Page 21 of Beautiful Crazy

My head snaps back to Wes. “And why does Dad think Emmett and I are a couple? Because I certainly didn’t tell him that. I mean I love you, Emmett, don’t get me wrong, but we’re just friends. We can only ever be friends. Otherwise, we’re breaking rule number five. So tell me, brother, why the hell are you asking us to break rule number five?”

Wes grabs Jenny’s left hand and pulls her mitten off, exposing her beautifully manicured nails and a gigantic diamond ring on her fourth finger. Emmett beams and my jaw drops in surprise, forgetting all about our rule number five conundrum for a few seconds.

“WES! You didn’t tell me this was happening! Oh, my, God!” I grab Jenny’s hand to get a closer look at her ring, but Wes stops me.

“Shhhh, not too loud. Mom and Dad don’t know yet.”

“Oh.”

“Well, they knew I was going to pop the question, they just don’t know I’ve done it already.”

“They’re going to be so excited for you guys! Oh, my gosh, I’m so excited for you guys!” I clap my hands, excited by this amazing news. “I’m finally getting a sister!”

“And a serious boyfriend, all in one day,” Wes reminds me. “Yay!”

My face falls again. “So, what does you proposing to Jenny have to do with me and Emmett?”

“Okay look, just hear me out.”

“Ugh. I already don’t like where this is going.”

Wes gives me his biggest puppy dog eyes as he holds both of my hands. “I needed to make sure Mom and Dad would be in great moods this weekend because I think they really wanted to be a part of the proposal, or they wanted to be there for it or, you know, Mom wanted to watch. Whatever.” He shakes his head. “But I really wanted it to be a me and Jenny moment, so when I was on the phone with Dad the other day, I told him you and Emmett had decided to start dating and were pretty…you know, serious.”

“WHAT?” I whisper shout.

“Hey,” Emmett turns toward me. “Am I that bad?”

“Noooo, of course not. This isn’t about you, Emm.”

“Uhhh, I beg to differ. I’m fifty percent of the Emmettly equation.”

“Emmettly?” Jenny giggles.

“My brothers.” He rolls his eyes. “They’ve referred to Emily and me as Emmettly almost since day one. They like to tease me because my roommate and best friend is a girl. Whatever. They don’t have anyone folding their underwear.” I grin as he toes at a few pebbles on the ground. “Well, now some of them do. But you get the picture.”

“Please Emily,” Wes pleads. “I just need you guys to do this for the day and then we can say you broke up or whatever…”

Emmett frowns. “Uh…why would we break up?”

I roll my eyes. “Because this isn’t real, Emm. At some point it has to end.”

“I’m not breaking up with you, Emily. I’ll look like the biggest douche and that word will spread through this town like an STI.”

“Okay, then we’ll come up with something,” Wes assures us. “Maybe we won’t need to say anything. And maybe Dad won’t say anything either. Who knows? I just wanted you guys to know.” He shrugs. “You know, in case something does come up. Please Emily? For your new sister?”

Jenny cringes, but I don’t have it in me to be mad at her because I have a new sister and I’m super excited about that. With a deep sigh I wrap my arms around my brother.

“Congratulations, brother. You’re very lucky I love you.”

“Thank you, Emily. You’re the best sister a guy like me could ever have.”

“I’m sorry about this, Emmett,” I say, turning toward him. “I promise to make this up to you. I’ll plan a night out for us, somewhere fun.”

I expect him to look a bit nervous or even put off to be asked to do this with me, but instead there’s a new energy in the air as he puts his arm around my shoulder.

“This isn’t a big deal, Em. Really. Easy peasy. We can do this. We’ll be just like we are any other day but…a little extra.” He kisses my temple, and there’s a heat in my cheeks that wasn’t there before. I catch my brother’s eye and look away hoping he doesn’t catch on to my blush but when I look again, he’s narrowed in on my best friend.

“Emmett?”

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