Page 36 of The Lost Kings
Something in my chest deflated, but I ignored it and pointed over my shoulder with my thumb. “Getting food.”
Presley slid off the lounger and stretched. “I’m gonna go find him, see if he wants to race in the pool.”
My voice felt funny, so I didn’t respond. I watched as she walked past me and tried to stuff the feelings exploding in my chest back into whatever box they’d crawled out of. Jealousy wasn’t completely uncommon for my brother and me to feel, especially when it came to Presley. It’s just that we typically felt it around who got to be her partner on video games, or who sat next to her in the car.
This…whatever this was, it was new and it was terrifying.
Later that night,the lights around the pool were soft as I watched Presley and Carter swim with Kingston. I had joined a few times throughout the day, and each time I felt that strange feeling return, I would push it away. Only to see Presley get closer to King. When they’d laugh or joke together, my chest would feel tight all over again.
I’d been trying to work through it all day, but it hadn’t gotten any better.
“Let’s play something,” Carter suggested, getting out of the pool and wrapping up in a towel. Alex, and all the parents were inside somewhere, leaving just us kids out here. Kingston was on his phone on the lounger next to me, but he set it down right as Presley exited the pool.
“What do you want to play?”
Carter’s reddish-brown hair almost looked black from being wet and the dim lighting. She shrugged and then glanced at both me and King, then back at Presley.
“Actually, I have an idea.”
“What?” Presley asked, wringing out her hair. She’d also wrapped up in a white towel. The air was still warm enough that we weren’t cold, but I was grateful she covered up so I didn’t have to sortthrough all of my feelings over seeing her soft skin or counting her freckles.
Carter’s eyes nearly gleamed as she said, “Let’s play Truth or Dare.”
“That’s so lame,” Presley sighed.
She sat down next to me and continued to wring out the water from her hair.
“That’s only because you always chicken out.” Kingston mocked Presley.
He wasn’t wrong. Presley could do almost anything, but if we dared her to try something gross or to jump off of something really tall, she’d chicken out and get mad that she lost.
“It’s still lame, let’s think of something else.”
Carter sat down next to Kingston and pulled out her phone.
“Well, we can’t play anything that’s physical because you’ll beat all of us,” Carter complained, clearly talking about Pres. She was scrolling through her phone again, which made me curious if she really wanted to play something or if she had other plans. Kingston and I weren’t allowed to have social media yet, and I was fairly sure Presley wasn’t either. We challenged each other on Duolingo on our phones and watched copious amounts of YouTube; otherwise, we didn’t have accounts anywhere because our dad was worried we’d accidentally leak where we lived or post where we were in real time and somehow get kidnapped.
Presley glanced over at me and gave me an expression that meant she was about to reply to Carter and it wouldn’t be good. “King and Gio are stronger than me; you’re the only person who wouldn’t win, Carter.”
Her cousin paused mid-type and slowly raised her eyes.
“I’m not nearly as weak as you guys think I am.”
Kingston sneered, “No one said you were weak, Carter.”
“Let’s just play Truth or pass then, Presley. If you pass, you lose.”
The two girls stared at one another, glaring until Presley’s jaw slid to the side and she gave in. “Fine.”
Carter beamed, clapping her hands. “Perfect, okay, we go by age.”
King and I looked at each other right as the girls did.
“Who came first?” Carter waved between us.
It was Presley who smiled and pointed at me. “Gio did.”
We actually had no idea who had come first since our mom had never told us. We had a theory that she honestly didn’t know because of how stressful her labor was. She always told us she was just grateful we were okay, and that everything was sorted out later.
