Page 48 of Someone Just Like You

“Who look like Jude,” Michelle interrupted.

My head spun. It was like the early aughts all over again—being ganged up on by my bossy older sisters. Although, to be fair, they were way meaner to each other than they ever were to me. “I’ll give you Timothy. But claimingeveryguy I’ve dated looks like Jude is grasping at straws.” Wasn’t it? I leaned my back against the edge of the sink and crossed my arms over my chest.

“It’s not just looks,” Nicole whispered before ducking her head.

My heart thudded in my chest. “What?”

She lifted her chin slightly. “Amal was also the youngest of three kids.”

I blew a raspberry. “Fluke. Lots of people have two older siblings, including me. It proves nothing.” I worked to sound assured on the outside, but inside I was losing ground—fast. Fearing my legs wouldn’t hold out, I joined Michelle on the couch.

“What about Isaac from law school? Didn’t you say his mechanism to relieve tense moments was to break into dance? Sounds a lot like Jude back in the day. And let’s not forget the minor league baseball player you dated before Timothy.” Nicole squeezed into the small space on my other side. Three grown sisters on a couch built for two.

“Jude hasn’t played baseball since high school!”Wait. Was that the root of all of this? I felt awful about Jude’s accident in high school and therefore sought guys who reminded me of him in order to…towhat?

Michelle snickered. “Don’t get your G-string in a bunch,Mole.” She stood.

I scowled up at her. “Easy for you to say.”

Nicole rubbed my arm affectionately. “If it makes you feel better, Jude does it too.”

“Right. I mean…c’mon…look at Charley!” Michelle froze as the bathroom door opened.

We all turned around.

Charley.

“Hi!” She waved cheerily. Unaware she’d been the topic of our conversation mere seconds earlier, she entered a stall while the three of us spent the next half minute gaping toward the space she’d just abandoned.

A noise escaped Nicole’s mouth right before she clamped her mouth tightly closed.

Michelle pressed her hand to her stomach and hinged at her hips.

“Pull yourselves together,” I hissed. This was not funny. Wouldn’t Charley find it odd that the three of us were in the bathroom in total silence, aside from the squeaks Nicole made every few seconds when the temptation to laugh got to be too much? We had to say something. “So…did you try the prosecco? Do you guys know the difference between prosecco, Champagne, and cava?”

My sisters stared at me with matching wrinkled brows.

I mouthed, “Act normal” and pointed at Charley’s bathroom stall.

“Uh. Oh yes. Cava’s from Spain, and Champagne’s from France,” Nicole said.

Was I the only one who hadn’t known this?

The toilet flushed. Charley exited the stall with surprising force, the door banging against the hinge. While washing her hands, she said, “I never knew the difference!”

For some reason, this made me feel worse.

“See you out there,” she said.

When it was just the three of us again, Michelle said, “Where were we?” Her chin quivered.

“All of Jude’s girlfriends are weirdly similar to Molly too,” Nicole said before cracking up.

I let them have fun at my expense before tapping my feet impatiently.

When they finally stopped laughing, Nicole said, “Sorry.”

Michelle’s expression softened. “It’s true, though. At the table earlier, the four of you were like weird mirror images. Everyone was talking about it.”

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