve skipped it if I could have.” She then looked past her brother and right at me. “We’re being super rude right now. You must be Reagan. I’m Jamie’s sister, Charlie. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Before I could respond, she skipped over to my side and opened the car door for me. My face must have turned red from her gesture, because she immediately looked down at her feet as though she was embarrassed. Real smooth, Reagan. “Sorry if I seem a bit overzealous. We’ve just been hearing about you for years, and I guess I’m a bit excited to finally meet you.” She looked back up at me with a wide smile, as if I hadn’t just made her feel awkward.
“Don’t even worry about it. I guess I’m just not used to a Miller being so chivalrous.” I winked. Shoot. Was I flirting now? I needed to pull myself together, before I completely blew this for Jamie.
Charlie’s smile widened to the point that it almost seemed fake, and she looked past me to raise an eyebrow at her brother. “Hear that, Jamie? Your girlfriend doesn’t seem to think you’re much of a gentleman.”
Jamie simply chuckled and reached back into the car to grab my hand. “Oh, she’s just messing around. She knows I’m a big softie at heart. Right, sweetheart?”
I tried my best to smile lovingly over at him. “Total softie. You should see him when we watch—” Before I could finish my sentence, Jamie gave my hand a strong squeeze, as a warning that I needed to shut up. “Just kidding. He’s my big macho man. Aren’t you, boo boo?” I joked, attempting to imitate every annoyingly affectionate straight girl I had ever met.
Jamie shook his head playfully, then let go of my hand so he could get out our luggage. I took this opportunity to get out of the car and stretch my legs, which were killing me from being cramped during the car ride. When I stood back up after bending down at the waist to reach for my toes, I noticed that Charlie was staring at me. Great. She was probably trying to size me up and figure out if I was good enough for her brother, which I’m sure I was failing at.
“Shall we go meet the ’rents?” Jamie asked, as he awkwardly tried to carry all of our luggage.
I smiled. “Of course. But let me help you with the bags, babe. Everyone already knows you’re a tough guy. No need to prove it.”
Jamie let me take my bags without putting up a fight, and the three of us headed toward the house. As soon as we entered the doorway, we were greeted by a hallway filled with pictures of Jamie and Charlie. Jamie in his football uniform. Charlie in her cheerleading outfit. Charlie leaned up against Jamie, both wearing their respective uniforms. Jamie in a suit and tie, standing behind some girl, both in a typical prom pose. Charlie in a knee-length dress, with what looked like a homecoming crown adorning her head.
Before I could take in the rest of the pictures, a voice came booming into the hallway. “Is that my MVP?” A man walked around the corner with a wide grin on his face. He was close to the same height and build as Jamie, but his hair and eyes were much darker. Completely ignoring Charlie and me, he pointed one finger at Jamie. “Fourth and fifteen!”
To my surprise, Jamie dropped his bags and pointed back. “Ball on the 45 yard line. Three seconds left on the clock.”
“Buckstown, down by five. James Miller gets the snap.”
“Looks right—no one is open. Looks left—no one is open.”
“Dodges a defender, only to have another defender grab him by the legs. Breaks himself free. Looks down the field. Does he dare?”
“Oh, he dares.” Jamie’s eyes became tense with these words. Meanwhile, my eyes ping-ponged back and forth between the two of them, watching in horror as the scene played out in front of me.
“Miller makes his way down the field. He crosses the fifty. He’s at the forty, the thirty, the twenty. He…could…go…all…the…”
“WAY!” Jamie shouted, doing some weird sort of combination between a chest bump and hug with his dad. I looked for Charlie, curious to see how she was reacting to this, but she was no longer in the hallway.
Just then, a short, somewhat stout, blonde woman walked into the hallway, shaking her head. “Can’t you two tone it down a bit?” Shrugging her shoulders, she added, “Boys will be boys, I guess.”
Jamie took this opportunity to drop back and stand next to me, taking my hand in his and leaning in close, as if he was about to place a kiss on my cheek. Instead, he whispered a barely audible apology into my ear. It took everything in me not to burst into laughter. This was already too much to handle.
The blonde woman smiled at our interlocked fingers, then reached her hand out toward me. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, dear. We were afraid it was never going to happen.” Her tone was pleasant, but I didn’t miss the bite behind her words.
I cleared my throat in order to give myself a moment to think. “Of course. I’m very sorry it has taken so long. Family is so important to Jamie and me, and we wanted to make sure that we were at the point where we were ready to truly commit to each other, before we introduced each other to our families.”