Little Lies(13)

I find them sitting in the back corner of the campus café, and of course, they’re not alone. My cousin BJ is lounging in one of the chairs. His long legs are stretched out, and his head is tipped back, mouth hanging open, because he’s passed out cold. There are three pencils stuck in his man bun, and someone’s decorated his forehead with a row of reinforcement stickers.

“Lavy!” Lacey hops off the couch, jumps gracefully over BJ’s legs, and pulls me into an enthusiastic hug. It means my face is almost mashed into her chest. Lacey and Lovey are willowy, and very nearly identical. There are subtle differences, but unless you know them well, it’s almost impossible to tell them apart. They look very much like Barbie dolls come to life and are the kindest, most genuine girls I know. I’m so glad I’m going to school with them this year.

Lacey and Lovey are in their junior year, both studying public relations. They pledged the sorority and live off campus in a house with six other girls. They’re involved in pretty much every fundraising event there is, and they’re super outgoing. They invited me to pledge, but the idea alone makes my mouth dry, so I declined.

Lovey waits until I’ve made it past BJ before she gets up to hug me. “I love this dress! Do you think I can borrow it?”

Lovey is almost six feet tall, so I’m thinking the skirt would be a micro-mini at best, but if she’s cool with her underwear showing, so am I. “If you want, sure.”

They pull me down, so I’m sitting in the middle of the couch, sandwiched between them while they volley questions at me.

“How are you?”

“What’s your schedule like?”

“Are your brothers driving you nuts yet?”

“Are there any cute guys in your classes?”

“Have you seen Quinn? I heard he got into a fight this morning before the guys even got on the ice,” Lovey says, eyes wide and thumbnail between her teeth.

“Quinn is always getting into fights.” Lacey rolls her eyes. “There’s a party at our house this weekend. You should come and sleep over at our place! It’ll be so fun!”

I make a time-out sign before they can launch any more questions. “Overwhelmed,” I whisper and then realize, with horror, that I’m on the verge of tears and not sure why.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. Today has been a clusterfuck, and I still have one more class before I can go home and eat all the marshmallows out of a box of Lucky Charms.

“Oh no!” they both whisper back, and suddenly I’m engulfed in a hug from both sides. “We’re so sorry.”

“We know better.”

“Take deep breaths.”

“I’m okay,” I mumble, not wanting to draw more attention to myself.

They release me, but both shift at the same time, pulling one leg up so they can turn toward me, the movement synchronized.

“You don’t seem okay,” Lovey says softly and tucks my hair behind my ear.

“It’s been a long day. And to answer your questions, yes, my brothers are driving me nuts, my schedule isn’t bad, but today is heavy, and I didn’t know about Quinn and the fight. It’s not really a huge surprise, though.” I adore Quinn, but he has a short fuse. “There’s a nice guy in my costume and set design class who might be cute, but I couldn’t see him very well because I didn’t have my glasses, and let me think about the party. A sleepover would be fun, but we’ll see if I can deal with the meeting new people part.”

“The girls in the house are really chill, and the guys who come to our parties don’t hang out with the hockey team, so you won’t have to worry about your brothers showing up, or anyone else.” Lacey chews her bottom lip and glances furtively at BJ, still passed out in the chair. He can literally sleep anywhere.

“Maybe.”

Lovey grins and claps her hands. “Maybe is almost as good as a yes.”

“And there will be tons of cute guys.” Lacey waggles her brows.

I laugh and shake my head. “We’ll see. As much as cute guys sound awesome, I’m not sure my brothers are going to make dating very easy this year.”

“Hopefully they’re too busy with sports and classes to pay attention to what you’re doing.” Lovey twirls the end of her hair around her finger. “Thankfully Liam and Lane live closer to hockey row, so they can’t interfere with our dates.”

Lovey and Lacey are the youngest of six, and they have four older brothers to my three, so they sort of understand where I’m coming from, but not completely.

“They’re also super chill,” I point out.

“This is true.” They nod in tandem.

As much as the idea of a party excites me, the reality isn’t at all the same. I want to be social, to have lots of friends like they do, to join clubs and be part of things, but I get so stressed out when there are too many people around. People think I’m weird.

Which I am, but in those situations, I end up looking weirder than average.

My stomach growls loud enough to startle me. I glance at the line of students. There are at least ten people waiting to order.

“Are you hungry? Do you want me to grab you a coffee? Something to eat?” Lovey offers.

“I can wait.”

“I was about to get a tea. Tell me what you want, and I’ll order it for you.”