“What the…” Her voice trails off. I spot my thinner, taller look-alike twin from the rearview mirror. She is wearing black leggings, an oversized gray sweater and a hat she stole either from Blake Lively or a seventeenth-century widow. She pushes her luggage fast, waving frantically at the car.
I flash her my widest smile, while wondering if I possess the same eccentric qualities that make her so quirky. Ty unlatches his seatbelt and reads my mind instantaneously.
“Clearly, I chose the hotter twin.” He leans in to steal one last kiss before we have company, swirling his tongue seductively in my mouth and releasing my lower lip from his bite.
My mouth remains wide open and my horniness level is sky high as Ty gets out of the car nonchalantly and heads toward Izzy. He takes the mountain-sized suitcase from her hand and shoves it into the trunk. I catch a glimpse of her from the mirror watching his veiny, muscular arm as he flings the suitcase into the car like it’s nothing more than a shoebox.
“Pleasure to meet you.” She hurls herself at him and hooks her arms around his neck. My blood boils to an unhealthy temperature when I watch Ty returning the gesture and hugging my twin sister awkwardly, like a child posing with a giant snake in the zoo. He just wants out of the situation as fast as he can.
“God, Blaire wasn’t kidding. Anyone told you you’re yummy?” my sister purrs.
Can’t blame her. From experience, I know seeing Ty for the first time is a groin-tickling experience.
“Missed you, sissy!" she squeals as I get out of the car to hug and kiss her. She pinches my ass, not in a friendly way but in a lay-off-the-mac-and-cheese way. "So, is he your boyfriend or can your cute sister have a go, too?"
"Yeah, this one is not for sharing, I guess.” I try to keep it light, sliding back into my seat. I love my sister dearly, but I'm also self-conscious as hell around her. She's the successful, gorgeous one. I've had trouble believing Ty thinks I'm special in the first place, and the idea of a lust triangle with Isabelle is my biggest, scariest nightmare.
Izzy's eyes are glued to her cell phone, her face glowing from its screen. "Haven't seen your text yet, sissy. Reading it now."
Ty pulls away from the curb like a maniac, picking up speed and driving in his usual, guy-way. Elbow slung out the window, head against the headrest, he holds the steering wheel in one hand and distractingly runs his other hand over his head.
I watch Izzy intently from the rearview mirror. Her face falls when she reads my text, and when she lifts her face, her eyes meet mine in the reflection. My blood freezes. I don't know what those blue eyes say, but whatever it is, she's screaming it like a wounded animal.
"Everything okay?" I fish for a bottle of water and hand it to her. She reluctantly accepts, taking off her hat and tossing it angrily next to her.
"A lot has changed while I was gone," she spits. I'm not even sure why she's mad. Because I asked her not to talk about Shane? She's been avoiding him like the plague. I didn't think it'd be a problem.
"Not a lot," I correct her. "Maybe a little."
"Sucks to stay out of the loop. Right, Ty?" Izzy snaps.
“Sure.” He puts his forefinger to his temple and pretends to shoot himself, eyes rolling.
Izzy can’t see it, but I can, and it’s making me wince. He doesn't get her bitchy attitude. Frankly, neither do I. It's unlike her.
I fist my shirt’s fabric into a ball, biting my lower lip so hard the salty taste of blood fills my mouth. Izzy and Ty are engaged in a semi-civil conversation, but I’m nowhere near focused enough to listen to what they’re saying.
I hear Izzy’s dangerously high-pitched voice slicing the air again. “So, Ty, have you noticed how Blaire looks a little like me?”
“That tends to happen when you’re twins.” Ty arches one eyebrow and, very casually, illegally passes the five cars ahead of us in a speed that would smoke a fighter jet. I need to kill this conversation before Ty kills us all. He is obviously struggling with my sister.
I steer the conversation to Nana Marty's wedding. That's when I discover that the owner of the venue they had booked cancelled their reservation at the last minute and refunded their deposit, after he realized the renovations on the venue wouldn’t be completed in time for their wedding. This means a June 13th wedding is pretty much impossible and that we’ll have to call everyone who received an invitation to notify them of the change of plans.
Only, there is no plan.
"I feel bad for Nana," I tell Izzy.
"I feel bad for me!" she retorts. She's not even slightly apologetic about her little, uncalled for tantrum. Though I have a strange feeling it has to do with my message about Shane.
I take a deep breath and let her pout. My only solace is that we are nearing our apartment complex and about to get rid of her ass faster than a dead body in a bad detective movie.
Other than hurling Izzy out of the tinted windows, Ty is doing everything he can to get rid of her. He drives so fast my eyeballs roll into my throat. The wheels squeal like Izzy as he comes to a full stop in front of our underground parking lot. He quickly darts out of the car to get her suitcase.
Izzy gets out of the car too, sulking into the night with her pissed-off face in full display.
"Dude," I say, pulling her into a forced hug, "are you okay? What happened in the car?"