Page 148 of How to Prevent a Fumble

We go on naming things we hate for the next thirty minutes. Long enough for the plane to take off, Elara to settle down behind us, and for Briar to start falling asleep with the help of some sleep medicine, of course.

And a couple of hours later, we finally land.

43

LEO

The villa we booked is much bigger than I ever thought, but that’s maybe because my brain is absolutely unable to comprehend square footage.

What do you mean the space is almost eight thousand five hundred square feet?

I look down on my foot, well aware that my feet are larger than a foot. The place is eight thousand five hundred of these?

Now I feel like it’s more.

“Leo!” Elara yells from the middle of the large, bright family room.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I look up. “Yeah?”

“Just so you know, Junie and I called our rooms already,” she tells me with a hand on her hip.

“Which one?” I ask, heading toward her.

She points at the door to the left of us, and I peek inside just to make sure they haven’t claimed one of our rooms. Thankfully, I spot two twin beds decked out in white and blue comforters, the exterior wall a giant window instead of doors.

I let out a breath, thankful I don’t have to tell the kid no.

“Nice,” I tell her, holding out my fist.

She bumps her small fist to mine, pulling it away slowly away without releasing the fist in an explosion.

“What is that?” I ask her, bewildered.

Her cheeks turn pink. “Sorry Leo, I forgot,” she huffs, sticking her fist back out to me. I bump mine on hers, and pulling back, Elara puffs her cheeks and makes an explosion sound as she opens her fist and extends her fingers.

“Thank you,” I tell her, ruffling her blonde hair before turning to go find her mom.

I find Isla standing outside of a room down the hall, her dark hair in a high ponytail, Owen standing against the wall behind her, his arms crossed over his chest. “You guys get this room,” she says to someone.

I walk past, peeking into the room to find Briar standing in the middle of it, looking around with her jaw practically on the floor.

“Are you guys really sure?” she asks, her eyes meeting mine.

Isla nods. “Mr. Moneybags over here paid for most of the trip, which means that you’ll be staying in the best room. That is,” my sister’s eyes dart to the side, eyeing me, “unless you want separate rooms.”

Briar’s mouth opens, but nothing comes out as her eyes widen at Owen’s expression. I turn to look, finding him looking at me curiously, as if waiting on what I’m going to say next.

“Well, if I’m counting correctly, I don’t think there’s enough rooms for us both to have our own,” I tell them, not wanting to get into it. “I can sleep on the couch over there if I need to,” I assure them, hoping it would get them off our backs.

Neither of us really know or understand what’s going on between us yet. Just the other day it came out that we were engaged, for crying out loud. We need some time to figurethings out, and I don’t feel like inviting the others to help us in that feat.

I can feel Briar’s eyes on me as I watch Owen carefully consider this. At some point I know I’m going to have to talk to him about how things have changed, and I’m not quite sure how he’s going to take it. I think my one saving grace with him has been that all of this has been fake. That I can’t really hurt his sister, because he knows her well enough that she wouldn’t fall into my trap.

But there is no trap. I really love Briar, and I want nothing more than to make all of this real.

I just need to convince her that I want that, and that it’s not just a fleeting feeling.

“Okay,” Owen nods, pushing off the wall and heading back down the hall to where I’m assuming their room is.

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