Strong, Sleek and Sinful - By Lorie O'Clare Page 0,25

asked, stuffing the bills she’d pulled out of her dresser into her purse that she’d left on the coffee table.

“A long time ago,” Dani said dryly. “What we’re trying to figure out now is what you two are doing back there.”

“You and me both,” Kylie grunted, and rolled her eyes at Dani, who continued giving her a hard stare. Dani might not mind talking to her, but apparently Kylie’s getting too close to Dani’s uncle was a different story, and one she wasn’t too sure she approved of. One look at the other girls told Kylie they all were of the same mind. “I think your uncle wants to make sure my intentions with you, Dani, and all of you,” she added, looking pointedly at each one of them, “are on the up-and-up.”

“He gets like that,” Dorine said, looking past Kylie toward Perry and narrowing her eyes. When she looked back at Kylie, she straightened and tucked loose brown hair that was pulled back into a long braid behind her ear. “What is it that you want to know?”

Kylie pointed at Dorine. “First one of you order the pizza, and then I want to know how old each of you are. You’re all sisters?”

“God, it’s that obvious,” Dani groaned.

“Yes, we’re all sisters.” Diane nodded at Dorine. “Order the pizza.”

Then, moving to the single overstuffed chair next to the couch, Diane pulled the youngest girl out of the chair, sat down, and then tugged her back down on her lap. “I’m Diane, eighteen, in college and moving out really soon.”

“Sounds exciting,” Kylie whispered.

Diane’s eyes were green like her uncle’s but more almond-shaped. She was definitely pretty, gorgeous in fact, with straight brown hair like her sisters, except hers fell just past her shoulders and wasn’t pinned back but fell straight.

“Danielle—,” Diane continued.

“Dani,” Dani snapped, correcting her sister.

“Who likes to go by ‘Dani,’ ” Diane added, “is sixteen. Dorine is fourteen, and Denise is twelve.”

“Eighteen, sixteen, fourteen, and twelve,” Kylie mused, and walked around the coffee table. She sat on her floor facing the two girls on the couch. Perry didn’t sit this time but instead walked toward the back of the living room that opened into her kitchen area. “Your mom must be a saint,” she mused.

“She’s the best in the world,” Denise agreed quickly.

“We’re really lucky,” the others chimed in.

Perry didn’t turn around but clasped his hands behind his back and stared out Kylie’s sliding glass doors at her backyard. Apparently he wouldn’t be part of this discussion, although it was clear he intended to hear every word said.

As the pizza was ordered, Kylie glanced at the notes she’d taken so far.

“I want to ask you something,” she said without looking up. “And any of you or all of you can answer. What’s the most common way you talk to your friends? On the phone? Text messaging? Instant messages?”

“All of those are the same,” Dorine said, laughing.

“She means instant messaging on the computer,” Diane offered. “Like AIM or Yahoo! And for me it’s probably mostly on my phone.”

“We don’t have a computer at home anymore,” Dani said. “But you can text-message or instant-message on the phone.”

Kylie nodded. “I actually knew that one,” she said, pulling her cell phone out of her purse and holding it up before dropping it back into the bag again. “So you think most kids between the ages of twelve and eighteen use their phones to talk to their friends? But do most of them talk on them? Or do they type on them?”

“I never thought about that.” Denise turned on Diane’s lap. “I think we text-message more than talk. And Diane can text-message without looking, even when she’s driving.”

“No. She can’t,” Perry growled from across the room, his back still to all of them.

Diane slapped her sister’s leg. “No, I can’t,” she stressed to Denise, who looked appropriately chastised.

“How many people do you talk to by texting on your phones?” Kylie asked, putting her notebook on her lap and writing: Check ISPs; if there aren’t any, then phone records.

“Dani talks to so many that Mom had to put unlimited messages on our phone plan. But Dorine never talks to anyone because she doesn’t have any friends.”

“Speak for yourself, brat,” Dorine snapped. “Not all of my friends have cell phones like Dani’s rich-bitch friends.”

“Watch your mouth, Dorine,” Diane snapped, and glanced over her shoulder at her uncle.

“Okay. Okay.” Kylie held her hand up in the air with her pen between her fingers. “I want to talk