his hips and mouthed, “The hot twin,” adding a pelvic thrust to each word. Ty must’ve sensed something, because he turned around, catching Dave’s last air hump, in which Dave began to act cool and walk it off.
At least it made me laugh.
“Don’t mind me,” Dave called over his shoulder on the way to the couch. “I’ll just take this pizza up to my room and give you two some alone time.” He took the box upstairs, and a moment later, the sound of his door closing traveled down to the living room.
“Sorry about that. He can be a little…” I started, trying to fight off the grin forming on my lips. I could just imagine Dave sitting at the top of the steps with the pizza box in his lap, listening to this entire conversation.
Ty waved me off and moved toward the sofa. “May I sit?”
Shrugging, I followed suit. I didn’t miss the way he brushed the cushion with his hand before sitting, or the invisible dirt he wiped from the thighs of his pants. The least he could do was attempt to hide his blatant disgust over the environment of my place. After all, it wasn’t like I had invited him here or anything.
“So, as I was saying, I’m here to discuss Tiffany. There’s been a bit of…an issue. She’s a little under the weather, and she has asked that I come speak to you on her behalf.”
“Oh…” I rolled my eyes. “You mean, Queen Bee is taking a sick day?”
“Well, not quite.” He shifted in his seat, seeming to be slightly uncomfortable. “You see, the situation is a little more…complicated than that. But she wanted me to make you aware of the…situation.”
Concern immediately washed over me. “Oh my God, just spit it out already. Stop with the unnecessary pauses and tell me what you came here for. What’s the issue? What situation is she in? And for the love of Lara Croft, how complicated is it?”
Tiff always had a way of making me feel insignificant. When we were five, she made me wait two minutes to blow out my birthday candles, which resulted in a layer of wax on my cake. Needless to say, no one wanted any of my cake. She started her period in seventh grade, and when I hadn’t gotten mine, she told Lindsey Pierce and the rest of their group that I was a hermaphrodite. Her taunting knew no bounds, either. Thanks to my sister, the nickname, Tosh the Sasquatch, had followed me all through school, which was ridiculous considering we were the same height.
Tiff was the biggest reason I’d always preferred male friends. I couldn’t stand the mindless followers from the cheerleading squad whose lips had been permanently suction cupped to my sister’s rump throughout high school. For four years, they’d practically lived at our house, harassing me daily. Regardless of what crowd she’d surrounded herself with, Tiff was always the leader of my torment, which was why I always hung out with guys—less drama, less headache. But even that had its downside. I was always just “one of the boys,” while my identical twin sister—yes, the same exact DNA—was seen as the “hot twin.”
That unspoken bond people talk about between identical twins? Yeah, we never had that. We were never close, and aside from us both being freakishly tall with long blond hair and blue-grey eyes, we couldn’t have been more polar opposites if we tried.
But bond or not, I never wished anything bad to happen to her.
“Is she okay?” My voice shook as I questioned the condition of my sister.
Without answering me, Ty lifted his briefcase from the floor and opened it on the ottoman. Pulling out an iPad, he held it against his chest and continued. “You know that she was vacationing in Mexico with her fiancé, Adam…right?”
I nodded. I don’t know why I nodded, because no, I had not been aware of any vacation. Especially not one to Mexico. The only reason I knew anything about Adam was because my mom hadn’t been able to talk about anything other than the uber-famous athlete who was marrying my sister. It was rather sickening if I were being honest.
“Oh, good.” He sighed, as if my knowledge of Tiff’s romantic getaway offered him some relief. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there were some complications, so she has to stay for a little while longer.”
“You’re either going to have to slow down or speed things up.