people over. He made it seem like I burned the house down,” Zac told him with a chuckle and a shake of his head. “My ear is still ringin’.”
I kept on eavesdropping, but the wing place was really close to my apartment, and it only took about five minutes total until we pulled into the lot. We all got out, and maybe it wasn’t nice, but I made sure to move fast before Zac got out of the car. I went straight for giving Boogie a hug.
“Damn, B, did you do your hair for me?” my cousin asked as he pulled away.
I groaned at him as I took a step back too. “I straightened it for work.” And then I wondered why I usually put some effort into how I looked when we went to do things. “Are your socks matching today?”
My cousin chuckled as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his perfectly dry-cleaned slacks. The only thing not absolutely perfect about him were the sleeves of his blue button-down that he’d rolled up to his elbows, one was slightly higher than the other one. I’d bet he’d fix them as soon as he noticed they weren’t even. “They always match.”
“Overachiever,” I said with a snort just before a hand that wasn’t mine or my cousin’s landed on my shoulder.
I had to remind myself for just about the hundredth time that this was all fine. That I hadn’t invited myself to be here. That I wasn’t an inconvenience and that some people genuinely went out of their way to hang out with me because they liked me.
And I needed to get over myself. I really did.
“I still can’t get over that you’re an adult,” Zac told me a second before his arm—heavy and muscular—draped over my shoulder like it was second nature, like he’d done so a thousand times years ago, and his hip came into contact with my side. I was pretty sure even his cheek came to rest on the top of my head, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tense at his touch. At his familiarity. He’d been so happy to see me at his house a few weeks ago, but… it still didn’t make sense to me. Unless it was an act, but…. “How have you been?” he asked, with this expression… with this tone….
Was he asking about the last two weeks or the last ten years?
“Good, you?” I answered, certain I could hear the tension in my voice, so I sure as hell didn’t look at my cousin who knew me too well.
“Pretty good, kiddo,” the tall man replied, affectionately squeezing me into his side once more. Catching me off guard as well. Confusing me too, if I was going to be totally honest with myself.
But all it took was one peek at my cousin’s smiling face—something about his eyes looked a little off, but I ignored it—to remind me about my priorities. About who I was and what Mamá Lupe would want for me: to be nice and kind to someone she had loved very much even if he hadn’t loved me very much—or at all—in a long time.
I waited a second, then lifted my arm to wrap around the middle of his back, fingers curling over his lowest ribs before giving him a side hug for a second.
And that was my cue to get us in to eat and back out. I’d let him and my cousin do most of the talking. That was good with me. I could catch up with Boogie another time.
“Well, I’m hungry,” I said, trying my best to keep my tone light.
I didn’t miss the side look Boogie shot me as I slid out from under Zac’s arm like a fish, flashing him a brief smile before we headed inside the chain restaurant. The place was small, and we’d been there together a bunch of times in the past. The hostess didn’t do much more than glance at my cousin in his work clothes, Zac in his dark jeans and plain white T-shirt, and me before leading us toward a booth. I slid in to one side first, Boogie following, and Zac taking a seat across from us.
I could do this.
And Zac, fortunately, decided to pick on my cousin as he opened his menu and asked, “What’s that dumb look on your face for, Boog?”
I glanced over. He did have a weird expression on his face as he took in the menu like