Settling the Score (The Summer Games #1)(58)

She shook her head. “Jor-jee, not Jor-juh.” She stepped past me and plopped her purse on the kitchen counter like she’d done it a thousand times before. “Well, I mean, Georgia is my real name, but I despise it, so please, call me Georgie. And may I call you Andie?”

I nodded, still standing with the door in my hand.

“Cute onesie,” she said with no hint of sarcasm. She was already moving around the condo, taking in the space and flipping through a stack of papers on the table. Her cool brown eyes met mine and I was momentarily silenced. She looked so much like her brother, but smaller and—obviously—feminine.

“Well, Andie, I’ve been dying to meet you, of course.”

She grinned and stepped close so she could wrap me in a tight hug. I stood frozen, confused by her obvious approval. Wasn’t she friends with Princess Caroline? “You’re just as gorgeous as I imagined,” she said before stepping back and holding me at arm’s length. “The photo I saw online had you with long hair. Have you gone and chopped it?” She reached up to feel one of the uneven strands. It was still damp from the shower, so hopefully she couldn’t tell how terrible it looked.

When I didn’t answer right away, her smile fell. “Oh no, I’m scaring you already, aren’t I?” She spun around and went back to rifling through the condo. “Or not…if my mangy brother hasn’t frightened you away, I couldn’t possibly deter you. Although why are you even hanging with him? In just a few hours, I’ve spied dozens of better-looking blokes roaming about. Have you seen that Argentinian basketball player, the one with a bum like—”

“Why are you here?” I asked, interrupting her.

She didn’t seem to mind. She turned back and glanced at me over her shoulder. She truly was gorgeous, all big brown eyes and pink cheeks. “Because Caroline is a naff cow, of course.”

I smiled, appreciating the sentiment even though I had no clue what it actually meant.

“I take it you two aren’t friends?”

Georgie leveled me with a serious gaze. “Caroline Montague has the brain of a dim weasel and the personality of a dead mouse.”

I burst out laughing and Georgie smiled. “Was that a bit harsh?” She shrugged. “Ah, well, sometimes the truth hurts. Now, go put some shoes on because I need a tour guide to take me around the village so I can find a handsome athlete of my own.”

I frowned. “What? I can’t…”

My gaze drifted to the chicken growing cold over on the counter.

She eyed it like it was last year’s fruitcake. “Right. That. How about we get a real dinner too while we’re out?”

I could have said no. I could have sat down at my kitchen table and ate chewy chicken by myself, moping around until Kinsley and Becca finally got home, but I was too intrigued. “Okay, just let me change out of this onesie really quick.”

She frowned. “But then you’re just as boring as everyone else.”

I spent the next hour leading Georgie around our complex. I showed her the gym, the computer room, and the food court, all the while wondering how a person like Georgie Archibald actually existed. She was outspoken, beautiful, and slightly insane. When we poked our heads into the gym, she clapped her hands loudly and shouted, “Keep up the good work, ol’ chaps!” Every head turned in her direction, but she’d already turned and walked away, leaving me with the awkward task of waving before ducking out after her.

“You’re a brilliant guide, I promise, but so far, you’ve shown me every boring destination on Mt. Olympus. Where are the sex rooms?” She turned to me with wide eyes before rapping her foot on the solid ground. “Is there a dungeon?”

I shot her a skeptical glare. “If there is such a place, I haven’t found it.”

She pouted. “Well poo. Maybe we’ll have to make one then.”

“Were you and Freddie raised in the same house?” I asked with a half smile.

She nodded. “Yes, up until he went off to swim camps and all that. Why do you ask?”

I shrugged. “You’re just much spunkier than him.”

Spunky was the only word I could think of that wouldn’t offend her.

She nodded. “I haven’t a clue what ‘spunky’ means, but I accept your crude American compliment.”

She poked her nose into a room we were passing. A sign on the door read No Trespassing, but she didn’t seem to care.

I smiled.

She hummed and scanned over me again. “You know, you’re not Freddie’s usual type.” She waved her hand in front of my face. “He usually fancies girls a bit more…”

I waited for her to fill in the end of her sentence.

“Posh.”

“Posh?”

She glanced over. “Girls like Caroline.”

My heart sank. “Right, well, I’m definitely not Caroline.”

“Thank god,” she rasped, stringing her arm around mine. “I know it must have been a shock to have us arrive yesterday. We weren’t due for another week, but Caroline insisted on coming early. I wasn’t going to let her come alone and muck everything up, so here I am.”

I nodded. “Well, thanks for coming.”

“Has Freddie filled you in on the dreadful situation?”