“Who says she’s in love with him?” Jenna, who is mixing brownie batter in the kitchen, hollers. Her curious face peeks into the bathroom moments later to ask, “Wait. You’re not in love with him, are you?”
The room quiets as everyone waits for my response, three wide-eyed reflections staring back at me expectantly. Molly’s eyes are filled with wonder, as if the possibility of my loving her brother hadn’t occurred to her before.
When I hesitate, she gives my hair a sharp tug, prodding me to speak. I gulp and avert my eyes, forcing out an unconvincing laugh. “Love him? Come on you guys, you know me better than that.”
“The heart wants what the heart wants,” Jenna says with a shrug. “I fell in love with Billy Rutley after only one date.”
Molly snorts. “Yeah. Then you broke up with him after three.”
“Whatever. My point is, just because she hasn’t known him forever doesn’t mean she can’t be in love with him.” She shoves her chocolate coated wooden mixing spoon at Abby. “Wanna lick?”
Abby rolls her eyes. “Get that thing out of my face.”
“That’s what she said,” Jenna sing-songs as she walks back to the kitchen, Abby following her, chastising the entire way.
“Those two, I swear,” I laugh, shaking my head a little.
“Don’t move your head,” Molly scolds, holding up a large lock of hair, spraying it, then wrapping it around the barrel of her large curling iron. As she waits for the curl to set, she looks at me hard in the mirror. “Well?”
Not wanting to meet her intense stare, I look down at my freshly painted nails, studying the pale, nude polish before whispering, “I don’t know. Maybe?”
Slowly, she unwraps the curl and holds it in place with a bobby pin so it can cool. Molly sets the curling iron on the counter and rests both hands on my shoulders, giving them a small shake. “Hey, look at me.”
I look up and meet her eyes.
“I’m glad.”
“You… are?”
“Hello! What do you think all my hard work has been for?” I scrunch my face and must look completely confused, because she begins laughing. “Cece. Think about it. Go back to the beginning… do you really think I couldn’t have gotten ahold of my very own brother when I didn’t have a phone? And who the heck sends emails these days? It was almost too easy. Let me see, what else… He knew where your first date with Neve was. He shows up at a Halloween party thrown by your friend. We’re all there when he calls in your bet and kisses you senseless.”
“But…. Why?”
“Why? Are you kidding me right now? Matthew is exactly what you need.”
“Exactly what I need? Please. What about what he needs? That guy – no offense – needs a caretaker.”
“See, that’s exactly what I meant: perfect for each other.”
“You are crazy.”
“Well I guess that’s one thing Matthew and I have in common. We’re both crazy about you.”
“Okay, now that’s just weird.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she laughs, tapping me on the head with a wide-tooth comb and staring at me thoughtfully. “Do you want your hair up or down?”
We both study my reflection, Molly tipping her head this-way-and-that as she contemplates how to style my long hair.
“I’m thinking… down?”
She nods her head in agreement. “Yeah, that will look good with the shirt we picked out.” She picks up the curling iron again. “Let’s get this done so Jenna can do your make-up. It sounds like those two are about to get in to another argument.”
“It’s a love-hate thing. They love to hate each other.”
Molly chuckles. “Pretty much. Kind of reminds me of Weston and Matthew, don’cha think?”
“Totally! I never thought of it like that…”
“They pretend they can’t stand each other, but I think they act more like brothers. Well. Except that one time they had a game in Indiana and Matthew ‘forgot’ to bring Weston home from the airport.” If her hands were free of my hair, she would be using air quotes around the word ‘forgot.’
I grin as she begins parting my hair into sections. “Hey, at least they can laugh about it now, right?”
“Um, yeah. No. They most definitely do not laugh about it. Well, I shouldn’t say that - Matthew does…”
“He would.”
“Yes. One could never accuse my brother of not having a sense of humor, as twisted as his is.”
“But… he’s so cute,” I sigh wistfully, letting out a rush of air. “And his body is so firm. I could rub his arms up and down all day.” Horrified, I look up and meet Molly’s surprised eyes in the mirror. “Holy shit. Did I say that out loud?”
“Whoa. That’s like – the first time you’ve ever admitted you think he’s hot!”
“Well it’s not like I’m going to talk about that stuff with you – it’s too weird. Going on and on about your brothers hot body? Um, no thanks.”