Page 66 of Bring You Back

She is. She’s the only one, save for my parents, who always knocks before even attempting to enter my room. But I know what she’s doing. She’s trying to find fault—the tears in my thread to Reyna, to Banks. Two notorious non-knockers. She wants me to say I’m trying to keepthemout.

I don’t take the bait.

If this were a different time, I’d sayBanksto humor her.

“Yeah, why the hell are you doing that?”

“No,” Camille says to Banks’s return at the same time I snap, “Privacy,” which is hilarious considering my current situation. Let’s just throw a fucking watch party in the middle of the hall. Banks even brought snacks.

Camille throws her leg out in an attempt to trip him, but he steps over her, sparing us all an Oreo and milk shower. He drops to the floor, and I’m now closed in. I can’t focus. It’s placement, nail, screw, test,come on.

“I was here first,” Banks defends to Camille.

“I was here before we ever knew of your unfortunate existence.”

“Technically,Iwas here first,” I throw in, the clear winner. I was squatting in this hall before any of them.

I work faster, trying to tune out their banter, but bits and pieces filter through, along with Banks’s loud, sloppy chewing.

“Is someone doing laundry?” Camille mock asks, and a silent laugh hits my stomach.

“What’s the perfect timing for optimal sogginess?”

“Don’t bite into the crunchy part.”

“Hey. Back off.”

“Hey. Get smart.”

“What day is it?”

“Do I look like a calendar?”

“You look good enough to be a calendargirl.”

I hear athud, followed by Banks’s “Ow!”

One more nail and Banks’s babble about reincarnation later, he smacks my back, jostling the strike plate out of my hand. “Her brother died, so now someone else has to get a sibling. That’s you.”

I yank the plate off the floor and continue, thinking I must’ve told him about my dad’s affair last night. And of course, he remembers.

“It won’t be my sibling,” I say on a sigh. “And watch it,” I warn to his blasé remark about Caleb.

“Idiot,” Camille adds.

“You know,” Banks croons, a lilt in his voice when he’s about to say something sleazy. “Chicks tend to call guys idiots when they secretly like them. You want me.”

I can’t help but laugh.

“Iloatheyou, and trust me, it’ll stay that way. Now get the hell out of my face before I rip yours off.”

“Dude,” Banks says with another smack to my back, wanting me to come to his defense.

Camille has made many a threat to Banks over the years. Many with follow through. I expect her to try to rip his face off if he doesn’t leave. That, or give him another shower with the milk that’snotgetting on this floor.

I swipe an Oreo from his plate and shove it in my mouth, chewing and humming as I finish my work.

“Replace it,” he pouts.

---