Her entire face is beet red and I bite back a laugh as we catch up to her brother.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lisette
“IhadsexwithKaleb.”
I go still before looking at Harmony in the mirror, and she’s looking at me as if she wasn’t supposed to tell me that.
“It was so bad.” She buries her face in her hands before quickly looking up at me. “I mean at first it was good,” she clarifies. “Like when we had our clothes on, it wasreallygood. Then we were naked and it was still good when he was touching me, but then he put it in and it was just awkward, and it hurt and it was justbad.”
I shake my head at her as I turn back to her hair.
“Aren’t you going to say you told me so?”
I steal a glance at her and she looks like she’s holding her breath.
“Did you use a condom?”
She nods slowly.
“Good.” I return to combing her hair. “It will get better when you’re with a guy you like instead of the first boy who calls you pretty when you’re sad.” I give her a knowing look and her guilty eyes cut to the side.
“Ana and I got into a fight and I invited him over. But he’s my boyfriend now.”
I don’t answer, although she doesn’t really give me time to.
“Ana overheard me telling my friend you were teaching me how to drive and she was being such abitch.” Her eyes quickly cut to mine, but when I don’t comment on her language, she continues. “She said really mean things about you and I think she was more mad that I defended you.”
My eyes trail to hers now. “What’d she say?”
Her eyes cut to the side again. “Is this Sage? I wish I could model like her.” She changes the topic as she focuses on the Polaroid I have on my mirror of Sage on the runway.
“What did she say about me?” I push harder.
She lets out a defeated breath as her eyes meet mine. “The same stuff… you’re a drunk and I shouldn’t be in a car with you. You’re not family to us.” She shakes her head. “Nothing that’s true.”
I nod in return as I gesture to the picture of my sister.
“Yeah, that’s Sage.” I smile to myself as I focus on the good in my life. “Her boyfriend is so damn obsessed with her. I love them together.”
Harmony takes the picture off of my mirror to get a better look. “She’s so pretty.”
“Right?” I lean over her shoulder to look at Sage. “She deserves the world.”
A smile touches Harmony’s face as she steals a glance at me. “You sound so proud of her.”
“I am.” I stifle a laugh as I turn back to the mirror to finish my hair. “Success came naturally to my brothers. I mean,sure,Sire had a shitty start, but the second he met August and picked up a baseball, his life started falling into place.”
I shake my head at my thoughts. “Sage doesn’t talk about how she fought tooth and nail to make it in the industry. I was up with her most nights as she cried about how hard it was, especially being a black girl. There were countless castings I had to literally drag her to. She has comesucha long way. I feel like it was just yesterday that August and I were teasing her for sucking her thumb in her sleep attenyears old. She’s older than me, but she’s still my baby sister in my head.” I laugh at the memories but falter when Harmony’s smile fades.
I realize my mistake, but she only musters up a smile as she picks up the other picture I have on my mirror, this one of all of my siblings and me at the twins’ birthday.
“You’re happy with them.” She tells me rather than asking. “Can you be honest with me?” She looks over at me.
“I won’t start lying to you now,” I tease but she remains serious.
“This is your life and this is your sister.” She picks up the picture. “If I’m not what you want, I can go and take my Ana drama with me.”