Page 15 of Sinful as They Come
“No,” I said firmly, his sister yanking at my hair. She had way too much strength despite having such small hands.
“Why?” he whined.
“It’s a school night.”
“So? You sneak out on school nights.”
I frowned at him. “Stop spying on me.”
“Mom said we can stay up late, by the way,” he said.
“How late?”
“Like, until after midnight.”
“Uh-huh. She told me something else.”
“What’d she say? ‘Cause my bedtime is midnight.”
“No, it’s not,” Summer said from behind me, tugging hard on my hair.
“Don’t you guys have homework?” I asked.
“I already did mine!” Summer said proudly.
I gave Caleb a look.
“Yeah, I did mine too,” he murmured, not meeting my eyes.
“Go do your homework,” I told him, gently grabbing his small fists. I was being a hypocrite. I had homework too and some dumb thing I was meant to read, but I had left everything next door. Maybe if I had time I’d go grabit and try and make an effort.
“Can we watch a scary movie tonight when we eat the pizza?” Caleb asked.
“No.” Summer suddenly came to a halt. “Nothing scary.”
“Nothing scary,” I repeated, staring down at Caleb. Lindsey would kill me if I put on some slasher flick for them to watch.
Caleb rolled his eyes. “You guys are babies.”
Caleb finally sat down at the kitchen table to do his homework after I threatened to never let him in my truck again, and Summer kept pulling at my hair, happily humming as she went to work. The only reason she got up was to grab the phone so I could call up the pizza place, her hands back in my hair the second she sat back down.
“Can we get garlic bread?” she asked quietly, and I could have sworn I heard the tiniest bit of shame in her words. It was a tone I recognized. One I used to feel in my own voice when asking my dad for some food or for some stupid toy or if we could go somewhere for my birthday.Just to the park, just for a few minutes, can I go on the swings?A cheap gift. A free gift. All that tone got me was a slap across the face or a kick to the stomach if I was lucky.
“Mom said there was only enough money for pizza and soda,” Caleb said from the kitchen table. He was in big brother mode, only five minutes older than Summer, and with his own tone different to his sister’s: another one I had collected over time. It screamed responsibility, because just like me, he had to grow up a little faster than he should have.
“Oh,” Summer whispered.
I frowned as she gently touched my hair, the movements suddenly all soft and all her enthusiasm gone. “We can get it,” I said. I was pretty sure I had enough money in my wallet to get some garlic bread.
“Mom only left twenty bucks,” Caleb said.
“I got it,” I told them, dialing the number for the pizza place. “We’ll get the garlic bread.”
Summer clapped her hands together softly. “Yay. Thank you.”
Twenty minutes and thirty more punches to the stomach from Caleblater, there was a knock at the door. Summer’s hands moved from my hair to my shoulders, suddenly clinging to me.
“You tagging along?” I asked Summer as I got up and moved to the door, swinging it open to see the bored face of the pizza guy. “Hang on tight, okay?” I told Summer, digging a hand into my pocket to pull out my wallet. My hands flicked through the cash, counting twenty bucks and then some for the garlic bread.
