Page 10 of Chasing After You
“Thanks. Maybe if I work hard enough, I could end up cheering for you at your games.”
I nearly choke at the thought of my seventeen-year-old sister getting hit on by future Quinns. “Fuck no.” It slips out, and I immediately regret it because the last thing I want is to hurt her feelings. I drag a hand through my hair tiredly as I sit by the edge of my pool, dipping my feet in the water. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just you’re seventeen, and all the guys are . . . they’re just . . . I don’t know. If you want to be a cheerleader, then be a cheerleader.”
Damn, I deserve a big brother of the year award for encouraging this.
“Henry, I won’t be seventeen if I’m cheering for you,” Kait says like it’s supposed to make me feel better. Then I’ll have to worry about her being too stubborn to listen to me.
“Just stay away from boys.”Great, now I sound like Dad.
Kaitlyn laughs, finding my overprotectiveness endearing. “Yeah, ’cause you totally stayed away from girls when you were my age,” she muses.
“You were eight, what exactly do you remember about it?” I tease. We have a nine-year age gap between us because Dad had her with Penelope a couple years after they got married, so Kaitlyn’s actually my half sister.
“Ta gueule!”3
We both are fluent in French, which is helpful when all the families get together. Thalia started teaching me when I was little and then my stepmom, Penelope, helped fill some of the gaps after she married my dad. I think the only person who doesn’t speak it is Owen. Everyone else learned. I don’t use it all that often now that I don’t live at home, but Kait switches back and forth frequently.
“Whatever. How is it having your boyfriends at school?” I taunt, knowing the right buttons to push with her.
“Henry, don’t call them that. Hunter and Bailey are boys who are my best friends,” Kaitlyn says, annoyed I’ve brought this up again. I love Hunter and Bailey, but they’re teenage boys with raging hormones. I’m fairly certain that one, if not both, have a crush on Kaitlyn, but I don’t want to touch that mess with a ten-foot pole. I’m not sure if she has a crush on one of them, but twins fighting over the same girl?No thank you.
“If you say so,” I say, chuckling. “Is it nice having them there, though?”
Kaitlyn scoffs, mumbling under her breath too quietly for me to hear.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“Yeah . . . I guess it is nice. I don’t think you have anything to worry about when it comes to me staying away from boys. Every guy is too busy obsessing over Hunter and Bailey because of their dad, I don’t think any of them would notice if I walked into a room naked.”
“Well, I’m personally on the team ofdon’t walk into a room nakedbecause I’d end up in prison for killing everyone who looked at you,” I say, stalling because I don’t know what to say. I’m out of my depth here, and I don’t speak teenage girl. “I’m sure that’s not true, Kait. It’s only been a couple days.”
“I know. I’m just annoyed.”
“I know.” I take a swig of my beer, looking out over my backyard.
“So have you seen Mirabelle around the stadium yet?” Kaitlyn asks, changing the subject.
“Yeah, I saw her today.” I’ll be seeing her every day for the next several months.
“She’s so cool,” Kaitlyn says in awe. I don’t blame her, Mirabelle is pretty cool. She’s easy to talk to, she’s funny, and she’s smart as a whip. “I wish she was my sister.”
Okay, that’s taking it a little far. “Excuse you, I think I’m a pretty awesome brother.”
“You are, but she’s an Olympian. Maybe you should hang out with her instead of your friends. She never would’ve let you get pictured with those girls,” she suggests, and I’d completely forgotten about the possibility of my sister seeing that cover.
“You saw that?” I ask, wincing because the guy in that photo is not the type of role model I want to be.
Kaitlyn laughs on the other end of the phone. “Everyone has seen it. You’re earning quite the reputation, but I sure hope you’re wrapping it up. I’m not ready to be an aunt yet.”
I choke on my beer, horrified my little sister just said that to me. I feel like this should be the other way around. “It’s not what it looked like,” I croak out, trying to clear my throat. “I was only there to babysit my friends. The only thing I had to drink that night was water.”
“Wow, that’s definitely not what it looked like. You might want to be more careful.” She laughs again at my misery, and it’s tempting to just drown myself in the pool. “Oh shit, Hunter is calling me. Can I call you back tomorrow?”
“That’s fin—” I don’t even have the chance to finish saying it before Kaitlyn’s hung up on me.
Guess it’s just me alone with my thoughts now, which is exactly where I don’t want to be.
My phone rings again in my hand, and it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if it was Kaitlyn calling back to tell me something quickly before hanging up again, but instead, it’s an unknown number.
