“You’re a child, you know that?”
“Is that a yes?”
I squeezed my eyes shut as I nodded. With any luck, the people I wanted to avoid wouldn’t be there. If anything, the ten years I’d spent away from Lunar, New Mexico had taught me how to pretend like nothing bad was happening around me. Only positive things for me.
“You just made me the happiest big brother ever.” He pulled me into a tight hug and immediately shoved a wet finger into my ear. “I missed you.”
I shoved him away and wiped at my ear. “Get out. You’re disgusting.”
“Hurry up. Lisa is probably already ready and waiting in the car. She’s excited for a chance to dress up.”
I kicked his knee from behind as he took a step up the stairs and his leg collapsed forward. When he glared at me, I just grinned. “Tell her I’ll be up soon.”
“Pest.”
“Jerk.”
“Little bottle baby.”
“Big titty baby.”
He snorted and then left me to change, but with no time to orient myself. Just the morning before, I’d woken up in a loft apartment in LA with one of the most beautiful views I’d ever seen. How the mighty had fallen.