Page 8 of Wrong For Me

“You’re going to have a blast tonight,” River tells her. “Aunt Paige said something about midnight swimming at the villa.”

Her face lights up at that, before falling again. “But it would bemorefun if you guys stayed and went swimming, too.”

Our brother grins over at me. “Nothing like a little guilt-trip to start the night off right.”

“River!” a gruff voice calls from the other side of the room. “Girls! Let’s get going.”

I meet my brother’s gaze and he rolls his eyes. “Someone’s cranky,” he mutters. “Surprise, surprise.”

“Will is always cranky when his girlfriend isn’t around,” Violet says in her grown-up voice, but it turns into a squeal when River flips her upside down, holding her by the knees.

“We need to change,” Everly says, jumping up from the couch. She eyes my outfit and I hold up a hand to head her off.

“This is what I’m wearing.”

She pouts a little, but drops it when Alex pulls on her arm.

“What about you, shrimpy? You think Rosie should change?” River asks a still-upside-down Violet.

She eyes me and I strike a little pose. In fact, I look pretty much the same as I do most days, though I did trade in my cut-offs for a patterned maxi skirt to go along with my plain tank top after the concert. I also draped a few extra beaded necklaces over my collarbones. A little sparkly eyeshadow and some lipstick and I‘m about as dressed up as I ever get. Boho-chic, my Aunt Paige would say.

“Nah,” Violet says, gracing me with a wide, mouth-full-of-braces smile. “She looks pretty.”

“That’s why you’re my favorite sister,” I tell her.

“I’m your only sister.”

“We should head out if we want to avoid getting stopped by the parents,” River tells me, tossing Vi onto the couch.

“I’m right behind you.” I quickly grab my lipstick so I can touch it up in one of the many lighted mirrors.

River tousles Violet’s hair one more time before heading over to Will. Even from here I can hear Will grumbling, obviously ready to get out of here. Will has been a little on edge all day, and Violet was exactly right about the reason—his girlfriend Eva, who happens to be a pretty successful pop star, is stuck in a recording studio this week, and he hasn’t seen her in a few days.

I’ll take cranky-about-missing-Eva Will any day of the week. It wasn’t that long ago that he would have flat out refused to come along to one of Ransom’s concerts. But things have been different for my taciturn cousin since he fell head over heels for Eva Lidell. And no one is happier about it than me.

I head over to one of the dressing stations, Violet and Vega trailing behind. I give the front braid in my hair a final tweak in the mirror then carefully apply my lipstick.

“You do look pretty, Rosie,” Vega says, and I grin at her in the mirror. Nothing like a little sister and cousin to boost the ego.

“Thank you, girlies.” I hold out the lipstick and motion for each of them to pucker up. They do and I apply a coat of the pearly coral to their lips.

“That’s a good shade for you,” I tell them, and they beam.

Some of the pressure in my chest dissipates with those smiles. Logically, I know that my little sister is going to have a great night. It’s pretty much impossible not to have fun when our Aunt Paige is around. And it’s not like she’ll be lonely. When you have a group of sixteen siblings and cousins all camped out in the same place as you, losing a few of the older kids for a couple hours doesn’t make a lot of difference.

But I hate feeling like I disappointed her, as silly as that might be. Will says it’s my kryptonite—the fear of letting family down.

“Vi! Vega! Come here!” one of our cousins—CeCe, I think—calls from across the room, and just like that, the two younger girls seem to forget all about being left out of our evening plans. Violet shouts a hurried, “have fun!” over her shoulder as they both run off to see what their cousin wants.

Typical, I think, smiling to myself as I make my way over to where Will and River are waiting.

“About time,” Will grumbles.

I make a big show of looking around. “I’m sorry, are Alex and Everly invisible or something?”

“They’re still getting dressed,” River tells me. “Will is just being an ass.”

Our cousin glares at him. “Excuse me if I don’t want to start our night out with parental harassment.”