Page 19 of Pinch
Gigi hops onto her feet on the couch, looking up at them. “I think Gavin should do the honors, since it’s his first Monday Movie Night!”
“What do I do?” I’m not looking at them, but I can feel every time his eyes drift to where I’m holding Patsy under my chin and pretending to be completely absorbed in checking my social media.
Of course, it’s all pictures of me flying through the air like a doofus off the parade float straight into his waiting arms. That, or people reenacting me flying off the float accompanied by strings of laugh-crying emojis.
Sometimes I hate this timeline.
“Now, open the paper to see what you picked,” Maverick explains. “If we all hate it, you can put it back and draw again, but we all have to hate it.”
“Somebody won’t hate it,” Gina argues. “They put it in there!”
“Majority rules,” our cousin replies.
“It says…Jurassic Park.” Gavin looks at each of us, and it’s like a thermal laser when his eyes glide over me. “Everybody good with that?”
My cousins all agree, but I don’t look up from my phone.
“Haddy!” Gina finally shouts. “Would you stop looking at your phone and pay attention?”
“Jurassic Parkis fine,” I answer, still not looking at them.
Gigi exhales a noise, but Maverick has the remote in his hand to pull up the movie.
“Just because Gav saw you naked, doesn’t mean you have to give us all the silent treatment.” Gigi grouses, and I glare at her. “Well, it doesn’t!”
“I’m not giving you the silent treatment. I had a pretty tough day. I’d like to decompress.”
“What made it so tough, Hads?” Maverick sits on the floor in front of my chair and leans his back against it.
I reach out to thread my fingers in his thick dark hair, and give it a sharp pull. “For starters, no one warned me a guy was on our floor.”
“Ow!” He laughs, pulling his head forward. “I didn’t know you were planning to flash him!”
“I wasn’t.”
Gavin walks around to sit on the other end of the couch from Gina, which puts him closer to where we are. My skin prickles with heat, but I keep my eyes on the opening scene of the raptors being delivered to the park.
“It’s so much likeJaws.” Gigi’s knees are bent, and shehas a pillow on top of them to hide her eyes. “The way the girl gets yanked all over the ocean?”
“I’m getting more Indiana Jones vibes,” Mav counters. “What about you, Princess?”
My lips twist and we watch as the movie shifts to the archaeologists in the field. I know what’s coming with the pile of poop, and I remember my reference to miasma this morning.
“This movie made me want to be a scientist.” My voice is quiet, and I feel Gav’s eyes drift to me.
“You wanted to shove your hands in massive piles of poop?” Maverick leans his head back to look up at me.
“I have never done that once.”
“But youarethe super poo?—”
“Maverick!” I yell, pushing his head. “Shut up.”
Gigi falls to the side on the couch laughing. “You are so dead, Mav.”
A smile is on Gavin’s face as he watches us. “I feel like I’m missing something.”
“You’re not.” My throat tightens, and I feel my face heating.
