“You’re getting the nail polish everywhere!” I looked down at my toes, wriggling them as I did so and then at Caitlyn who was hovering above me. “Let me do it,” she said, reaching for the tube.

“Nuh uh,” I said, holding it away from her. “You wouldn’t let me do yours.”

She rolled her eyes and jumped onto the bed, jostling me. “And now you see why.” She reached behind me and collected a sheet of paper that Tori had left. It basically outlined our lives for the next three days. “So, we can cross this one off the list,” she mumbled. “Polish each other’s nails. Check.”

“That list is so stupid,” I complained. “Polish each other’s nails? Seriously?”

She thumped me on the arm. “It is not stupid. It’s supposed to help us bond. Don’t you want us to bond?”

I cracked up when she pouted and turned back to the task at hand— getting the excess nail polish off of my toes. “I think that we’re pretty much bonded, don’t you?” I took a q-tip and dabbed it in the nail polish remover before cleaning the affected areas. “Come on, that list was made way before you and I stopped fighting. Now, it’s just silly.”

“I don’t know,” Caitlyn said, pursing her lips as she reread the list of activities. “It’s not all that bad. There’s actually a few good stuff on here.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Ice skating,” she replied without hesitation.

“Yeah, I guess that would be cool,” I said gathering the excess cotton balls to put away. “If I knew how to skate.”

She laughed. “That’s why it’s a bonding activity, stupid. I’ll teach you.”

“Sounds like a really bad idea.” I stood and packed everything away. “I can see us now. I’m on the ice holding on to the rails with no help because you saw a cute guy and abandoned me to go flirt and then I’m flat on my ass.”

“Or, I’m pleading with you to let go of the rails and to just trust me but you can’t let go because you’re too much of a wimp to take a risk.” She looked at me smugly, daring me to contradict her.

“I’m not a wimp,” I said playing right into her trap.

“Then prove it. Let me teach you how to skate.” I hesitated and she laughed. “Unless you’re too chicken to even try.”

I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to think of a way to weasel my way out of this death trap of an activity. After two minutes I came up empty and groaned. “Fine.”

“Fine you’re a chicken or fine you’ll let me teach you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Let’s go before I change my mind.”

She squealed, jumping off of the bed and almost knocking me over. She put her arm around me, grinning stupidly. “I’ll see if I can convince Carter to loan us his car while you get ready.”

I changed out of the t-shirt that I was wearing and into a sweater before grabbing an extra pair of mittens and a scarf and meeting Caitlyn in the hall. She tossed me my coat and buttoned hers before collecting her mittens and scarf from me. Beaming, she dangled Carter’s car keys in the air. “Let’s do this!”

“Not one scratch!” Carter yelled from the kitchen.

We laughed and made our way to the car. One of us more apprehensive than the other. “Would you relax?” Caitlyn said as she adjusted the driver’s seat. “I’m a safe driver, don’t trip.”

“I’ve heard horror stories about your driving skills,” I said as I strapped myself in. “I’ll just say a quick prayer.”

She rolled her eyes and slowly pulled out of the driveway. I held on to the seatbelt until we were safely on the freeway. She smiled at me. “See? I’m not so bad.”

I laughed uneasily. “Eyes forward.”

We pulled into the parking garage adjacent to the building that housed the skating rink less than an hour later and I was tempted to kiss the ground, glad to be in one piece. “Thank you, Lord.”

Caitlyn poked me and turned the engine off. “I was barely above the speed limit.”

I exited the car, shooting her an exasperated look. She really wasn’t all that bad a driver, I just felt like giving her a hard time. “And that was pushing it.”

“Shut up!” she said with a laugh as we crossed the street.

“Hey, can we stop by the store on the way home?” I asked, pushing the door open.

“Good idea,” she replied, taking the lead when I stopped at a passageway that branched off into opposite directions. “I’m pretty sure that Logan drank all of our OJ this morning.”

I chuckled. “Nope, that was me. Sorry.”

She shook her head and stopped at the entrance of the rink. “Okay, I’ll take care of the ice skates. You can go watch the other kids and see what not to do.”

I rolled my eyes but found myself heading in the direction that she’d suggested. I sat in one of the unoccupied seats and scanned my surroundings, scoping out any potential hotties that might distract Caitlyn. A group of boys our age, standing nearby laughed loudly and I turned my attention to them. I wasn’t disappointed. I averted my gaze when the tallest one in the group caught me staring. He was built like an athlete, tall but not overly so, with a runner’s physique.

“Suit up,” Caitlyn said depositing a pair of skates at my feet. She took a seat beside me and undid her boots.

Following her lead and undoing my boots as well, I wriggled my feet into the skates and laced them up. “Ready?”

“No, my dear. The question is, are you ready?”

“Hey.”

I looked up and was horrified to find myself looking into the grayish-blue eyes of the guy that I was staring at a few minutes ago. “Hey,” Caitlyn said when it became apparent that I wasn’t going to acknowledge him.

“My friends and I are about to hit the ice,” he said nodding in the direction of the group of rowdy boys. “Would you guys care to join us?”

Caitlyn subtly poked me with her index finger and I yelped. “Maybe next time,” I offered. The last thing that I needed was to be humiliated in front of company. “We still need a few minutes to sort ourselves out.”

The guy nodded. “I’m Luke, by the way,” he said, extending his hand first to me and then to Caitlyn.

“I’m Caitlyn and this is my sister, Camille,” Caitlyn said with a wide smile. “We’ll see you out there, Luke.”

I glanced at her with raised eyebrows at her introduction. We’d never actually discussed it, but I probably wouldn’t have introduced her as my sister. Now, I was glad that we didn’t have to talk about that.

