“A thing?” another woman says. I can’t remember her name.
“Did you really graduate from Princeton?” Rachel questions.
I nod.
“Her GPA was appalling,” Irene mentions, “which is why no one should be that impressed.”
Jeez. Anger pumps out of my chest. I spent years busting by butt for that diploma. Sure, I had a lot of help, but I still worked for it. “I earned that degree,” I say. “I passed all of my classes and studied for every exam. I may not have been the smartest person in the room, but I at least tried and succeeded.”
Irene stares at me for a long moment, and I am about to shrink underneath her penetrating gray stare. And then her lips curve. In a smile. “We can work with that.”
I did kind of sound like Rose a little bit right there, sticking up for myself. I internally pat myself on the back. Good job, Lily.
Rachel asks me another question, but I’m distracted by the men’s laughter. Daisy gesticulates with her hands like she’s telling a hilarious story, and they’re all eating it up. One even places his palm on her shoulder. It falls to her back.
And then lower, sliding down to the spot above her ass.
No. No.
“Excuse me,” I mutter, on a new mission. Protect my little sister. I don’t hear anything that Irene, Rachel, or the other two women say. I march over to Daisy, my pulse racing. It doesn’t help that Maximoff decides now of all times to kick me in the ribs.
Great. Just great.
Daisy slyly tries to step out of the handsy guy’s space, but he shifts with her. She bobs her head at him and the others like she’s enthralled with the conversation. I notice that the handsy one has horn-rimmed glasses. After I binge-watched Heroes, I trust no one who wears those particular glasses. Paranoid. Yes.
But I’ve been an absent sister for most of my life. I plan on beating Rose and Poppy for the best older sister award, so I scoot closer to Daisy’s side and try to wedge my body between her and Horn-Rimmed.
His hand falls off her back. Success.
I inwardly give myself a second pat.
And then every single man stares down at me like I appeared out of thin air, and not only that, I see their minds churning. It’s like their eyeballs are imprinted with she’s a sex addict. I’m a unique specimen, I suppose, but it only heightens the awkward silence.
I have no idea how to alter it, no plan on what to say after I interrupted their conversation. I thought I could coyly sneak in, be all invisible, swat Horn-Rimmed’s hand away, and sneak out.
I fucked up.
But Daisy is so good at integrating introverts that she wraps an arm around my shoulders and says, “I was telling them about the time we tested out Hale Co. bicycles as kids.”
I vaguely remember this, but it’s lost in a pool of other foggy memories.
“I was six,” she quickly paints the picture for me, “and I decided to ride the bike without using the handlebars. I crashed into Jonathan’s Range Rover next door.”
Daniel, with his fluffy brown hair, speaks up. “So you’ve moved on to crashing motorcycles?”
All the guys laugh lightly, like flirty laughter, some even nervous. Like a gorgeous, confident girl automatically intimidates them. This is bizarre.
Daisy shrugs. “I like going fast.”
Horn-Rimmed zeroes in on me. “What about you, Lily? Are you more cautious in your approach?”
My approach to life? All the eyes pin to my body, and my neck grows hot. And then Maximoff kicks me again, this time in the bladder. So hard that I have no opportunity to stop myself. The water I downed at the other table suddenly leaks.
My world is in slow motion.
Everyone waits for me to finish my sentence while a wet spot sprouts on my khaki slacks. Oh my God.
I am mortified. This ranks up there…high, high up there.
They can’t see. They can’t see. I pray that my face hasn’t turned tomato-red yet.
“She’s more analytical than me,” Daisy says. I catch her gaze and she looks at me like are you okay? No. Nope. Daisy smiles at all of them, trying to remove the attention from me.
“You’re the impulsive sister?” Horn-Rimmed asks Daisy, eyeing her long, long legs like Daniel did.
“Very,” Daisy says, “and I’m so impulsive that I have to whisk Lily away from all of you. Sorry. We just need a quick break.” She hooks her arm with mine, and we head towards the ladies’ room. I’m practically sprinting.
“What’s wrong?” she whispers.
I shake my head. I can’t say just yet. My body is petrified, and goose bumps run down my arms the longer I play the moment in my head, on rerun. My face flames by the minute.