Page 113 of Sing For Me

“Tell me about school. How are your classes? Still liking the dorm? What about your roommate?”

She laughs and I see Will grinning to himself. “You would think we don’t talk on the phone literally every other day,” she says to him, and I flick her arm, the way I used to do when we were little and she was bugging me.

“Excuse me for missing you.”

We find Will’s truck in short term parking and I insist on climbing into the backseat with her. Will just rolls his eyes and mumbles something about being a chauffeur. But he winks at me in the rearview mirror and I know he isn’t actually annoyed.

“Seriously,” I tell Kat. “Tell me about things. You had class this morning, right? Organic chem?”

“Yeah—we’re working on a lab that’s pretty fun.” Only my sister would describe a chemistry lab as pretty fun. “But I don’t want to talk about that. I want to hear more about your hot man.”

“You do realize that I’m sitting right here,” Will says, pulling out into traffic.

Kat waves his complaint away. “You may as well get used to girl talk now, Will. That’s pretty much how the weekend is going to go.”

I don’t think I stop smiling the entire hour-long trip back to my house. It’s just so damn good to have her here. She eventually concedes and tells me about her classes and what she’s been up to lately. I demand she give me updates on all the New York restaurants she’s been to in the past month, whimpering a little in jealousy.

“God, I miss New York.”

We’re in Malibu now, winding our way up the Pacific Coast Highway towards my house, the setting sun lighting the ocean up in shades of pink and gold. “Yeah, you’re so deprived out here,” she mutters. “Do you know it snowed two weeks ago in New York? In April! What kind of bullshit is that?”

Marissa meets us in the driveway, pulling Kat into a hug before she’s even fully out of the truck and squealing nearly as loudly as I had. “You look gorgeous!” she says.

Kat laughs. “I’ve been on a plane for six hours, I definitely don’t think gorgeous is the right word.”

Marissa ignores her, pulling her towards the house. “I ordered tacos,” she says. “Should be here in about ten minutes.”

Kat groans. “Good, I’m freakingstarving.”

“I can see the family resemblance,” Will teases me, hauling her suitcase out of the truck bed. “You both have the appetite.” I just grin up at him, giddy, and something in his eyes softens. “You’re all lit up, Eva.”

“I’mhappy.”

He kisses my forehead. “I’m glad.”

There’s a wolf whistle from the front porch and I look up to see the girls watching us, Kat smirking. “They’re always like this,” Marissa tells her in a loud stage-whisper. “It’s pretty gross.”

I flip her off but Will just grins, wrapping an arm around my waist as we head inside.

We eat tacos out on the back deck, Marissa asking Kat all the same questions I already did. I don’t mind the repetition though—I’m happy to just sit here and listen to her talk. Will clears our plates when we’re done, bringing out a fresh bottle of wine and it occurs to me that he hasn’t said more than a few words the entire meal. He doesn’t seem to mind though—in fact, he seems pretty amused as he watches the three of us chatter.

After dinner, Marissa says her goodbyes, promising to join us for Happy Cake pancakes in the morning before she heads down to her apartment. I help Kat get settled in the guest room, showing her the bath supplies I bought especially for her visit.

“You didn’t need to do all this.”

“You don’t have a bathtub in the dorm,” I argue. “I wanted you to be able to relax here.”

She kisses my cheek. “Such a sweet big sister.”

I turn my head and kiss her cheek—then stick out my tongue against her skin, just to be obnoxious and she squeals loudly, pushing me away while we both giggle like idiots.

It pretty much continues like that for the next half hour or so. Kat and I stretch out on her bed, talking about complete nonsense, giggling like school girls. It’s always like this when we first get together—hell, it’s pretty much like this the entire time we’re together.

I do feel a little bad for Will, who we left in the living room, so I finally pull myself together and herd Kat out of the room so we can all watch a movie or something.

We both stop short at the entrance to the room, staring wide-eyed at the sight in front of us. Will is sitting on the couch, a sketchbook in his hand, a pair of black rimmed reading glasses on his face. There’s something insanely sexy about the image he presents—his grey t-shirt stretched tight over that broad chest, huge inked up biceps in full display, one hand mindlessly stroking his beard. And then to add the glasses to his sharp, rugged features, and the fact that he’sdrawing. I actually feel a little weak in the knees.

Next to me, Kat lets out a little squeak. Then, without saying a word, she raises her phone and snaps a picture. Will looks up at the noise, a confused expression on his face, and she snaps another picture.