"Okay, spill," Susan told me the moment she could get me alone. I looked at my bedroom mirror and watched a red flush creep into my cheeks. "Mario's here tonight and he looks happier than at school earlier today. Explain."

I turned to her. "Of course he looks happier now. He's not at school!"

She shook her head, crossing her arms and leaning on my shut door. "That's not what I meant."

I sighed. "Look. We're not dating and we're not interested in each other. We're only friends." Or were we? I bit my lip as the thought crossed my mind. "If it makes you happy, I'll go downstairs and ask him to leave."

She shook her head. "Why would that make me happy? I don't care who you date, but George does. If people see you and Mario out at a lot of places, it will get back to him, and then things will just be super weird. Even though I'm in drama, I hate things being weird."

I hurried to calm her down because her eyes were getting big and she was bordering on a freak-out. "I'll talk to him. Things won't get weird, okay, Susan?" She slowly nodded, closing her eyes and trying to even her breaths. "George and I are still as much into each other as ever." I sighed, realizing not for the first time that I had weird friends.

On the other side of the door, I could hear Mario and Larry coming up the stairs, talking and laughing. They went into Larry's room and, judging by the sounds spilling into the hallway, I was pretty sure they didn't close the door. I glanced at Susan and found her looking back. We grinned at each other, realizing we were both eavesdropping. I motioned for her to follow me and quietly opened my door. We slipped into the hallway where we could hear better.

"So then she turned to me and was like, 'My ice cream!'" Larry said and they both laughed.

"Ya, that sounds like her," Mario said a moment later.

I frowned. Larry swore he'd never tell anyone that story. I was ten and a girl I used to hang out with had a collection of brand-name shoes. I bugged Dad until he got me a pair and then Larry and I went out for ice cream – something we still did a lot – and the ice cream cone I'd gotten wasn't stable. I licked the top scoop, which was blackberry, and it was dripping. It dripped all over my shirt, my jeans, and then the top scoop fell onto my new white shoes.

In the end, I had to throw out that entire outfit, yet I was far more concerned about my ice cream than the all the money Dad had paid for that outfit plus the shoes.

But, then again, Mario laughed. I like his laugh. I smiled to myself. "You said the story about the ice cream was locked in the vault," I told Larry as I walked into his room. He spun his office chair to see me. "It appears someone opened the vault." I crossed my arms as I leaned on the door jamb.

Mario looked at me. His eyes were sparkling. "It appears so," he said, his accent coming through.

Larry just had a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oops."

I stepped into the room and punched his arm before turning and jogging out and down the stairs, laughing. When I hit the bottom, Larry was right behind me. He wrapped his arms around me to keep me from running away again. "Dad!" he called, laughing as I tried to break free.

"Stop!" I pushed him and hit him again, still laughing, too.

"She's hitting me!" he called.

"Let your sister go," Dad called back in a tired voice. He'd been through this before with us.

Larry let me go, shaking his head. "How about we settle this with basketball?"

I rolled my eyes, but walked to the door. He grabbed his ball from the hall closet and followed me. Larry and I – plus the other two that had come downstairs to see what would happen – went outside. Larry told me the rules again while I rolled my eyes. "Let's just play," I said. "Unless you're afraid of losing again."

A chorus of oohs came from Mario and Susan. Larry raised one eyebrow. "Think you can beat me this time, superstar?"

I walked up to him, hit his hand so the ball came out, and threw it at the goal, barely glancing over at it. Everyone but me watched it. The ball hit the rim, rolled around, and fell off without making a basket. "Not really," I told him when he looked back at me. "But that's enough talking." I turned and walked off a couple of a paces.

The game commenced. For the next thirty minutes, I focused on beating Larry even though my eyes kept wandering over to the duo watching us. Susan seemed to be questioning Mario. Mario grinned at Susan before the smile disappeared in my next glance. Susan seemed to make Mario very uncomfortable. It was what made me mess up the winning basket, letting Larry win.

While Larry celebrated, I kept trying to tell myself I only felt like she shouldn't be doing that to my friend, trying to ignore the pang of jealousy. It wasn't my place to think anything else or feel that way.

"You play like such a girl," Mario called to me with a smile.