Luke ran his fingers through his chocolate brown hair before securing a gray beanie over it. “Sounds good,” he said before sauntering back to his friends.

“Maybe next time?” Caitlyn asked, thumping me on the arm. “What is wrong with you?”

I thumped her back. “Well, my darling sister, we don’t need you being distracted out there. You can flirt later.”

“He was more focused on you,” she said with a wicked grin.

“He was not,” I defended as she stood and extended her hand to me.

She rolled her eyes and held my hand as she opened the little gate that separated us from the rink. “Easy, now,” she said softly, trying to pry my fingers off of her arm where I was sure I’d already left a bruise.

When we’d safely made it onto the ice, I gripped the rails as though my life depended on it and refused to let go. “Camille,” Caitlyn hissed, tugging at my scarf. “Let go.”

After another ten minutes of this, Luke skated over to us. He was probably as amused as the other persons who had rolled on by with a shake of their heads. “Need some help?” he asked Caitlyn who was standing with her arms crossed, glaring at me. I didn’t care, I wasn’t letting go anytime soon.

“Actually, yes,” she said shooting me another glare. “My wimp of a sister won’t let go of the rails.”

He smiled at me, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. One was slightly crooked but it didn’t take away from his good looks, if anything, it made him even cuter. “What are you afraid of?” he asked, holding out his mitten-clad hand to me. “It’s just like riding a bike.”

I gave him a frustrated look. “I disagree with that statement,” I huffed, annoyed to see him chuckling. “I can crack my skull open if I fall on the ice. Have you ever heard of anyone cracking their skull open from riding a bike?”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you’re being ridiculous, Cam. Trust me, okay? I won’t let you hit your head too hard if you fall.”

“That’s reassuring,” I said, shaking my head at Luke’s outstretched hand. “But I think I’ll just stay here.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt my fingers being pried off the rails and then I was being led away from it. “What?” I gasped as I was led further away from the group. I looked up and almost lost my footing when I saw Aiden. “What?” I repeated.

“Hello to you too, beautiful,” he said, giving me his most innocent smile.

“Caitlyn!” I yelled, receiving disapproving looks from the patrons around me.

She skated over to where we were, with Luke in tow. “Sorry,” she said in-between laughter. “I just thought that we might need some help and Aiden was the only person that I knew would be available on such short notice.”

I gripped Aiden’s hands and Caitlyn steadied me, still laughing. “I hate you so much,” I whispered.

“That’s okay,” she whispered back. “I love me enough for the both of us.”

“So, are you ready for your first lesson?” Aiden asked, still smiling at me. I narrowed my eyes at him and he rolled his eyes. “Well?”

***

Two hours later, I skated on wobbly knees to the edge of the rink, gripping the rails all the way until I’d reached the opening. I shoved the little gate and hopped up, glad to be off of the ice. My butt hurt and I winced as I sat, undoing the straps of my death trap skates. I’d fallen more times than I cared to count. Sure, it was mostly my fault that I kept landing on my butt but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t be upset all the same.

“You did good, kid,” Aiden said taking a seat beside me and undoing his skates as well. “You just need a little more practice.” I glowered at him and he held his hands up in surrender.

“I’m so sore,” I muttered while slipping on my boots. “And so tired.” I stared out at the rink where Caitlyn was still skating, having the time of her life with Luke and his friends who had joined us about an hour into my “lesson” and never left.

“Yeah, but you had fun, didn’t you?” Aiden asked, looking at me with those puppy dog brown eyes that seemed to make the world slow down.

I looked away. “Sure, if you disregard all the falling and the crying, it was an okay day, I guess.”

He laughed and scooted nearer to me. “So, remember how we talked about my sister coming for Thanksgiving?” he asked and I nodded, although I couldn’t even recall that conversation at the moment. “Well, she’s here and I want you to meet her.”

I swallowed. “Here as in the building?”

He shook his head. “Here as in New York.”

Oh man, oh man, this was bad. I’m sure that I didn’t actually intend to meet her when we had that conversation. “Um, okay,” I mumbled.

“My mom’s throwing her a welcome home party tonight. You should come by,” he said that last part uncertainly as if half expecting me to say no and then leave. Honestly, I thought about it.

I felt like bolting but I simply nodded. “Sure,” I said with an uneasy smile, sighing when he put his arm around me. It can’t be that bad, right?

It was another half hour before Caitlyn’s legs gave out and she joined us. “Man, that was so much fun!” she squealed, plopping down beside me, throwing all of her weight on my shoulder. “You should’ve stayed.”

“Does this count as a date?” I asked her, nodding at Luke who was staring at her, looking as happy as she did.

She laughed. “No. I don’t date.”

“Since when?”

“Since always,” she said turning to Aiden. “Back me up here.”

He nodded. “It’s true. She doesn’t date. She goes out with guys, sure, but it never moves past that first date.”

I scrunched my brow at her.  “Why not?”

“She has commitment issues,” Aiden supplied.

“Okay, no more help, mister,” she said, reaching over me to thump him.

“Fine.” He kissed the top of my head and then stood. I missed him instantly and couldn’t help pouting. “I’ve been summoned to help prepare for tonight,” he said, chuckling at my pout.

“Right,” Caitlyn chirped, tying her boot lace. “I forgot to tell you that we’re going to his sister’s welcome back thingy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

She shrugged. “Anytime.”

Aiden laughed and then he too shrugged at my eye roll. “See you guys later.”

When he was gone I pinched Caitlyn. “I didn’t want to go,” I hissed.

“I know. That’s why we didn’t tell you.”