Page 41 of Play the Game
“You look really good in sparkles, Coop,” Noah manages, laughing so hard tears are streaming down his face.
“Really brings out your eyes.” Jordan’s shoulders shake with laughter as he looks me up and down and then leans out my front door to yell up the stairs. “Jo Jo, get down here! You’re not gonna want to miss this!”
Elliot lets out a snort of laughter, holding up his phone and snapping a picture seconds before I turn on him. “You know, I expected this from them.” I toss an arm in Noah and Jordan’s direction, a cloud of glitter flying off my sleeve and into the air, making Noah and Jordan laugh even harder. “But I really expected better from you.”
“Sorry, little brother.” He goes to toss an arm around my shoulders and then seems to think better of it. “I had to let them have their fun. It’s our first baby. This is a momentous occasion.”
The way he says it—our first baby—has my irritation melting away almost instantly. I’ve been so busy focusing on Evan and trying to keep up at work that I haven’t really had much time to talk to my brothers about this since the night I told everyone. I meant it when I said I haven’t given much thought to the baby of it all. But this reminder that, no matter what, I have my family to help me though it makes me feel like it’ll all be okay.
But I’m standing here covered in glitter and dick confetti, so in this moment I am decidedly not okay, and I definitely have some brothers to murder.
“So, you thought the best way to mark this occasion would be to cover me in tiny dicks and glitter that will take me weeks to wash off, not to mention what it’ll do to my apartment?”
Noah shrugs, still laughing. “Seemed logical.”
Jordan smirks at me. “The glitter will probably be gone by the time your baby is crawling.”
“If it’s not, you can always just move. I hear glitter lastsforever, so that might be easier.” When I shoot a death glare at Elliot, he just grins at me.
“Oh my god, it’s even better than I expected!” Jo appears in my doorway, Amelia and Hannah behind her.
“Pink is your color, Coop,” Hannah manages through uncontrollable giggles.
“I hope you have a lot of shampoo and a really good vacuum,” Amelia says, before letting out a peal of laughter.
“You all knew about this too?”
“Duh,” Jo says with a grin. “Who do you think found the website?”
“I tried to talk them out of it.” Amelia tries, and fails, to smother her laughter.
I narrow my eyes at her. “How hard did you try?”
She shrugs. “Not that hard.”
“I hate all of you,” I grumble, shaking my head again as all six of them take a giant step back to avoid the confetti shower.
“We love you, Cooper, and we’re really happy for you.” Jo steps in and wraps her arms around my waist in a tight hug.
I lean down and kiss her head. “Thanks Jo Jo, but you know you’re all glittery now too, right?”
I can feel her smile against my chest. “I do love sparkles. Go shower. We’ll clean up here, and then Noah made pies. New Thanksgiving tradition. We’re having dessert here first before we go to your parents’ house.”
“Fuck yes,” I mumble, because Noah’s pies are amazing. Not as good as mine, but that’s still embargoed information for my family. “You’re the best. All of you. Even when you send me a dick and glitter bomb.”
Noah grins at me, surveying the damage to my apartment. “This really is our best work.”
The last thing I hear as I close the door to my bedroom is all six of them laughing all over again, and damned if I’m not smiling too.
Half an hour later, my floors and I still sparkle despite multiple rounds of shampoo for me and endless vacuuming, but I’m slightly mollified by my family sprawled around my living room and the six pies sitting on the coffee table.
“Oh my god, this is so good,” Hannah mumbles with a mouth full of lemon meringue.
“You know it, Gorgeous,” Noah says with a wink, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her neck. “Had to make my girl her favorite.”
“Gah, you guys are too cute for words,” Jo squeals from her spot on the floor, leaning against Jordan’s legs.
“We are, aren’t we,” Noah says with a grin, tossing an arm around Hannah’s shoulders and tugging her closer.
