Page 16 of Lance

I just look at her but I can tell from the way her eyes widen a bit that she gets the picture. “You wanna go grab a drink?” she asks. But then her mouth drops open, her eyes widening evenmore.

“Nia?” I ask, but she’s staring over my shoulder. I turn to see Lennon Ransome, Haylee’s boyfriend and bassist of the hottest rock band in the country, approaching our group, two water bottles in hishand.

“Hey,” he says to the group at large before handing Haylee her water and slipping an arm around her. He kisses the top of her head before turning to us. “Everyone having a goodtime?”

“Hell yeah,” Layla says. “Except for the part where your brothers keep accosting everyone with pictures of yourniece.”

I have no idea what she’s talking about, but Lennon grimaces a little as Haylee laughs. I glance over at Nia out of the corner of my eye to see that she’s still staring at the bassist with the exact same expression on her face. “Snap out of it,” I mutter, nudging her. She shakes her head a little, looking very much like someone who’s just suffered an electrical shock, just in time for me to hear James saying, “And that’s my sister, Minnie, and her friend,Nia.”

“Hey, Minnie,” Lennon says, reaching out to shake my hand. “Hey,Nia.”

I would wince at the name but I’m too distracted by my friend, who’s gaping at the rock star wordlessly. “Nice to meet you, Lennon,” I say. “I’ve heard so much about you and your brothers fromJames.”

He smiles pleasantly before shooting Nia a somewhat baffledlook.

“Minnie and Nia are juniors at Cal U,” Haylee tellsLennon.

“Seniors, actually,” I mumble. Of course Haylee thinks I’m younger than I really am. As far as my brother and all of his friends are concerned—Lance included, apparently—I’m still a little girl inpigtails.

“You’re a senior already?” Haylee asks. “Holy hell, girl. Slow down a little, you’re making me feel ancient.” She turns back to her boyfriend. “Minnie is crazy smart. Like,insane. You would not believe it. This girl is going to take over the worldsomeday.”

I smile at her, feeling shy. That’s a nice thing to say, of course, but is it too much to ask that I get through one party without the subject of my IQ comingup?

“It’s true,” James says. “She can do, like, any math problem in her head. It’s really freaky. Give her two numbers—I’m talking huge numbers—and she can multiply them in her head just likethat.”

Everyone looks at me expectantly, like I’m about to perform a party trick or something, like I’m just going to start spouting out numbers. Freaky Minnie and her freaky math skills. Exactly how I wanted to feeltonight.

Finally Nia seems to wake up a little. She tears her eyes away from Lennon and says brightly, “Her math skills are one thing, but you should see this girl play Call of Duty. There’s not a guy on our entire campus whose ass she can’tkick.”

Everyone laughs.Thank you,Nia.

“Then you would fit right in on their tour bus,” Haylee says, pointing at Lennon. “I’m pretty sure the Ransome brothers are under the impression that they get paid to play video games all day, not put on rockshows.”

“Rock shows are what we do for fun,” Lennon agrees. “Gaming islife.”

“Speaking of your brothers, Len,” Layla says. “You really do have to talk to them. Cash especially. He was talking to me about diapers earlier.” She shakes her head sadly. “Diapers. He’s going to ruin hisreputation.”

“I’ll warn him,” Lennon says, smiling sheepishly. “But I have a feeling he won’t care. That dude is head overheels.”

“Oh, you’re one to talk,” Haylee says. She turns to us. “You want to guess how many pictures he has of baby Rose on hisphone?”

“Well,” Lance interrupts, and I can’t help but notice that he’s looking anywhere but in my direction, “if we’re really going to do the whole baby talk thing again, I’m out of here.” He nods once to the group and then turns to go without another word. And without a single glance atme.

Maybe Nia can sense that I’m on the verge of a total meltdown because she slips her arm through mine. “It was really nice meeting you all,” she says to the group. “But I’m out of beer. Willa?” I can’t help but note the pointed way she says my name. “You wanna hit thebar?”

“Yes please,” I mutter. “See you guysaround.”

Before I can turn to go, Haylee ducks under Lennon’s arm and pulls me into another hug. “Don’t listen to your brother, he’s just being protective,” she whispers. “You really do look amazing, babe.” She pulls back, smiling. “Have fun tonight, okay? And come find me later—I want to catchup.”

“Thanks, Hay,” I tell her, feeling like crying for somereason.

“Don’t overdo it at the bar,” James warns as I turn to go and I hear Layla snorting something about thepatriarchy.

“Sorry,” Nia says as soon as we’re out of earshot. “I lost my head for a minutethere.”

“Really? I hadn’tnoticed.”

She elbows me. “Shut up. It’s not my fault. I mean, he’sLennonRansome.”