Page 39 of You're So Vine
Shakes his head. “Should have checked supplies before I went to Martinburg.”
I forgive him. He got me underpants and condoms instead.
“I can eat macaroni with grated cheese on it,” I say.
“I’d sooner eat wood shavings,” he replies. “Shit. Looks like I’m heading into Verity for pizza.”
Verity’s one pizza parlor is terrible. The tourists keep it in business, but the locals only go there if they’re drunk or hungover or have been on a keto diet for way too long.
Cam’s pocket makes a brr-brr sound. We’re both clothed again, by the way. Shelby’s jeans fit me perfectly, but I’ve put Cam’s flannel shirt back on because it’s soft and smells like him. He’s also in a flannel shirt and jeans, so we’re twins. If twins looked nothing alike and were committing incest. Bad simile. Bad.
Brr-brr. Cam pulls out his phone and immediately, I tense up. But he frowns at it like he’s puzzled, so it can’t be Her.
“Hello?” he says.
Then he says, “Yup,” and “Okay,” and “Yup” again. I think I drained all the words out of him.
He looks over at me, and says, “It’s your sister. Says they’re all having dinner at Nate and Shelby’s and do we want to come, too.”
“Who’s ‘all’?” Important question.
A tinny yapping comes through his phone. Izzy heard me.
“Izzy, Danny, Max,” Cam relays. “And Jackson.”
“No parents?”
Tinny yap.
“Nope,” says Cam.
I don’t know. Family…
Cam sees my hesitance.
“Ava’s supposed to be resting,” he says to Izzy.
I hear a peal of laughter. Minx. I know exactly what she’s implying.
Cam does too, and his face reddens. Izzy yaps some more.
“Okay. Sure,” he says, and ends the call.
“She said we don’t have to stay long, and I can put you to bed at a decent hour.” He pauses. “She emphasized the word ‘bed’. And made ‘decent’ sound the opposite.”
“If we go, there’ll only be more of that,” I warn him. “My siblings are merciless.”
“If we go, there’ll be food,” he replies.
“Your gas gauge is reading empty, isn’t it?”
“I could eat that pumpkin raw. Rind and all.”
I blow out a long breath. “I’ll change into Shelby’s other clothes. If I wear your shirt, we won’t get out alive.”
* * *
“I made stuffed pumpkin!” says Shelby as she opens the door to us. “Ha, no, just kidding. Nate told me how much you hate it.”
