I finished washing my hands and glanced at my reflection in the mirror. My thick black hair was messy and I combed it to the side to keep the strands down. My brown eyes and long nose were as familiar to me as the inside of my palm. I ran a hand down my chin. After seventeen years, not a hint of facial hair sprouted along my jaw. I shrugged and stepped out of the bathroom. 

“What are we watching?” Cece yelled.

“I told you. It’s a surprise,” I reminded my impatient best friend as I headed to my bedroom. Cece lounged on my bed. Her thick black hair teetered in a bun on top of her head. Her tall, lithe body was dressed in a pair of her favorite cut off jeans and a black tank top.

“You know we have two completely different tastes in movies,” she pointed out.

“And music, and clothes, and TV shows and…”

“I get the picture. Now come on. I’m bored. You promised you’d entertain me today.”

It was the last week of summer and there was so much to do to prepare for school. Only Cece would claim to be bored when junior college was right around the corner.

I walked toward the television on the dresser and turned it on. I then logged onto my favorite site that streamed movies online. “I thought your mom and dad went to Chetumal today?  Why didn’t you go with them?”

 “Are you kicking me out?”

“What if I am?” I teased, my eyes disappearing with the force of my smile.

 “It doesn’t matter if you are. I wouldn’t leave anyway.”

“That’s what I thought.” I returned my attention to setting up the movie. When I finally succeeded, I flopped unto the bed, waiting for the film to load.

 Cece rolled her body next to mine and watched me with her stunning almond shaped eyes. “When are you going to update this place?”

For a minute, I grew distracted by just how gorgeous she was. The pretty little girl in the school yard all those years ago only blossomed as Cece matured. Whenever we hung out and people assumed that we were dating, I’d receive incredulous looks. I already knew Cece was out of my league and I had come to grips with being just friends. At least I got to be with her way more than any of her many, many crushes.

“Yo!” she slapped me on the shoulder. I rubbed the spot. “Let’s get some paint this weekend and take your bedroom to the next level.”

I rolled on my back and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars my dad and I had put on the ceiling when I was nine. “I like it.”

“You do?”

 “Yeah, I do.”

 “That’s nice… I think you should upgrade.” She closed one eye and held her fingers in the formation of a square. “I think we could keep the blue walls but make it a darker shade with some brown carpets or better yet, no carpets at all!”

“You are not touching my room.” I put her hands down and checked the progress of the movie. The bar hadn’t moved more than an inch in the minute that we had been talking. I groaned. “Adam is probably downloading his anime again.”

“Your cutie little brother? He would never do that to me,” Cece said.

“Adam!” I hollered. “Adam!”

“What!” My little brother yelled back. Hopefully, Mom and Dad didn’t hear us. They hated when we shouted across the hall like that.

“Get off the internet!”

“No!”

“For me?” Cece tried.

“No!” The answer was sharp and immediate. Cece was a part of our family and my thirteen year old brother treated her as such.

“Well, that stinks. Wanna talk in the meanwhile?”

“About what?”

“Um,” she hesitated. “I’ve been talking to Shawn again.”

“C!” I groaned. Shawn Anthony had been after Cece since hormones and puberty kicked into his body. My best friend normally told Shawn where to stick it, but lately she’d been entertaining him.

“He’s not the same guy he was in primary school! He’s changed!”

“People that evil don’t change.”

“He’s not evil,” C defended. “Besides he offered to show us around the sixth form buildings. He said we could all hang out together.”

Shawn was attending his second year of junior college and was undoubtedly looking forward to Cece’s eighteenth birthday this August. Cece’s parents hadn’t allowed her to date until she was of age. Until Shawn came into the picture in full force, Cece hadn’t cared about dating. We had each other and that was all we needed. Stupid Shawn would mess that up. I could feel it.

“That’s never gonna happen,” I said.

 “He’s been back there for two years. He can help us…”

“Shawn and I don’t see eye to eye. He can stay in his lane and I’ll stay in mine.”

Though Cece easily moved past the childhood bully, I could not forget all the mean things he’d pulled when we were little. Shawn Anthony had been trying to weasel his way into Cece’s life for years.  The bully was biding his time and Cece was too soft-hearted to see it.

“At least attempt to get along.” She slipped closer and blinked her thick black lashes. “For me.” I tried to keep my frown in place, but she darted her hands out and tickled my side. “You know you love me.”

I laughed and captured her hand. “Okay, okay. I’ll try. I promise.”

“Thank you. Now, let’s go beat the living crap out of your brother. I want to see this movie you think I’ll enjoy.”

Cece and I marched to the room next door and banged on the door. “Adam!”

The white door swung open and Adam glared at us. “What’s the big deal?” He checked the time on his watch. “I’m trying to enjoy myself before I have to head to the store and you two keep bothering me.”

I snickered as Cece narrowed her eyes at my brother. She insisted that we looked exactly alike, but that was because Cece couldn’t tell any Asians apart. She’d spent her life with me and she was still clueless.

My little brother was tanner than I was. His eyes were slanted and dark brown and his lips were wider. Adam took after mom, while I took after dad. No matter how often I explained that to the girl beside me, it just didn’t take.

“Please get off the internet. David and I are trying to watch a movie.” Cece folded her arms and tapped her foot on the hardwood floor. She had two little sisters and so the bossiness was ingrained in her.

“Um, let me think about it.” Adam pretended to ponder her request. “How about ‘no’.” My little brother slammed the door in our faces. I laughed at Cece’s expression.

She was about to fist her hands and pummel the door again, when I caught her fingers in mine and led her to the main computer table down the hall. Dad used the space to keep track of the store’s inventory and receipts. Right beside the computer sat the modem that fed wireless internet to each corner of the house.

“We have a choice,” I said quietly so that Adam did not hear. “We can let him win or we can all lose.”

Cece grinned wide. “You are diabolical.”

I tilted my head to the side and raised my eyebrows in inquiry.

“Do it,” she encouraged and I pulled the modem from the wall.

Immediately, Adam’s door burst open and he lunged toward us. “David!” he shouted. “Fix the internet!”

“Catch, C!” I tossed the modem at her and we took off toward the backyard and into the sunshine, laughing all the way. None of us got to watch anything else for the rest of the afternoon. And that was perfectly okay with me.