Settling the Score (The Summer Games #1)(45)

“Thom, Jesus. My room doesn’t smell like this. What do you do out here when I’m gone?”

He held his hands up in innocence. “You know I have a weakness for tuna. And sardines are some of the best sources of—”

“Sod it, I’m starting to think this was a mistake.”

The place smelled like a fish market and there was no changing it. I gave up and went back to work tidying up. By the time she was due to arrive, I’d completely forgotten about dinner. My stomach growled, letting me know how much it didn’t appreciate not being fed on time.

“Mate, do me a favor: will you order something from the food court? I doubt Andie will have eaten and I’m starved.”

“Anything in particular?”

I shook my head. “No, but she’s got a match early tomorrow, so something with lots of protein.”

He went off to his room and I reached for the supplies I’d picked up in the shop on the first floor. They had a small selection of birthday decorations—for the few sad sods who had to celebrate while they were competing in the games—but hopefully it would be just enough to convince Andie not to turn around once she opened the door and discovered I’d lied.

“Oh, and mate—don’t you dare bring back fish!”





CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE


Andie




“ANDIE, YOU’RE IN the way. I can’t see the movie.”

“Well maybe that comes with the territory when you decide to watch a movie in my closet. Isn’t there a better place?”

Becca rolled her eyes up at me from her spot on the ground like I was the crazy one. “We can’t very well watch it in our closet—it’s full of cute clothes that can’t get wrinkled.”

“Why do you have to watch it in a closet at all?” I demanded.

“It would be sacrilege to watch The Notebook under the glare of the harsh Rio sun,” Kinsley said while drying her tears with one of my shirts.

Becca nodded. “Plus, this makes it feel like we’re at the movies.”

“Well I really need to find something to wear,” I said, trying to hold my towel up while also maneuvering around them. The closet was already small, and with the two of them trying to use it as their own personal movie theater, there was no hope for me.

Kinsley groaned dramatically. “Pause it, Becca. We’ve missed the last five minutes.”

“Yeah, I’m confused. Did they time travel, or were they old people the whole time?”

I flipped on the light overhead and the two of them hissed and covered their eyes like zombies seeing the first light of day. “Jesus! Rookies these days,” Kinsley said, reaching past me to try to turn the light back off.

I held my hand up with a firm, “NO!”

They sat there, wearing their matching onesies as I tried to rifle through my clothes above their heads. I pulled out a light blue dress and held it up to the light.

“Not cute,” Becca said.

“Nuh-uh,” Kinsley agreed.

I shoved it back on the rack and reached for another one.

“Worse.”

Becca nodded. “So much worse.”

“Wow, film and fashion critics. You guys are very talented.”

They sat quietly until I pulled out the next dress. It was black and short with spaghetti straps that crisscrossed in the back. I’d worn it so many times that the cotton-blend material had grown just soft enough to feel like pajamas. It was the perfect casual black dress for a party I still wasn’t sure I’d be attending.

“Winner winner, chicken dinner,” Kinsley said as I held it up to my body. It was even shorter than I remembered.

“Where are you going?” Becca asked, fidgeting with the unicorn horn on her hood.

“Out,” I answered, turning to walk out of the closet in pursuit of my black strapless bra.

“Out out?” Kinsley asked. “We have a game in the morning!”

“No. Not out out. I’m staying in the building.”

Actually, odds were I’d be staying in my room. All day I had gone back and forth on whether or not I wanted to attend Freddie’s party. I wanted to see him and I wanted to make the most of my time in Rio, but I knew it wasn’t a good idea to go. Even if there was a room full of people to buffer the tension between us, that also meant a room full of people to blab to Sophie Boyle.

“Did you shave? Because that dress is really short…”

I turned to to find Becca and Kinsley lying on their stomachs at the door of the closet. They were watching me get ready with their heads propped up on their hands and their legs up in the air. They looked like the two kids at the slumber party that you only invited because your mom made you.

“Yes,” I said, reaching down to confirm. “My legs are smooth.”

“But your hair…are you going to leave it like that?”

I’d blown it dry after showering and put it in a loose braid down my back.

“Kins, you’re literally dressed like a frumpy unicorn. I don’t need any more input on my appearance.”

“What about your makeup?” Becca asked, kicking her feet back and forth.

I was five seconds away from murdering the both of them.

I turned to Becca and smirked. “Guess what? At the end of that movie every—”