Page 171 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

“Shit,” TJ mumbles under his breath.

We lock eyes, sharing the exact same train of thought, and both say, “Kids,” in unison. I barely have time to climb out of bed before TJ’s leaping to his feet and running out the door. Good thing he was wearing sweatpants. He usually sleeps naked.

“What the hell is going on?” I hear him ask right as I’m turning the corner and following him into the kitchen.

The room is choked with thick smoke when I come in, and I whisk my head back to find my brother standing on top of a chair, waving a rag next to the fire alarm, while Kelsea and Sierra are arguing by the stove and a pan containing a burnt-to-the-crisp sandwich—which I think was meant to be a grilled cheese.

Andthis,ladies and gentlemen, is why we can’t leave these kids alone for a damn minute.

“I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to! We were just so hungry, and then we got distracted,” Sierra blurts out as soon as she sees us.

Remember when I said this had all the elements of a perfect morning?

I take it back.

I can’t stop myself from smiling, finding a bit of humor in this total shitshow. “It’s fine, we’ll take care of it.”

TJ goes straight to Oli and asks for the rag before taking his place on top of the chair and instructing him to open the window and air out the kitchen. TJ gets the fire alarm to stop drilling into our ears in no time, and I make a beeline for the girls, asking them to step aside so I can get rid of the culinary casualty that was once a sandwich.

“Crisis averted,” I say as I’m taking the pan to the trash to get rid of the evidence. “Let’s try this again, shall we?”

“We’re so sorry. Please let us keep having sleepovers,” Sierra begs.

Like we could keep these girls away from each other if we wanted to.

“It’s okay, but next time you get hungry, could you trynotstarting a fire? Ask us and we’ll do the cooking,” I tease.

Oli scoffs. “Please, you two are way too busy doing the nasty all the time. The bathroom’s closest to my room. Just so you know, that shower isn’t soundproof.”

My jaw nearly crashes to the ground.

Kill. Me. Now.

All I want to do when he tells me that is dig a hole, crawl inside it, and die. As for TJ, he doesn’t even flinch, cool as a cucumber.

TJ scoffs. “Well, looks like we’re getting you some noise-canceling headphones for Christmas.”

I can’t even look at my brother as I say, “I’m so sorry, Oli.”

Oli smiles and pats me on the shoulder. “It’s fine. I’m happy for you, sis. But I’m going to need those headphones sooner than later. Either that or wait until we leave for school to bump uglies.”

“Better idea, wait until we leave for college,” Sierra chimes.

TJ makes a face at her suggestion. “So, Oli, what color do you want those headphones?”

Oli laughs, obviously convinced that TJ’s kidding, but the next thing he knows, TJ’s going back into our room to grab his phone.

“By the way, we’re happy for you, too,” Sierra says when I get another pan out of the cupboard to cook them breakfast.

“Just imagine, if these two get married, we’ll become family,” Kelsea squeals.

Sierra’s face lights up. “Oh my God, that’s right. Then we’ll all be related in this marriage.”

Oli crinkles his nose in disgust. “Yeah, okay, this is starting to sound a little too much like incest.”

“No incest talk over breakfast, thank you,” I cut in.

“Good news, man. I found headphones that’ll let you sleep through a hurricane,” TJ tells Oli.

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