Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“It sounds fun,” Vega said, looking a little wistful, longing even. Sure, I didn’t know her well, but that seemed to be uncharacteristic for her. “We always watch those movies on, like, Christmas,” she went on. “And we talk about how nice it must be.”
“Yeah?” I asked, looking at Mere. “I had you pegged as more of an introvert.”
“I… sometimes,” Mere said. “I like people, I just…” she trailed off, unsure how to explain.
“I think we can all agree that people in general are meh, but the right people are great,” Vega said, getting her cousin’s shoulders to relax.
“Exactly,” she agreed.
“So you guys didn’t grow up together,” I said. “Since you were moving all around,” I said, nodding toward Vega.
I was trying to understand their dynamic.
They were clearly close. And Vega seemed to pick up on when her cousin needed someone to kind of step in and help her out when she was feeling uncomfortable.
I got that since I saw it a lot with my own family. But it was because we’d all grown up together, and had known one another’s quirks since the cradle.
It was intriguing that they could figure all that out in such a short period of time together.
“No. Vega had to come live with me and my grandmother when she was… fourteen, I think, it was,” Mere said, looking at Vega for confirmation.
“Yeah. Just turned fourteen. For the summer. I’d been on vacation with my parents and they got into this awful wreck and were both in the hospital, then rehab centers. So child services had me go live with Gran for a few months. We kept in touch after. You know, as much as kids can. We had a bit of an age gap,” Vega explained. “I’m older,” she added.
“Then you decided to move in together?” I asked, knowing I was prying, but finding myself more interested than I could have anticipated.
“Yeah. I was living here already. Had this revolving door of shitty roommates. So when I heard that Mere was looking to spread her wings a little bit, I figured it was the perfect arrangement. She got a place to stay while figuring out her career move. I got a nicely decorated place to make people think I have my shit together. Win/win.”
A good twenty minutes of small talk later, there was a buzz from downstairs that Vega was quick to answer, muttering something about dumplings as I reached for my wallet, and followed her to the door.
“Oh,” Vega said when she opened the door to find the delivery driver standing there with tufts of snow slowly starting to evaporate on the top of his hat and his shoulders. “It’s snowing?” she asked, reaching for the bag.
“Started fifteen back. We’re supposed to get slammed again,” the guy said as I passed him a wad of cash, since I had no idea how much it all came to. “Thanks, man.”
At Vega’s look as she closed the door, I shrugged. “I know you can pay for your own food, but I wanted to. It’s a thing.”
“He also has a thing with door handles,” Mere said, making Vega wiggle her brows.
“A gentleman. Who could have guessed they still existed?” she asked, putting the bag of food on the counter as Mere fiddled with the TV remote before settling on the weather station.
“Uh oh,” Vega said as the accumulation totals flashed on the screen. “Any chance you have four-wheel drive?” she asked, looking over at me.
“I didn’t drive my SUV tonight,” I admitted.
“Wellllll,” Vega said, shrugging. “Sleepover, I guess!” she declared as Mere placed plates and silverware down on the counter, but her cousin was taking a carton and plastic utensils, and moving toward the living room. “I’m picking the movie,” she added as Mere started pulling cartons out of the bag, then took the bag to carefully fold down and place into the recycling bin hidden in a pull-out under the sink.
“I could have my brother come out and pick me up,” I offered, voice low, leaving the decision up to the much more cautious Mere, not Vega, who seemed down for whatever.
“The roads won’t be good tonight. Even for a car that is decent in the snow. You can stay,” she said, giving me a soft smile. “Vega has an assortment of men’s clothing, so you will have something to change into.”
I knew what I was supposed to do. Insist that Gav and I would be fine, take the risk, and go home.
But, somehow, I didn’t want to do that.
“If you don’t mind,” I said.
“Not at all,” she assured me, and there was none of that tension around her eyes or in her shoulders to suggest otherwise.
It didn’t escape my notice that Vega had situated herself on a chair, leaving the couch open for her cousin and I to occupy, something she watched transpire with a devilish little smirk tugging at her lips.