American Girl On Saturn by Nikki Godwin Read Free Book Online Page A

around for the remote control to flip on the TV. Milo grabs my arm and pulls me back when I reach for it on the coffee table ahead of us.
    “Emery wants us to wait for her,” he says. He slips his arm around my shoulders and leans in to speak more quietly. “So you’re stuck in awkward silence with us.”
    Noah leans in on my other side. “Is it awkward yet?” he whispers.
    The two of them burst into laughter, as if this were planned before I even walked into the room. I push both of them away with my elbows.
    “I think I’ll go sit between Jenji,” I say.
    I grab onto Noah’s knee to push myself up from the sectional because God knows I would nervously slip and grab something I shouldn’t if I were to even touch Milo. But this was a stupid idea because I still have to step over the limbs known as Milo’s legs to even get close to the Jules Rossi-Benji Baccarini bromance.
    “Good job,” Noah says. “You made her leave, Milo.”
    I’m one step in between Milo’s legs when he purposely trips me and purposely catches me. His arms feel as strong and warm and perfect as I imagined they would. I could seriously melt into his skin and become one with him right now.
    He spins me to his right, slides over next to Noah, and pulls me into the spot between himself and the corner of the sectional.
    “You can’t sit with Jenji. Emery won’t allow that,” Milo says. He looks at Noah then back at me. “I’m not used to girls running from me like that. It sort of hurts my feelings, ya know.”
    He pouts his lip, just like Emery would, and Noah does the whole fake-comfort thing. Milo buries his face into Noah’s shoulder to fake-cry. So much for maturity.
     
    I’m saved by my sisters, who rush into the room and make Milo look up from his pout fest. Aralie whispers something to Tate, and he slides down to give her the corner spot. She pulls him back toward her and cuddles up next to him like they’re the best of friends. I think I’m missing something, but I don’t have time to worry about Aralie and her boyband crushes. I have to deal with my own. Right now he’s sitting next to me with this perfect smirky smile on his face, and I’m sort of dying here.
    Emery picks up the remote, turns the TV on, and flips directly to the music channel for the premiere. As the beautiful boy next to me predicted, she invites herself to divide Jenji in half and inserts herself into the equation.
    Ten seconds later, Emery stands up.
    “I can’ t sit by you, Jules,” she says.
    She gravitates in our direction and crawls into the gap between Tate and Noah.
    Then she makes her announcement. “Jules smells like crushed ladybugs.”
    Any tension that may have been in the room instantly falters with our laughter. I half-expected Jules to fly off the sectional cursing and screaming. Instead, he laughs.
    “It’s his cigarettes,” Benji clarifies. He leans over to his bromance brother and sniffs. “Sorry dude, Emery is right.”
    Jules pushes him back, but a smile stays on his face – for once – and I’m relieved.
    Emery turns up the volume, and the TV silences the room. I engage my attention with the shampoo commercial on the screen so I won’t allow myself to sneak glances at Milo. Really, I don’t want to glance at any of them because they have to watch their premiere in our mini-theatre instead of being in NYC debuting this video in front of thousands of screaming fans.
    Two boys over, I hear Emery inhale sharply when the girl on TV says something about the moment everyone’s been waiting for. Milo leans forward and places his elbows on his knees. This would’ve been their first appearance after their NYC show less than forty-eight hours ago. Instead, no one knows where they are.
    “As you all know,” the pixilated girl says. “Shots were fired at the Spaceships Around Saturn show Saturday night, and the guys couldn’t be here with us today. But there has been a lot of speculation as to where they may be hiding out.