Page 43 of Sinful as They Come
Once again, I decided to pay no mind to his words and instead focusedon his cousin.
“Is your music piece all done?”Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.
Brodie nodded. “Yeah. Check your emails. I sent it over a little while ago.”
My eyes shut, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much, Brodie. I hope you’re not sick too.”
He shook his head. “Nuh-uh. I haven’t been kissing anybody. But between you and me, I think the other writers are all trapped in a love triangle.”
“Oh, God. Itismono. But… Would you hate me if I asked you for some extra help this afternoon?” I asked him. My voice was low. Maybe because I felt like I was groveling, and I hardly ever did that.
“Yes,” Sawyer answered. “I mean I already hate you. But that’ll make me hate you even more.”
Brodie smacked his cousin’s chest. I thanked him in my head for that.
“I’ll help you out.” Brodie nodded.
“Thank you, Brodie. I know after the whole… cutting your story thing, you might feel like you can’t trust me,” I said quietly, the shame hitting me fast. “And I’m sorry again for doing that to you. You didn’t deserve that.”
“Liar,” Sawyer said through a weak cough. He was not being subtle.
I didn’t look at him and instead kept my eyes on Brodie.
“Forget about it.” Brodie waved a lazy hand at me. “What do you need me to do?”
“Could you please write? Maybe just the movie piece? You can write about literally anything you’ve seen. I’ve already written sports and I can whip up something for the other sections. I’ll edit everything. I just need your creativity for that one article. Please, please, please.” With my hands clasped together, I gave Brodie my best puppy dog eyes. I was asking for a lot and I knew that, but I was desperate. All the other writers had bailed on me, but Brodie was reliable.
“Yeah. I can do that. But uh, I need to get down to the library after school. I think they shut early today, though,” Brodie mumbled sheepishly. “We don’t have a computer at home, so I can’t type any of it up in time for you...”
His cheeks were a little red as he confessed that to me. My eyes landed on Sawyer who looked as casual as ever. Back up against as the lockers, slightly slumped over, hands still stuffed into his signature jacket.
I didn’t want Brodie to be embarrassed. Especially about something like that.
“Do you wanna come over to my place?” I suggested. “We can use my laptop. I’ve got a spare one you can borrow. And you don’t have to worry about any librarians kicking you out after six. My mom will probably make you stay for dinner too.”
“Jesus Christ.” Sawyer rubbed at his forehead. “What a nightmare. Have fun with that shit, Brodie.”
“I’ll help you, Holly.” Brodie elbowed Sawyer softly. “Thanks. Sawyer can drop me off.”
“Fuck no,” Sawyer said quickly. “I’m not going there again.”
“I’ll take you after school. Don’t worry,” I insisted. I made sure to give Sawyer a quick look. Last time he was at my place he absolutely lost his mind when I gave him that gas money. That was the last thing I wanted to deal with again. “We’ll meet up after class and I’ll drive you to mine. And I’ll take you back home.”
“No, Sawyer can bring me back. That’s okay.” Brodie smiled before elbowing his cousin again. “Right, cousin? You don’t mind picking me up from Holly’s house.”
“I’d literally rather die.”
“Don’t give her a hard time.”
“You remember what happened last time she got you to write for her? She cut your article and you threw a tantrum over it.”
“You were more mad than I was.”
“‘Cause you worked hard on that thing! You made me drive you to the library. You ruined my whole afternoon.”
“Come on, come pick me up. Holly’s busy, anyway. She’ll have to do all that editing. That takes a while. Right, Holly?”
I chose to keep my mouth shut, my eyes darting back and forth as the two brunettes bickered.
