Page 30 of Just This Once

I’m not sure why that little bit of exclusion cut as deeply as it did. I mean, I’d never really been part of the group. I only pretended to butt my way into their inner circle to annoy everyone so they’d appreciate Alec’s sweetness more. Plus, Ihadjust majorly outed Parker.

Of course, he wasn’t happy with me.

But still…

Ouch.

I sank deeper into my chair, mutely unable to think up a good rebuttal. Not like I usually could. I guess death jokes just weren’t as funny to me these days.

What was worse, the kitchen fell uncomfortably quiet afterward, as if everyone had felt the sting of my rejection just as harshly as I had.

Alec patted my hand in comfort and leaned over to whisper, “I’ll get us in.”

As I sent him a small, grateful smile, Raina cleared her throat from the other table.

“So,” she claimed loudly, being obvious in her efforts to lighten the mood. “If Foster is Happy…” She numbered the seven off on her fingers, “Alec is Dopey, Keene is Sneezy, Hudson is Sleepy, Damien is Bashful, and Parker is Grumpy, then that would make Thane?—”

“Doc,” Oaklynn supplied with an approving nod before. “That makes total sense since he’s kind of the unofficial leader of the group.”

“And because he has a terrible sense of direction,” I added with a nod.

“Does he really?” Faith wondered, shaking her head as if amazed by that fact.

“Totally,” I confirmed. “He got lost driving me home from school one time.”

Alec snorted. “Only because he’d never been to your place before and you gave him the wrong directions.”

“Hey, at the time, you thought it was as funny as I did.” I bumped my shoulder over into his and sent him a mischievous grin before glancing around. “Where is good ol’ Doc, anyway?” He was the only member of the group missing.

“Probably staying away because he knewyouwere here,” Parker snarked.

“Orhe’s with his girlfriend,” Alec added quickly, lifting his voice as if that would wipe away the vile that Grumpy had just spewed. “We still haven’t gotten to meet her yet.”

But I shook my head. “No,” I countered. “I bet Grumpy’s right.” Making eye contact with Faith, the only other girl at this table, I added, “Thane hates me most of all, I think. Even more than Sneezy here.”

When I prodded Keene in the arm with my elbow where he sat at the opposite end of the table as Faith and directly to my right, he hissed at me and drew his limb away, claiming, “Not possible. And one fucking sneeze shouldnotinstigate a lifelong nickname.”

At the other table, Oaklynn was claiming, “I can’t picture Thane hating anyone.”

“What makes you think he hates you?” Raina wondered.

“Probably because of the horrible way I treated Alec when I first met him,” I explained as I glanced at my brother and sent him an apologetic wince before gripping his arm to let him know how sorry I still was about our childhood.

“Nah. He doesn’t hate you for that,” he tried to assure me as he bumped his shoulder over into mine encouragingly.

“Well, he still holds it against me, that’s for sure,” I countered.

Keene glanced over at me with a big, fake smile. “I definitely still hold it against you.”

“Aww.” I reached out and pinched his cheek, jostling it a little before letting go. “And it looks just adorable on you too.”

He pulled his head back with a hiss, even though I’d already released him, and he narrowed his eyes before mumbling something I didn’t catch.

While at the other table, Raina said, “I’m so confused. What do you mean, when you firstmetAlec? You’re brother and sister, right?”

“Half-siblings,” I answered. “We have different mothers and didn’t actually know each other existed until the day our dad died.”

“Oh my God,” Oaklynn murmured in surprise before glancing at Damien in censure, as if she couldn’t believe he hadn’t already told her that little fact. “What happened?”

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