Ellie smirks. “Whatever you say, Soph. You gonna turn him away if he comes over tomorrow?”
At first, I thought she was kidding, but by the look on her face, I can tell she’s serious. “Is that really Tanner?” I ask hesitantly.
She nods. “Yep. Gorgeous, isn’t he?” I look at the pictures again, this time with a bit more scrutiny. Yes, the guy has the same blond hair and blue eyes as the rest of Ellie’s family, but how can it be Tanner? He’s changed so much. Ellie pulls back her phone and smiles at her brother. “He got rid of the glasses and the acne, got a California tan, learned how to surf, and bulked up.”
“And what’s his girlfriend going to say if he goes to a Valentine’s Day party with another woman?” The vodka starts to hit me, and I sway on my feet.
Ellie giggles and grabs my arm to steady me. “He’s single, Soph.”
I shake my head. “Doesn’t matter. He’s not going to want to go with me. Why would he? We haven’t seen each other in nine years.”
Grinning, she looks away and shrugs. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because when we were younger, he had the biggest crush on you.” And I ignored him when we were younger. Ellie looks back at me and squeezes my hand. “I’m going to talk to Tanner tomorrow. If he agrees, will you go with him?”
I can’t believe I’m even considering going to the ball. Then again, it’ll be a kick to Warren’s nuts if I show up with another man, especially one that is way hotter than him. Warren thinks he’s God gift to women. “Fine,” I give in. “If Tanner doesn’t mind, I’ll be happy to go with him. I’ll be in his debt.”
Ellie claps her hands. “Done. This is going to be so good. I wish I could be there to see the asshole’s face when you show up with another man.”
I glance down the hall toward my bedroom. “How about we make a pit stop before hitting the restaurant.”
Ellie’s eyes twinkle. “What ya got in mind?”
I shrug. “I’m thinking it’s time to give Warren back his stuff.”
“Oh yeah?” Ellie replies, smiling wickedly. “Want to toss his stuff in his front yard so everyone can see?”
The liquor has already made me feel better, but the thought of tossing his shit out sounded like so much fun. “Let’s do it. I want his stuff gone.”
Ellie jingles her keys in the air. “It’s gonna be a good night. Let’s go.”
2
Tanner
The incessant knocking on my bedroom door has me hiding under my pillow. I thought once I moved back to Raleigh and the sanctity of my parents’ home, I’d be able to sleep past the sun’s waking hours. I was wrong. Very, very wrong because my big sister, who is smaller than me thinks she needs to be up in my face every chance she gets, and she hasn’t grasped the notion that I am still technically on vacation. I have days left before my job starts and I’d like to monopolize all my time off by sleeping. Something I couldn’t do often in California. Although, who would want to? The surfing was prime and the weather unbeatable. Sure, North Carolina has some of the most amazing beaches to go along with the weather, but the lack of humidity on the West Coast was a welcome reprieve from the stifling dampness of the East.
Any hope I had of ignoring my sister doesn’t ago away. In fact, the knocking gets louder and I imagine her on the other side of the door, tapping her toe and sighing heavily. “What do you want?” I croak out.
“Let me in.”
“I’m naked,” I tell her, although I’m not.
“With who? Does mom know you brought someone home?”
My eyes roll so hard, I give myself a headache. Ellie has always been a tattletale, but now she’s just being ridiculous. It feels like I’m a teenager all over again. I can’t remember a time I ever got away with anything. She’s the mother hen, the hoverer, and took her big sister by ten months role to a whole new level. I finally throw the covers back and contemplate pushing my pillows underneath to give the illusion of a body, but I don’t. The last thing I want is for Ellie to push her way into my room and berate some helpless feathers.
I’m forced to navigate around boxes, strewn clothes, the power cord to my laptop and other miscellaneous items as I make my way to my door. I twist the pewter, not silver according to my mom, little mechanism which wasn’t created for people with big hands and open the door. I hide behind it, so Ellie can’t see my bottom half.
“What do you want?”
“Who is in here?”
“No one, I’m alone.”
“Why are you naked?” the mother hen asks sternly.
“I was busy.”
Her face morphs into complete disgust. “Gross.”
“Don’t even, I know you used to have a purple rabbit in your room named Romeo.” Her mouth drops open. “Oh, Romeo, Romeo, yes, yes, yes.” Her hand connects with my bare chest.
“Stop,” she shrieks. “That was a long time ago. I was young and lonely. Now I’m older with a healthy sex life.”
I groan. “I don’t need to know that shit.” Back in high school, our parents converted the basement into living space and I happily took the downstairs bedroom. The only drawback was that Ellie and her vibrator lived above me and she was a bit wild with her hand when she thought no one was home.
Ellie purses her lips. “It was so much nicer when you were living in California.”
“Tell me how you really feel.” I leave her standing at the door and go back to bed, flopping on top of my mattress in dramatic fashion. I feel the side dip and don’t bother looking at her.
“I did miss you,” she says, and I can hear the sincerity in her tone. She has a funny way of showing it though.
“Uh huh,” I say into my pillow.
She slaps me on the back of my leg. It seems my sister has a tendency to be violent. She was this way when we were younger, trying to spank me when she felt I was doing something wrong. “I need a favor.”
“Nope.” I don’t even know what it is, but I know I’m not doing it.
“It really wouldn’t be a favor for me,” she adds.
“Don’t care.”
She giggles. “You will when I tell you what it is.”
“I’m busy,” I tell her even though I’m not. I made sure to keep my schedule clean until I have to start work.
“I have a friend who needs a date to the Valentine’s Day ball at the Governor’s mansion.”
“Still don’t care.”
And she continues as if I haven’t said a fucking word. “Thing is, her boyfriend cheated on her with an employee of his and she wants to get back at him, and I figured since you’re home and looking all tan and buff, you’d want to take her. Help her make her ex jealous.”
“I don’t do drama.”
“There wouldn’t be any drama.”
I lift my head slightly to look at my sister. Her eyes are pleading, and I swear I could make her hop on one foot, with her tongue out and her hands pretending to be paws right now, but everything she’s saying doesn’t interest me.