That was what brought my smile back to my face. "Oh, yeah? I'll take that as a compliment." I bit my lip when he gave me that one look. His eyes sparkled. He was grinning and looking at me as if we were the only two people out here. Something in the back of my mind was alerting me to something, but I've always been good at ignoring things, so that's what I did. I just smiled back, basking in the moment.

Headlights illuminated Mario's face briefly, pulling me out of my thoughts. We all turned to the driveway. A beat-up pickup was pulling in – a truck I immediately recognized. I grinned and ran to the driver's side as George was getting out, hugging him the moment his feet hit the pavement. He was eyeing the people behind me. "What's up?" he asked as he returned my gesture.

"Larry and I were playing basketball."

He leaned back against the truck, his arm still around my waist. "I mean, what's he doing here?"

"Mario? He's just here visiting Larry. Why?"

George gave me a long look before sighing and kissing my hair. "Never mind." He removed his arm and stepped aside, gesturing at his clothes. "I was coming by to show you."

I looked closer and, when I recognized the shirt, raised my eyebrows. "You're working at Nordstrom? I thought you hated that place!"

He shrugged. "Had to work somewhere. The pay and hours worked out for me." He glanced down. In the waning light I could just make out a blush.

"Well, I think you look good in the shirt," I told him. He rolled his eyes. "What?"

"You don't have to say that. It's okay."

I lifted my head to see him better. "Maybe you'll come to appreciate the place."

"Yeah, right."

"Hey! You know I shop there. Cut it some slack."

He sighed but he was smiling. "When we're finally together, you're going to have to stop."

I giggled as everyone else came over. I'd forgotten they were even there. Mario gave him a once-over and then tapped his arm lightly with a fist. "Man, you get to work at Nordstrom?" Mario asked with a grin. "We love that place. My sisters seem like they live there." He gave a sad shake of his head. "I wish I could teach them the art of only getting what you need and then leaving."

I suppressed a laugh. Larry rolled his eyes. "Her too," he said, pointing at me.

The guys all chuckled. "Back me up, Susan," I begged.

"Sorry if we like to look good," she said to the guys, playful annoyance in her tone.

George looked at me. "Well, you certainly do," he said in a low voice, looking me up and down. I felt a flush come into my cheeks, making me bury my face in his shoulder. He chuckled, tightening his arm around my waist. We were about the same height, so he leaned his head over to rest against mine. I sighed, contented.

Larry cleared his throat and said, "Well, Mario, wanna come in and have some of the girls' cake?"

"What kind is it?"

"Carrot."

"Why not?"

"Hey!" Susan said. "That's ours! Don't be giving it away!" The boys' laughter was moving closer to the house, and I heard her following them inside.

The streetlights cut on and I could see better. George nuzzled my hair a moment or two before pulling away from me as far as he could get without releasing me. "What's up with Mario?" he asked. Confused, I looked at him, waiting for him to explain the question. "I mean, what's he really doing here?"

I frowned. "He asked to come over because he wanted to hang out with Larry, so I said it was okay. Larry's cool with him. Personally, I don't really care if he's here or not. I'd prefer him to be here to keep Larry from eavesdropping and randomly barging in while I'm talking to Susan."

He raised an eyebrow. "And what's wrong with that?"

"It can get embarrassing. You wouldn't understand. You're an only child – you don't have a sister."

He shook his head as he pulled me closer again, giving me a quick squeeze before releasing me and getting back in his truck. "I'm going to have to hang out with Larry, then. I wanna know what you and Susan discuss when I'm not around." He winked as he started the truck. "See you tomorrow. We're still on for the mall, right?"

"Oh." I'd forgotten about that, but I hadn't changed my mind. "Yes. Totally. I may have a couple of other people with me, but I'll definitely see you then."

"Wait – who's coming?"

I bit my lip. "Mario's sisters, Becky and Amanda. He mentioned they were also going there tomorrow, so Susan and I thought it would be cool to hang out with them. I'd forgotten you were coming too."

He gave me a half-smile. "Well, I can understand. I mean, I don't usually go to the mall with you guys on the weekend." He shrugged and then began backing out of the drive. I stood there in the Boulder air and watched as his taillights disappeared around a corner.

