pretty decent job at keeping things to myself, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
Especially not when Boogie, who was sitting at Connie’s table, piped up too. “I thought I was imagining it.”
“You’re both imagining shit,” I said, focusing on the cookies that were making my mouth water.
My brother-in-law, who was sitting at the table too, popped open a can of orange soda before he said, “Me three, Bianca. ’Cause I swear I heard you crying in bed a couple nights ago, but sometimes your sister cries for no reason when she’s on her period, so I wasn’t sure if that’s what was happening to you or not.”
I turned on my heel slowly to stare at the man taking a sip out of his soda without a care in the world.
I wasn’t the only one staring at him either because my sister was doing the same but with her mouth open a little while she did it.
“What?” her husband asked, like he was confused by the silence. “Tell me I’m lying. You don’t even try to hide it.”
“What happened?” Boogie asked, snapping out of it. “You got problems with WatchTube again?”
I wanted to lie, I really did. I wanted to blame it on my channel being stolen, because that would have been a real good excuse. But I wouldn’t.
“Nope. Everything is good with them now.”
“Is Kenny trying to talk to you again?”
Kenny. Ugh. My ex could eat shit. “Nope. I haven’t heard from him since he took all my money.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my brother-in-law shift a little, bringing his can back to his mouth for a little sip. “Is it Zac? Did he cheat on you? Because if he did, I’ll tell everybody he’s on steroids. Try me.”
Silence.
Total and complete silence filled the kitchen and breakfast nook area.
Our faces were all different though.
I’m pretty sure mine was in horror.
Connie looked like she didn’t know who the hell was sitting beside her.
Boogie looked like someone had just told him his mom was an alien.
And my brother-in-law, all average height and skinny and adorable, was looking at us like he had no idea why we were all staring at him.
“What? You want me to kill him or something? Because one time I went hunting with my dad, and no lie, I fainted when he—”
Dear God.
“B, is there something I should know about you and… and…?” Boogie stuttered, looking somewhere between his mind being blown and the start of being mad.
“Honey,” my sister started to say, her voice almost… a whisper? And why did she look horny? And why did I know what her horny face looked like? “What would make you think there’s something going on with B and Zac?”
“There’s something going on with you and Zac?” Boogie echoed.
What the hell was happening?
My brother-in-law shrugged casually, still sipping his soda without a care in the world… like he hadn’t just dropped a hydrogen bomb on our asses.
On all of us. Seriously.
On Boogie in the form of there possibly being something in the world between his best friend and me.
On Connie who was looking at this man she’d been with for nearly two decades like she didn’t know him… but the little freak liked what she saw.
And on me, for not being as secretive as I’d thought.
Or maybe, actually, he was just a hell of a lot more perceptive than any of us had ever given him credit for.
Then he kept going, lifting an index finger. “Well, Peewee didn’t want to talk about him for years. Now they’re friends again and seems to me like they spend all their time together, and then she moved in with him. Hello, and ya know, I always figured he was a player, but he’s not going to hang out with a girl he doesn’t like.”
“They’ve known each other since we were kids,” my cousin muttered, still looking and sounding out of whack.
Shit.
My brother-in-law snorted. “So? He didn’t see Bianca for ten years. What? You think he’s going to think of her as being a little sister? You’re smarter than that, Boogie. And Yermo told me all about them at Lola’s quince, m’kay? There’s ‘I love you like a sister’ and there’s ‘I love you as a person.’ I know I couldn’t have been the only one to feel the chemistry in that video they did together either… but okay, maybe I was. Man, you two need to pay more attention.”