Page 18 of The Long Way Home
“I practically gave you that infor—” She cuts me off, sticking her finger up.
“But that doesn’t come from nowhere. That’s usually something you learn when you’ve seen what happens when no one shows up. When you’ve had to be the steady one for yourself because someone else dropped the ball. I’m thinking maybe it was a parent or ex-girlfriend, maybe?” She wiggles her eyebrows, trying to read my face for the answer. “Either way, someone made you feel like just being you wasn’t good enough to be needed. So now you pick a major like public health, and you show up for everyone else, because somewhere deep down you’re still trying to prove you’re worth depending on.”
I don’t say anything at first. The easy comeback dies somewhere between my tongue and my pride. She isn’t wrong, and she didn’t say it like a challenge. It came out as more of a fact she’d noticed, the way someone might say it’s about to rain. But I’m definitely not in the mood to elaborate on that story for her, or all the reasons why she is right. So, I let it die.
“Alrighty then,” I murmur. “You’re not bad at this.”
“I told you,” she says, lifting her bottle toward me. “I like puzzles.”
I clink mine against hers. “And proving people wrong,” I remind her.
“Especially that.”
Rachel follows my gaze toward the corner of the parking lot, where Josh and Margo are shoulder-to-shoulder, laughing. She smirks, taking a slow sip of her beer.
“Wow. That is escalating quickly.”
“Your brother’s got no chill when he likes someone.”
“And apparently Margo doesn’t mess around either,” she adds, leaning back in her chair.
“You think they’ll actually hit it off after this?” I ask, letting my gaze flick between her and the couple.
“Looks like they already did hit it off. I’m not sure about Margo and whether or not she’s looking for a relationship. I have really only known her for a couple of months now. We met on Facebook and messaged each other about rooming together from one of those University meet pages. However, knowing Josh, I give it ten minutes before he asks for her number.”
“Ten?” I raise a brow, horror in my voice. “Come on, give my boy a little more credit. I’d bet he already has it.”
Her lips curl into a slow, genuine smile. “Maybe.”
“Before this, did you have any clue they’d hit it off?”
“Oh yeah,” she says. “The second I met Margo, I knew Josh would like her. She’s his type, but funnier than most of the girls he’s dated.”
I groan dramatically. “Don’t remind me about Holly from freshman year.” I palm my face, remembering.
“She was the worst,” Rachel laughs, a little snort mixed in. “Eight missed calls when Josh got home for Thanksgiving. When he ignored the ninth, she bombed him with texts. She was nuts.”
I glance back at Josh, see him handing Margo his phone, and chuckle.
“Guess you can mark a win in my column. You owe me one, Hayes,” she teases.
“I’d say you’re the winner… but it looks like you’re stuck with me, so maybe you’re the loser after all.”
Her grin flashes. “I don’t think I mind that outcome.”
I feel a warmth that isn’t from the beer. She notices it, leans forward with a playful frown. “Don’t let that go to your head.”
“Too late,” I reply, laughing. I reach back into the cooler for another beer. “You should have known, unwarranted compliments only add to the delusions of males with height advantages.”
I expected babysitting duty when Josh told me his sister was going to crash our tailgate today. But Rachel Collins has a witand an edge I never saw coming. Our conversation stretched longer than it should’ve, well past the kickoff and past the second quarter, before I cared enough to listen to the game.
With Josh and Margo’s disappearing act, they left Rachel and me on the sidelines, half-watching the game and half-sparring in this effortless rhythm I didn’t know we would have.
I don’t know why, but I think I’ll remember the way she looked today with the sunlight catching the side of her face, cheeks a little pink from the heat. I know I will always remember the way her lips pressed around the top of her beer bottle.
Rachel. Josh’s little sister.
Yeah, I’m so fucked.
