"Everything okay?" I fish for a bottle of water and hand it to her. She reluctantly accepts, taking off her hat and tossing it angrily next to her.
"A lot has changed while I was gone," she spits. I'm not even sure why she's mad. Because I asked her not to talk about Shane? She's been avoiding him like the plague. I didn't think it'd be a problem.
"Not a lot," I correct her. "Maybe a little."
"Sucks to stay out of the loop. Right, Ty?" Izzy snaps.
“Sure.” He puts his forefinger to his temple and pretends to shoot himself, eyes rolling.
Izzy can’t see it, but I can, and it’s making me wince. He doesn't get her bitchy attitude. Frankly, neither do I. It's unlike her.
I fist my shirt’s fabric into a ball, biting my lower lip so hard the salty taste of blood fills my mouth. Izzy and Ty are engaged in a semi-civil conversation, but I’m nowhere near focused enough to listen to what they’re saying.
I hear Izzy’s dangerously high-pitched voice slicing the air again. “So, Ty, have you noticed how Blaire looks a little like me?”
“That tends to happen when you’re twins.” Ty arches one eyebrow and, very casually, illegally passes the five cars ahead of us in a speed that would smoke a fighter jet. I need to kill this conversation before Ty kills us all. He is obviously struggling with my sister.
I steer the conversation to Nana Marty's wedding. That's when I discover that the owner of the venue they had booked cancelled their reservation at the last minute and refunded their deposit, after he realized the renovations on the venue wouldn’t be completed in time for their wedding. This means a June 13th wedding is pretty much impossible and that we’ll have to call everyone who received an invitation to notify them of the change of plans.
Only, there is no plan.
"I feel bad for Nana," I tell Izzy.
"I feel bad for me!" she retorts. She's not even slightly apologetic about her little, uncalled for tantrum. Though I have a strange feeling it has to do with my message about Shane.
I take a deep breath and let her pout. My only solace is that we are nearing our apartment complex and about to get rid of her ass faster than a dead body in a bad detective movie.
Other than hurling Izzy out of the tinted windows, Ty is doing everything he can to get rid of her. He drives so fast my eyeballs roll into my throat. The wheels squeal like Izzy as he comes to a full stop in front of our underground parking lot. He quickly darts out of the car to get her suitcase.
Izzy gets out of the car too, sulking into the night with her pissed-off face in full display.
"Dude," I say, pulling her into a forced hug, "are you okay? What happened in the car?"
She waves her hand dismissively, refusing to make eye contact. "Nothing. It's just...has Shane really tried to hook up with you?"
My eyes widen in disbelief. Christ on a cracker, that's the one subject I asked her not to bring up in front of Ty...and sure enough, there he is, about two feet away from us, holding Izzy's suitcase and looking just about ready to destroy it.
"The fucking asshole." I hear his gruff voice behind me.
I shake my head. "He didn't try..."
"But you said so yourself." Izzy's voice sounds desperate and...is she crying? It's hard to tell in the dark, but she seems genuinely upset. All thoughts of Ty are thrown out the window once I realize that my sister is hurt.
"I said he groped me. Once!" Yup, that doesn't sound any better. "It was weeks ago. And I made it clear that I have no interest in him whatsoever. Anyway, he is dating a girl named Gemma nowadays, so..."
Oh. Oh shit. The writing was on the wall, but I refused to see it. Izzy and Shane. Shane and Izzy. Something happened between these two...a date? A kiss? A one-night stand? An affair?! Brain is just about ready to explode.
Wide eyed, I rush to my sister, who has already taken the suitcase from Ty and is now making her way to the entrance of the apartment complex.
"Izz, I didn't know..."
But she pivots on her heel and rests one flattened palm on my ribcage. "Sorry for doing this in front of Ty. I couldn't help it, sissy." She maintains the space between us like it would kill her if I got any closer, and hell if I even care anymore. She's so hurt, the only thing I care about is her.
"Let's go upstairs and talk about it."
She shakes her head violently. Ty's done being the good guy, obviously, since I can hear him behind me climbing back into the Hummer and slamming the door with force. I don't even blame him this time. Dude, I lied.