Page 175 of Jaded

“Hey, Avvie!” Olli beams as Avery hobbles into the kitchen. “Word on the street is Coach has his eye on Number Seventeen.”

“What?” Avery breathes, frozen mid-kitchen.

“Obviously”—Olli’s mouth twitches—“I gave you a glowing recommendation. As, I hear, did Mr. Taylor.”

“Oh, I like this one,” Brenda says.

“I think Dad likes him too.” Syd leans close to stage-whisper in my ear, loud enough the whole room hears. She catches my eye, smirks. “But don’t tell him I said that.”

I give her the finger.

“You set that table yet, Nattie?” Brenda asks, and I scurry away before she can get any ideas about swatting me with a dirty spatula. Olli follows me to the table, a stack of silverware in hand. Avery plops down at the far side of the table, still looking shell-shocked, and Syd takes the seat beside him.

Then the whole family’s squished around the narrow table, which only makes it feel cozier, friendlier. Or maybe it’s just that Olli and I are pressed together, so his arm brushes mine, knee rubs mine, so I keep feeling the warmth of him, catching tantalizing tendrils of his soft scent.

Whatan odd little family we make. What was it Syd called us—a venus fly trap?

We are just that. And it feels so right to count Olli in among us.

He fits so seamlessly into my family, he might have been a part of it all along.

We talk.

Laugh.

Joke.

Tease.

All of us ragging on Avery, then me. We ask Syd about her social media, and she tells us how she’s turning it into her senior project.

“The world loved Olli’s video,” she says. “Some of the things they commented . . . Shit, it almost made me cry. And I’m not a crier.”

“Don’t show me, then,” says Olli, and we all laugh.

When Olli tilts his head back, I can’t help the way my gaze follows the smooth curve of his throat, traces the line of his cheekbone, the black flutter of lashes. It takes actual effort to resist the urge to twine my fingers into his hair.

And when I wrench my gaze away, Brenda’s watching from across the table, her mouth twisted into a knowing smile. I scowl, but Syd’s looking at me too.

How does everyone know my secrets, just like that? How is it so obvious to everyone else?

Hell, though, it’s so easy to reach for Olli’s hand, twine our fingers together atop the table. “So, I have something to say.”

“Oh, my God. You’re pregnant,” groans Syd, and we all laugh.

“Okay, but really,” I continue as the laughter dies down.

“We’ve known for like, forever.” Syd glances towards Avery. “Did you finally figure it out too?”

“I brainwashed him.” Olli leans his head against my shoulder, everybodyoohs, and I alternate between glaring and smiling.

The sharp crack of a knock on the front door cuts through our mirth.

The laughter dies out of the room like the flame from a doused candle. Like somehow that knock feels ominous, or maybe it’s just unexpected enough to put me on edge.

Brenda rises. But I beat her to the door.

I open it to find my brother Jesse framed against the whiteout of snow behind him. For a moment we just stare at each other, my body between him and the warmth inside.

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