Page 20 of Nothing to Deny
“Color?”
“Sure,” she said. “They have all sorts of colors. I love the pink, it’s really vibrant.” Gasping in joy, she gave him another squeeze. “I saw this one girl last week with purple daisies on hers… Purple is my favorite color. That was over at Harbor North, but I could call them, see if they’ll courier some… goes really well with the pink.”
“Pink?” His lip curled in disgust. “Purple?”
“Sure,” she said, playing with him. Her hands left her feet when her shoulders went back. “You wouldn’t get pink? I asked you out for burgers and you wouldn’t even get purple flowers for me?”
“Well… yeah,” he muttered, his lips loosening. “But I gotta go to school tomorrow…” Suddenly optimistic, he bounced. “You want to come to my school tomorrow? It’s on West Trin. If you meet me after, I can tell them I did it for my girl.”
Oh, he was so sweet. Such innocence and hope.
She smiled and reached over his legs to take his uninjured hand.
“That’s a date, Handsome.” She put his hand on her cheek. “But, you know, I like blue too… Maybe if you got blue, you could let me draw a daisy for you… would you let me do that instead?”Eyes glazed and wide, he blinked hard and nodded. “Thank you, Handsome.”
“What’s going on in here?”
Baer’s approaching voice attracted her attention, which loosened Presley’s hand. The older brother examined the younger. Something discerning in his eye became more intense.
He tilted his head to focus on her. “You know he can see down your dress, right?”
It hadn’t even occurred to her. Glancing down, she saw that, yes, she’d been giving Presley a close-up of more than just modest cleavage. She sat up, pressing a hand to the front of her dress.
“Sorry,” she said to him, then winced at Presley. “I’m sorry.”
Baer laughed. “Don’t apologize to him,” he said and handed the kid a juice box.
“I don’t want that baby thing,” Presley snarked, shoving the box onto the table.
Kids on the cusp of teenage-hood acted this way all the time.
“Can I have it?” she asked, opening her hand to him. “Please?”
Surprised by the question, Presley handed it over. She smiled in thanks and opened it.
“I called home,” Baer said. “You’re grounded forever.”
Presley gaped at his brother. “But I… Freya’s taking me out for burgers.” Baer landed an unimpressed eye on her. She smiled and shrugged, tonguing the straw into her mouth. “We’re dating now.”
That widened her smile. She sucked up some of the juice before holding the box toward Presley.
“Want to share with me, Handsome?”
The kid was happier to take the juice from her.
Baer hadn’t managed to crack a smile. “You’re dating,” he said. “My twelve-year-old brother?”
She shrugged. “What can I say? We hit it off.”
“You tell him we’ve kissed?”
How could he announce such a thing? She gasped and swatted for him, but he swerved back. In that move, he found his smile.
“Baer!”
“You said you weren’t getting with him,” Presley whined.
“Oh, honey,” she said, leaning forward to take his hand again. “He’s just jealous. Ignore him.”
