Awkwardly Ever After by Marni Bates Read Free Book Online Page A

at me earlier. So instead of allowing Izzie a safe escape, I sat down on the floor and leaned against the couch, effectively trapping her behind me.
    Izzie leaned forward so that she could whisper in my ear. “I will kill you for this, Mel. Someday. When you least expect it.”
    I forced out an incredibly fake-sounding laugh. “Good one, Izzie.”
    Spencer eyed us suspiciously. “Want to share the joke?”
    â€œNo . . . just, y’know, classic Isobel Peters humor. This girl. Laugh a minute.”
    Izzie’s hands clutching the popcorn bowl turned white and I suspected it was because she was fighting the urge to dump it on my head.
    â€œThat’s me, all right,” she said dryly, as Mackenzie popped in the DVD and reclaimed her seat on the couch next to Logan, scrunching Izzie even closer to Spencer in the process.
    I couldn’t help but notice the way Izzie drew her finger across her throat in the universal signal for impending murder. When Spencer glanced at her, she used that hand to hurriedly adjust her glasses as if that had been the plan all along.
    I doubted Spencer bought it for even a second, especially since his mouth quirked upward into an amused grin. Logan couldn’t have cared less about any of us. Mackenzie was cuddled up against his chest and judging by his smile, that automatically meant all was right with the universe. Meanwhile, I settled back against the couch, ready to watch the movie, play it cool, and get the whole awkward double date setup over with already.
    Then I heard the unmistakable sound of water running.
    It made sense. Dylan probably didn’t enjoy hanging around with a coating of mud and sweat on his skin. Of course he would shower after coming back from his soccer practice.
    Of course he would.
    Unfortunately, even knowing that there were three rooms and two doors between us, I still felt jumpier than hell. Worst of all, I felt guilty about it. Because what kind of a person agrees to watch a movie at a friend’s house and then spends the next twenty minutes trying not to imagine what her little brother looks like under the spray.
    It was just . . . wrong.
    Izzie seemed equally tense and one of her legs next to me began vibrating with impatience. She also kept snacking away on the popcorn, as if that would be enough to keep the discomfort at bay. If the prickles on the back of my neck were correct, none of our behavior was going unnoticed by Spencer.
    Mackenzie was the only one of us who looked thoroughly engrossed by the movie, and that was probably because she was kept busy pointing out historical inaccuracies. Which wasn’t exactly hard to do given that the movie totally glossed over the treatment that the Native Americans received at the hands of the English. Still, every few minutes she would pipe up with some random factoid.
    â€œYeah, they have the wrong flag on the ship,” Mackenzie murmured while I debated how quickly I could flee from the room . . . and just how much trouble I’d be in with Izzie later. “Great Britain wasn’t united under that flag until 1707.”
    Logan shook his head in disbelief. “Okay, seriously, Mack. How do you know that stuff?”
    She reddened a little as she turned to face her boyfriend. “I may have Googled it.”
    â€œGod, you’re cute.”
    Okay, yeah, it was definitely time for me to leave. I wasn’t even going to make it to the whole “Colors of the Wind” part. Sue me, I wasn’t in the mood for adorable animated raccoons or historically inaccurate representations of America. If I was going to be stuck in a lecture, I preferred it to happen in a classroom.
    At least at school I was legally obligated not to bolt.
    â€œWell, this was fun, but I think—”
    Dylan sauntered into the room, part of his hair still waterlogged, with spikes going in all directions because he had obviously toweled off as quickly as possible. He grabbed a chair