this is the conversation we’re having after a text she sent me. Just think about what you’d be like if I’d actually agreed to have dinner with her.”
“Oh, well, you have a point.” My mom bit the side of her cheek as she stared down at her hands.
I recognized her expression. It was the same one she’d had when she’d come in my room before Homecoming freshman year and had told me that she’d accidentally washed my white football pants with a red sock and they were now pink.
“What?” I asked, feeling a sense of foreboding.
“I thought you just needed a little push, so I asked her to join us tonight.”
“You did what?”
She smiled, speaking through clenched teeth as she waved at something behind me. “I asked her to join us tonight and you are gonna smile and look very happy to see her because she is my guest and she’s walking over here.”
Great. So now not only did I have to watch Olivia on a date, I had to pretend to be on one as well. This night just kept getting better.
Chapter 22
Olivia
“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.”
~ Maggie Calhoun
I’d seen Notting Hill at least a hundred times and I knew it shot for shot. I was counting the minutes until the movie ended. As the montage began of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant attending premiers, a wedding, and finally ending on the park bench where a pregnant Julia lays on Hugh’s lap as he reads a book and the melodic sound of “When You Say Nothing at All” plays, there was a countdown in my head: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…and credits roll.
That was my cue. Time to make a graceful yet expedient escape, er…um…I meant exit.
Jake had other ideas. “Is anyone up for some ice cream? I love the malts at The Spoon. I usually try and stop by there whenever I’m in town.”
“I would love a malt,” Molly agreed enthusiastically.
My eyes shot to her. She didn’t notice because the infatuation blinders she’d been wearing all night made it impossible for her to see anyone but Jake. I did my best to telepathically relay, “What the actual fuck?”
I’d known my twin our entire lives, obviously, and I’d never seen her drink a malt. For the last few years, she’d even claimed to be lactose intolerant. Was spending more time with Jake actually worth explosive diarrhea?
I would’ve called her out on it, but then what kind of wingman, or in this case wing-twin, would I be.
From the moment Molly and Jake met, I’d felt like the third wheel…on my own date. Throughout the movie, they’d leaned over me or behind me to talk. Sometimes it was a commentary about the movie, other times it was a joke or question. It was super-duper fun.
“I’m tired. You two go ahead.” I smiled as I stood and wiped the back of my dress off. Jake had brought the picnic but forgotten the blanket so we’d been sitting on the grass.
Molly started to get up as well, but she had assistance. Jake held out his hand to help her to her feet. Was it still chivalrous if the romantic overture was directed at the date’s twin sister? Food for thought.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Molly’s eyes were double their regular size as she bit the inside of her lip.
Nervous was not really an emotion I was familiar with seeing my sister display. That would actually mean she cared about what other people thought or were going to do. She didn’t. It seemed it took her hijacking my date to bring that out in her.
“It’s been a long week.” I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring way. “I think I’m just going to head home.”
“We can drop you off,” Jake offered.
We. They were already a ‘we’.
“No.” I shook my head, hoping that the brave face I was putting on was a hell of a lot more convincing than it felt. “You two go and have fun.”
Part of me wanted to let him, let both of them, off the hook and call out the elephant in the room. They liked each other. My sister was willing to risk digestive issues to spend more time with him. And I didn’t blame him for being interested in my sister. She was much cooler than I was, and the two of them actually did have a lot in common. They were both gamers,