Page 104 of The Mistakes I've Made
Chuckling, I handed her the hot sandwich she’d ordered from the street vendor as I dug into mine. “So, that’s why we’re in this mess?”
“I can’t help it. The little girl still buried inside me always wanted to be royal! And, besides, I didn’t see you protesting much!”
“My brother has a way of antagonizing me.”
“I noticed.” She grinned. “Okay, so how exactly are we going to pull this off? Can we do anything? Like, could we get up onstage and recite Shakespeare if we wanted to?”
I shrugged. “We could. I wouldn’t suggest it if you want to actually win, but sure, the rules just say there must be two of you, and you must preform…something.”
“Okay, that’s simple enough. But I need to change. Do you think your friend Millie could let me into her store?”
“Uh, yes—right after you tell me what you have planned.”
A smile curved around her face. “Maybe later. I’m starving.”
“We look ridiculous,” I said as we waited on the side of the makeshift stage that had been erected on the street for the fall festival’s King and Queen Competition.
The sun had begun to set, and a large crowd had gathered around for this evening’s show.
It was something I sometimes stayed around for, lingering in the back for the last several years when my brother had hopped onstage and competed with Cora, but not this year.
Nope, this year, I’d had to open my big mouth.
This year, I was front and center.
“We don’t look ridiculous,” Lani encouraged me, giving me a once-over. “Well, maybe you do since you refused to change, so I guess that means we kind of look ridiculous, standing next to each other…”
“See?” I said, my eyes sweeping over her.
She’d gotten rid of the drab gown from the 1800s for something a lot cooler.
Or hotter rather.
We’d managed to track down Millie, who’d been more than glad to sneak us into Beachcombers to help Lani find a more suitable dress for what she had planned.
And, if it wasn’t for that plan, I might have bailed on this whole thing.
“So, what is your job?” she asked, going through her directions one last time as the couple before us, who happened to be my brother and Cora, finished.
“Stand there and try to look sexy?”
She smiled. “I don’t think I said sexy, but sure. Just dance. You can dance, right?”
“Uh,” I managed to say.
“Oh! They’re announcing us!”
I was so screwed.
As Cora and Dean exited the stage, having just finished singing “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher to a roaring crowd, my brother gave me a pat on the back and wished us luck.
God, I hated him in this moment.
Just dance—that was all I had to do.
All I had to—
The second Leilani stepped on that stage, I lost the ability to breathe.
