“Hey, Edie,” Alex greeted back, just as cheerfully.
Then the girl turned those hypnotic eyes towards me, and it was hard not to think of her brother as she spoke. “Hi,” she said smiling. “I’m Edie Draven, Talon’s sister.”
I smiled back. “Hi, Edie. I’m Kenzl-”
She waved away my introduction. “Oh, I know who you are,” she chuckled. “You’re the girl who has my brother acting like a nutjob.”
I laughed. Whether Edie realized it or not, her teasing nature diffused any anxiety I may have been feeling about sitting with her. “So, it’s not just me who thinks he’s crazy, then?” I asked, laughing as to not hurt her feelings.
Her smiled flashed a set of perfectly straight white teeth. “No,” she confirmed. “He’s definitely crazy. But, cut him some slack, will ya? The boy’s never had a girlfriend before. He’s…new to all this.”
Edie seemed like a sweet person, and she radiated an…inviting aura, so I didn’t want to lie to her. “Oh, Edie, I’m not Talon’s girlfriend,” I said, correcting her. “I’m not even sure if we’re friends.” Edie’s face fell, and she looked so forlorn, I almost took my words back.
“But…why not?” she asked, and she sounded so earnest, it made me wonder what the hell Talon had told her.
I didn’t like lying. Sure, I could white-lie fib for politeness sake, or to not hurt anyone’s feelings, but I couldn’t lie about this. “Well…because he’s a jerk,” I answered honestly.
Edie blinked at me as Alex sat perfectly still. A few seconds later, she started laughing. Once she calmed down, she said, “Well, I know he’s a jerk. He’s always been a jerk.”
“Not the best endorsement, Edie,” Alexandria mumbled.
She laughed again, and it sounded genuine. Edie Draven didn’t fake laugh for anyone. She was genuinely a sweet person. “What I mean is, I know he can be a little…rough around the edges, but he’s wonderful to the people he cares about,” she explained. “It’s just…he doesn’t care about that many people and that’s why he comes off as a jerk.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Edie was defending her brother like any good sister would, and if the rumors were to be believed, what she was saying was true. According to Alex, Talon adored his sister and so why wouldn’t she think he hung the moon? She got to see a side of him that no one else saw.
I took a deep breath, trying my best to not come off as a bitch. “Be that as it may, Edie,” I said, “I just really don’t think I’m Talon’s type. And, if he took some time to think about it, he’d know I was right.”
Her gaze slid towards Alex and then back towards me. “I actually think the fact that you’renothis type is why…I think he’s…serious.”
I needed to give her something. “Our first…encounter wasn’t a pleasant one, Edie,” I confessed. “He was…mean.”
Her face fell again. “Oh,” she muttered.
“But there’s no reason we can’t all be cool though, right?” Alex beamed, trying to smooth things over. “We don’t need your brother to be friends, Edie.” Alex looked over at me. “Right, Kenz?”
I started nodding my head frantically, like a goddamn bobblehead. “Oh, sure, yeah,” I sputtered. “We don’t need Talon to…hang out, or whatever. There’s no reason we can’t still be friends.”
Edie gnawed her bottom lip like she was feasting off it. “I don’t think…I can do that,” she mumbled.
“Why not?” I asked, curious.
Her eyes went from sweet and friendly to determined and absolute. “Talon...likes you,” she said. “He likes you and…I won’t betray him like that. I can’t hang out with the girl who…who’s breaking his heart.”
Oh, God.Edie was a romantic.
“Edie, I can promise you, I amnotbreaking your brother’s heart,” I emphatically denied. “He’d have to be in love with me for that to be the case, and he isnotin love with me.”
“I think he is,” she said, shocking the holy hell out of both me and Alex.
“What makes you say that?” I asked, stunned. “I’ve only known hima day, Edie.”
She cocked her head at me again. “Exactly,” she replied. “And, in one day, a guy who cares about nothing and no one else save me, Mom, Lars, and Hunter is claiming you. What do you call that?”
“Insanity,” I blurted out truthfully.
“And what is love if not insanity?” she replied, wise beyond her years.
