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.“You could have warned me.” He took a step into the hall.“I told you that you didn’t want to go in there.” I closed the distance between us.“Is your neck okay?”“I think it needs a kiss to make it all better.”I placed my lips just below his ear, letting his warmth and smell envelop me.“What are you doing?” Angel’s voice was like a shock of cold water.“I was looking at the scratch your evil cat left on Alex’s neck.We’ll be lucky if he doesn't come down with Cat Scratch Fever.”“You were looking at his neck with your mouth?”Crap.She might be able to keep the news of an unexpected visitor to herself, but catching me making out with my brother’s archnemisis in the hallway? She would tell anyone and everyone that would listen.Crap, crap, crap.I searched my brain for something - an explanation, a bribe, a diversion - anything that might salvage the situation.“Do you want some brownies?”Brownies? Yeah, that one so wasn’t going to work.“We have brownies?”Or maybe it was.“We have a box of brownie mix.I’ll make them for you.” A look very akin to horror etched itself onto Angel’s face.“You want to cook me brownies?”“Sure I do.It’ll be fun.”“I thought you were supposed to be a total zeppo in the kitchen,” Alex said.He had propped himself against Angel’s door frame with one long arm.He was the picture of ease, whereas I was bordering on a complete breakdown.“I can make brownies from a box,” I said, my tone a bit harsher than necessary.Couldn’t he at least pretend to care that we were in serious trouble here?“But you’ll burn them,” Angel whined.“You always burn everything.Even toast.” I was about to lose my cool.The idea of fratricide wasn’t totally unappealing.Mercifully, Alex jumped to Angel’s rescue.“It just so happens that not only am I incredibly good looking, but I’m also an expert brownie maker,” he said.“Although, I’ll need some help.”Alex and Angel did not follow the directions on the box.When I attempted to point this out, Alex informed me that cooking was an art and he was an artist that didn’t do paint-by-numbers.I could only assume that he considered following the tried-and-true instructions that would produce fudgey brownie goodness paint-by-number.“How about these?” Angel asked, holding up a half-empty bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a similar package of peanut butter chips.Alex squirted some chocolate syrup into the batter as he considered.“What are your feelings on peanut butter, Scout?”“Peanut butter chips are not part of the directions,” I said, gesturing with the empty blue box.“Do you always have to follow the rules?”“Always,” my ever-helpful little sister answered for me.“And she loves peanut butter.” After adding in at least ten different unsanctioned ingredients, the cooks/mad scientists declared their creation ready for the oven.We sat around the kitchen, listening to Angel detail all the first grade drama as an intoxicating smell filled the room.Alex held my hand under the table, his thumb tracing circles on mine.The brownies were better than I ever believed food could be.We didn’t even cut them into squares.Alex sat the entire pan in the middle of the table with three spoons.I was entrusted to pour glasses of milk.I caught Angel sniffing her glass to make sure it was okay before taking a drink.Conversation lulled as we stuffed our faces.With the exception of the occasional, “Yum,” “Oh my God,” “This is good,” or moan, the table was silent.I was aware that Angel had been staring intently at Alex, but thought nothing of it.She had never been secretive when it came to her affection for him.I should have realized what was coming.I should have looked at the situation from her point of view and remembered that God put little sisters on this earth expressively to torture their siblings.She asked with the same casualness that someone might ask if you would pass something across the table or how your day at school went, but she didn’t want the salt or to know about a surprise pop quiz in English.Instead, she asked Alex, “Are you in love with my sister?Chapter 12A glob of brownie landed on my chest.Shock had made me forget how to feed myself.“Is it that obvious?” Alex looked only slight abashed.“You have googly eyes when you look at her.” Angel’s didactic tone and wise expression would have been humorous if I had been capable of finding anything entertaining.“Boys only get googly eyes when they’re in love.”“The eyes always give it away.” The two of them nodded sagely at one another.Alex’s attention stayed on Angle’s face, which meant that he couldn’t see the way embarrassment colored my own.Of course, the fact that his neck was battling my cheeks for the reddest thing in the room made me feel a little bit better.“She likes you too,” Angel continued.“Are you sure?”“Definitely.When you’re around she actually smiles instead of looking like this all the time.” Angel puckered her lips, scrunched up her nose, and squinted her eyes.“I do not walk around looking like I’ve been eating lemons.” Really, where did she come up with this stuff?Angel ignored me.“And she was sucking on your neck like a vampire.That means she really likes you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]