---

"So what do you think they look like?" Susan asked as we leaned against the car in the Lopez's drive.

"The brothers look similar, so they probably look like the female versions of them," I replied.

She hummed thoughtfully as we watched the house. "You're probably right."

The door opened and two girls our age came out. Susan and I exchanged glances. I had been right.

Amanda looked just like Mario, except feminine. She was, in a word, beautiful. I noticed this right away when Susan and I were picking her and Rebecca up at their house the next day. I had to force myself not to keep looking at her.

From the way she flicked her glossy hair off her shoulder and gave me a huge smile, however, I could tell she was used to it and didn't care. "Hi!" she practically squealed. She came hurrying up to us, and hugged me. I stiffly returned it, caught off-guard. She pulled away abruptly and got in the back seat.

Rebecca was also beautiful like the others, but wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as her sister. She nodded at me – which was what I was used to – and simply told me hi and she was glad to finally meet me before she got in.

Susan and I exchanged a look before opening our doors. I could see she was thinking the same thing I was: the two of us – two plain-looking girls – were going to the mall with two other girls – two gorgeous girls. Had they been in sweats with greasy hair, I still would have felt up-staged. If we ran into anyone from our school, we'd be getting some serious stares.

---

At the mall, I got a sudden batch of nerves when I remembered George was working nearby. I barely could concentrate on the clothes and shoes and purses. I wanted so badly to go see him, but I wasn't sure I wanted him to meet these girls.

In the end, I bought one new outfit, two pairs of shoes, and a latte from Starbucks on the way. Amanda and Rebecca decided they wanted to go to Nordstrom, and I didn't say anything. After all, I was sure George knew better than to check them out right in front of me.

When we walked inside, I immediately started scanning, eyeing every employee in hopes of finding the right one. A sandy-haired guy was straightening a rack of clothes in the men's section, his blue eyes narrowed in concentration. Bingo. I couldn't help the grin as I walked over. "Excuse me," I said sweetly. "Do you know where I can find jeans?"

George turned to me, confused. "There's a huge display-" he cut himself off and started laughing, those blue eyes sparkling. "Hi. Were you serious about the jeans?"

I grinned at him and shook my head. "No. Wanna meet Mario's sisters?" I took his hand and tugged.

He glanced over his shoulder. "We'll have to be quick. My boss doesn't like workers to socialize while on the job."

"We'll be quick." I led him over to where Susan was searching some racks with Amanda and Rebecca. I glanced at George. He was looking at something and his lips parted as his eyes widened a little. "What is it?" I followed his line of sight and saw Amanda.

I tightened my grip on his hand and looked at him again. He was looking at me, face flushed. I frowned. He knew he'd messed up and was opening his mouth to say something when Susan spoke.

"Hey, George," she said, raising one eyebrow. He nodded at her.

I plastered my smile back into place. "George, these girls are Amanda and Rebecca Lopez," I said, gesturing at them in turn.

Amanda gave him a huge smile – which I didn't like – and said in her perky voice –also something I didn't like – "Hello! It's so nice to meet you!" Her accent sounded more Californian than Spanish, so I wasn't as upset. A foreign accent would just make her even hotter. "I hear you're her boyfriend."

George returned her smile, but his was toned down from her 100 watts to around 60 watts, made dimmer still by the tightening of my grip on his hand – which was probably somewhere near a death-grip by this point. "Nice to meet you too, Amanda," he told her in a somewhat strained voice. Probably had nothing to do with his hand being in a vice, but, you know, can't jump to conclusions and all that. "Um, I need to get back to work now," he told me, reaching over and pinching my wrist. "I'll see you when I get off." He squeezed my hand back, harder than I was squeezing his, and walked off.

I rubbed my hand after everyone else went back to searching the racks. Of course, that didn't go unnoticed by my best friend. A few minutes later, Susan got me alone and asked what was up between me and George. I lied and said he was just worried about his boss. I could tell she didn't fully believe me, but what else could I tell her?

I couldn't tell her he was looking at Amanda and liking what he saw. George was a good guy and it really wasn't that big of a deal – right?