Page 38 of Before We're More Than Friends
“Raina, what did you do?” Arielle asked, panic in her voice.
“What didIdo?” I gestured to my mess of a shirt. “You’re asking the wrong person.”
“Hey, there was no reason for you to treat my brother that way,” the black-haired girl snapped at me, crossing her arms over her chest. “It was an accident.”
If I heard that word onemore time, I was going toaccidentallyhit someone with the nearest object. “I’m sorry, okay?” I shot back. “But I’m pretty sure you’d be upset if the same thing happened to you.”
“Well, this is the worst way to meet my sister,” Arielle said, rubbing her neck. “Kami and Dallas, this is Raina, the ray of sunshine.”
“Um, who are they?” I asked, my tone edgier than I intended it to be.
“Oh, gosh,” Dallas muttered, his panic replaced with disdain. “Please don’t tell me she volunteers at the shelter too.”
“She’s usually in a better mood when she’s around animals,” Arielle grumbled before facing me. “Dallas and Kami are the new vet’s kids that we’ve been talking about.”
Well, wasn’t that just great. I’d managed to become enemies with the people I’d be volunteering with. “Fantastic.”
Kami looked like she wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but instead, she mustered a small smile and held out her hand. “This isn’t the ideal way to meet you, but we’ll move past this.”
I shook her hand, a part of my soul dying from the awkwardness. I felt like I was meeting one of my mom’s coworkers at a country club dinner after belching soda. “It’s somewhat nice to meet you.” I faced Dallas. “I’ve clearly already met you.”
He gave an awkward laugh. “You have.”
“Um, here.” Kami took off her red jacket and gave it to me. “You can take yours off and cover up your shirt with this.”
“It’s fine. Arielle always brings a change of clothes just in case,” I said as I handed the jacket back. The best part of having an identical twin with the same form as you was that you could wear each other’s clothes if something likethishappened.
“Let me get my bag,” Arielle said before leaving toward the table.
“I’m sorry, again,” Dallas said, barely moving from the spot he’d been standing in for the entire ordeal. “I-Ishould’ve?—”
“It’s done,” I told him. “It was an accident.” I fought the urge to cringe at my words.Why do so many big accidents keep happening? Are my negative thoughts attracting them?
“Here we go,” Arielle said as she sprinted to me with her bag. She threaded her arm through mine before leading us toward the bathroom.
“You didn’t have to make me feel stupider than I already felt, you know,” I grumbled, my skin flushing with embarrassment.
She grunted. “Raina, don’t even start. I was having a great night.”
“Are you really blaming me because someone you just met ruined my outfit?”
Sienna had made us matching tank tops with glittery dog footprints, and we’d wanted to rock them together tonight. What happened was thelastthing I’d needed.
“I’m not blaming you,” she hissed. “I’m upset that you don’t even think half of the time. I had enough with Mom and Dad today, and I don’t want to get started with you.” She looked me in the eyes, hers cold and heavy. “Please.”
“I’m always thinking. That’s the problem.” I huffed. “You don’t understand.”
“I do understand. But you usually don’t lash out at people to the point that I can hear you screaming over the music blasting.”
Heat filled my cheeks. “Was I really that loud?”
“I wouldn’t have said that if you weren’t.” She opened the door to the bathroom but didn’t hold it open for me.
“Listen, I’m sorry,” I said as I followed her into the biggest stall, slipping my jacket off. A few girls were at the sink, their ears probably piping up at our conversation. “I’ll make things right with them, okay?”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” she whispered as she pulled a plain pink shirt and black leggings out of her purse. “I’m worried about you. I don’t want to lose the one person who’s with me in this mess.”
“You won’t lose me,” I whispered back, positive that everyone else could still hear us. I turned around to take my ruined shirt off and put my new one on.
