Page 57 of How to Win the Girl

“I’m going on a date for Drew.”

“For Drew?”

“Yeah.”

“Like—for Drew or…asDrew.”

“Both.”

Ryann uncrosses her arms and throws them up. “Are you serious? Stop it. You are not doing a twin switch on some poor, unsuspecting girl.”

“In my defense, Drew has no idea I’m doing this. The guy has time to go out with random chicks from his dorky chem lab but not time to go out with someone from a datin’ app.”

“That is not for you to decide!”

“I beg to differ,” I tell her. She wouldn’t understand, but I try to explain. “Look. Somethin’ is goin’ on with him lately. I can’t quite put my finger on it. He’s…restless. Almost like he isn’t interested in anything anymore except studyin’. It’s like he doesn’t even want to…”

I can’t bring myself to finish the sentence. I can’t get myself to say,“It’s like he doesn’t even want to play football anymore.”

Lately, I’ve had the nagging feeling that my brother wants to do something different with his life but doesn’t have the balls to tell me.

If I can get his personal life on track, then his academics and athletic life will be background noise.

Ryann watches me silently, expression blank. Whatever she’s thinking, she’s wrong: I should absolutely butt in to Drew’s business and help make him happy. He clearly doesn’t know how to do it himself.

“So what I’m hearing is, deep down inside, you’re a softy.”

“No. Not deep down. My outside is a nuggety layer.”

“False. Most of the time, you’re too busy being a hard-ass to have a nuggety layer, but whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Speaking of hard-asses… “Have you talked to Dallas lately?”

Ryann smiles at the mention of her boyfriend. “Of course. He hurt his shoulder training yesterday, but it should heal just fine. Minor bruising.” She hesitates. “Want me to mention that he should come and visit?”

Hell no. If Dallas comes to visit, he’s going to get all up in my business, get all judgmental and shit, then he’ll go running to Duke and get me in trouble for meddling in Drew’s personal life.

“We’re good. But thanks.” I adjust the collar on my shirt; it feels as if it’s suffocating me. The last time I wore a shirt like this was during an award banquet at the end of last football season.

Ryann laughs. “I didn’t think so.” She looks me up and down. “Who is this girl you’re going on a date with?”

My lips purse. “She’s in one of Drew’s classes, but they matched on a datin’ app.”

“Then why are you going on the date?”

“He won’t commit.”

“And you don’t think that this is a him decision and not a you decision?”

“Like I said, I know what’s best for him.”

“Do you honestly think you can fake being Drew for a night? The two of you are night and day—this girl is going to know as soon as she meets the real him that she wasn’t dating the real him.”

I run that sentence back in my brain, making it make sense.

“You don’t think I can pull off being Drew for a night?” I scoff. “Please, this ain’t my first rodeo.”

“No, I actually don’t think you can pull off being your brother for an evening—just because you look alike doesn’t mean you act alike. Anyone that knows you can tell the pair of you apart.”

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