Nate turned to my sister, who immediately looked down and bit her lip as she noticed me giving her the death stare. I was trying to figure out who this person was across the table from me. Did her boyfriend put her up to it? Or was she becoming one of those teenage mean girls?
“Oh. No one. Just someone from school.” I tried to blow it off, but I think my face might have said it all.Please stop. I don’t want to talk about it.
“Your sister didn’t seem to think it was no one.” She pointed at Riley.
“Okay. Uh, Étienne aren’t you meeting Dana for ice cream? You should get changed; it’s getting cooler out.” My mom broke the tension, saving me.
Thanks Mom, I said with a look. My mom could be nosy and pushy sometimes, but she knew when enough was enough. And this was definitely not the time to be in my business.
I got up from the table then cleared my plate. My sister looked at me as I passed her, but I pretended she wasn’t there. I couldn’t look at her without exposing my rage.Maybe this has something to do with me embarrassing Nate the other day.That’s what it was. I embarrassed him in front of his girlfriend and her friends. That was probably why they were spying in the first place.
“Hey Étienne. Who’s this new friend?” Callum asked.
My brothers followed me to my room instead of finishing their dinner. They were unusually calm, sitting at the end of my bed as I changed into something warmer.
“Come on, Étienne. Please tell us. We won’t tell,” added Niall.
“Look guys. It’s no one. There’s this guy who goes to school with me. And he wants to be friends. That’s all.” I tried giving them as little detail as possible.
“Well, I think it’s cool,” Niall whispered, looking down as he swung his legs back and forth, shifting my bed.
“Oh yeah?” I gave him a questioning stare.
“Yeah,” Callum replied. “You’re always hanging out with girls. You’re a guy, you should have guy friends too, not just Dana.”
Niall nodded, following his counterpart.
“Well Dana’s my best friend. You know that.” I pointed at the two of them then added, “It’s okay for boys to be friends with girls. You know that, right?”
Why were they being so agreeable? These weren’t the twin brothers I was used to.
“Can we go with you for ice cream?” they asked in unison.
That’s why you’re both being nice.
“Why not,” I replied. “But go get a sweater on or something. It’s getting dark and cool out.”
I don’t know why I agreed to them coming. They normally aggravated me beyond reason, which was why I never really hung out with them. Fortunately, they were notably quiet and followed me as we walked to the ice cream shop.
“Callum. Niall!” Dana threw out her arms. She changed her hair yet again, this time to a fiery red.
“Sorry about them. They wanted to tag along.”
Dana and I stood in line at the front window while the twins saved a picnic table for us. Well, Callum threw himself on an empty table as a family was approaching.
I no longer wanted to be bothered by what Dana had said in the car. I wanted to forget about it and just be her friend. She looked at me, biting her lower lip.
“I think I like the red better than the orange.” I pointed to her hair, trying to break the ice.
“You were feeling fine the other day, weren’t you? I think I know why you were so absent the whole time. Was it what I said in the car?” she murmured as we took a step closer to the order window.
“What do you mean?” I said, pretending to look at the ice cream menu hanging from the ceiling.
“Étienne. I know. Well, I’ve only recently figured it out. But I had to have known. It’s obvious now that I think about it.”
Her words pounded my stomach with the velocity of a bull running headfirst into its target. I felt like I was going to hurl. My face snapped toward her, my eyes starting to swell. I took a breath but couldn’t say anything due to the pounding in my chest.
“It’s okay, Étienne. I’m fine with it. I’m sorry you had to hear that.” She was trying to comfort me as I felt the color slowly drain from my face. But it didn’t help.