“Nice, Kare. Real nice.” He moved toward the girl and put a comforting arm around her. “This here is my sister, Karina,” he said, squeezing her shoulder. “Karina, this is—”
She cut him off. “You can call me Barbie,” she said through her breaking voice.
The room erupted with laughter. Big, bold, sidesplitting laughter. Score one for Barbie. And who could blame her? Certainly not me. I let myself exhale.
Everything would have been okay if we’d stopped there. Awkward moment confronted and dealt with. Move on, folks, nothing to see here. Only Austin had to open his big mouth.
“Don’t worry about her,” he said, throwing his chin in my direction. “She’s pissed. She’s always pissed.”
The word sounded slippery. Mean. I opened my mouth to say something, but apparently he wasn’t finished yet.
“She likes to play the big sister. The only grown-up in the room. Just ignore her.”
I felt slapped. Hard. I knew I had hurt the girl’s feelings and I really did regret that. But I hadn’t done it on purpose. He knew my sense of humor better than anyone, and he gave as good as he got. It was a lame joke between a brother and sister, and it was rotten luck and bad timing that it went awry. But what Austin said about me hurt. It really hurt.
I wanted to say something in my defense—anything—but I didn’t want to make a scene. If I got upset in front of everyone, it would prove Austin’s point and make everyone think I was crazy or that I wasalways pissed. I left the room with a growing ache in my chest. Now it was my turn to cry.