Page 23 of Let's Pretend I'm Okay

She rests her head on the back of the couch, squeezing her eyes shut. “See, I told you, you’d make fun of me.”

“I’m only laughing because you yelled that into my face.”

She rolls her eyes. “Mm-hmm, whatever.”

I have to help her. I’m going to leave a void, and the only thing I can do is try to fill it as much as possible before I go. That means if she wants to fall in love, I’ll make sure it happens.

Wasting no time, I sit up, fully facing her. “What about Ricky?”

Her eyebrows pinch together, and her mouth falls open. “WhataboutRicky?”

“Well, he’s nice and cute.”

“I don’t need you to play matchmaker,” she says, slipping her arms into her jacket.

“You said you want to fall in love, so why don’t you try putting yourself out there a little?”

She covers her ears. “I can’t hear you.”

I pull her hands off her ears. “Come on, stop acting like a little kid who still believes in cooties.”

Her cheeks flush. “It’s embarrassing to talk about.”

“Do you think someone is magically going to drop into your life and sweep you off your feet? Because that only happens in movies.”

She drops her gaze.

I cross my arms. “Annie, what aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing,” she says.

“Annie?”

There’s a timid smile followed by a sparkle in her eyes. “Maybe life is like the movies, Margo.”

“Are you about to tell me you actually talked to another person?”

She shies away, blushing again. “I may have had the perfect meet cute in the library—just like the ones I read about. I was trying to reach a book on the top shelf, and he came up behind me and grabbed it for me.”

Maybe she doesn’t need my help after all. Here I was thinking my sweet closed-off sister needed me to make her dreams come true, but she was out there having her very own movie moment. “Who was it?”

She looks away.

“Annie,” I say, grasping her arm.

She refuses to look at me and whispers, “It was Daniel.”

Daniel? Of all people...Daniel? That’s completely unacceptable. I don’t want Daniel anywhere near Annie. Ever.

I gasp. “No.”

She smiles big and nods.

I playfully smack her shoulder. “I thought we talked about this.”

She shields herself. “I’m telling you, he’s a good guy. I can feel it.”

Oh dear, Daniel, you vile creature, how did you brainwash my sister?

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