Spring Frost (20 page)

            “You’d better listen,” Nat said, with a look that made it clear he wasn’t serious. “We wouldn’t want to be on Rachel’s bad side.”

            Drew caught his cue neatly. “She has a good side?”

            Why was it that her brothers always teamed up on her, Rachel demanded of any part of the universe that was listening? It was meant to be twins who teamed up on the rest of the world, wasn’t it?

            “I’m serious, Drew,” she said. “I don’t want Summer getting hurt. Besides, I don’t think you’re even her type.”

            “I’m not her type?” Drew said, looking slightly offended. Maybe it was just because he couldn’t believe that there was any girl whose type he might not be. “Well, maybe she isn’t
my
type. Had you thought of that?”

            “She has a pulse, doesn’t she?” Nat asked, and was rewarded by Drew throwing one of the t-shirts for Sookie’s Acting Academy that Summer had sent over at him.

            “He has a point, Drew,” Rachel said, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed. “Right now, it seems like you’re interested in any pretty girl who looks at you.”

            “That isn’t true,” Drew insisted.

            Rachel shook her head. “All right then. Any pretty girl who’s prepared to sleep with you because you’re the star quarterback. You use them and then you leave them, and I don’t want Summer hurt like that.”

            Drew finished shoving clothes into his back and yanked the zipper shut. “Why are you assuming that it’s always me?”

            “Maybe because it usually is?” Nat suggested. It looked like he’d finished packing too, and he put his bag beside Drew’s. There were still plenty of clothes left everywhere. Rachel knew better than to wonder whether they’d do anything about them. “Face it, Drew, you aren’t exactly the kind of guy to settle on one girl. How many girlfriends have you had in the last year?”

            Drew picked up his bag and grinned the kind of boyish grin that did a lot to explain why he’d worked his way through most of the cheerleading squad. “Plenty. It’s kind of hard not to when they’re practically throwing themselves at me.”

            “Well then,” Rachel said with heavy sarcasm, “the break will do you good. With all those girls making life so hard for you, this will give you a chance to recover.”

            Not that it made so much as a dent in Drew’s ego. He just shrugged. “I guess it would be kind of good to get away. Then, when I get back, the party starts all over again.”

            Rachel sighed. There wasn’t any point even trying when it came to her twin brother, some days. “Yes, sure. Just finish getting ready, would you?”

            “I
am
ready,” Drew insisted. He took another look at Rachel’s phone, then passed it back to her. “You know, it’s going to be good seeing Summer’s Aunt Sookie again.
And
that beach house of hers.”

            “And Summer?” Nat added, obviously trying to stir things up between them.

            Drew shrugged. “It’s going to be a great vacation any way you look at it.”

            Rachel headed back to her room, looking for her bag and leaving her brothers behind. Right then, she was kind of thinking that the whole vacation might go a little better if she found a way to abandon them at the airport. It was probably the only way she was going to get any peace, for one thing. But it was too late for that kind of thinking. They were all going, and Drew was right about one thing. It
would
be good to see the old place again.

            It would be good to see lots of things. Rachel took another look at the photo Summer had sent her. They’d stayed in touch online, but she hadn’t seen her friend face to face since they were both thirteen. Summer was her dearest friend, and she was happy to be seeing her again. She also hoped that Drew would listen to her warnings, because from what she remembered, Summer was fun, and different, and exciting, but also maybe a little too fragile to be treated the way Drew treated girls. She was embarrassed that Drew was the type of walking one-night stand guy their mom had warned her about.

            “I hope you know what you’re letting yourself in for,” Rachel said to the photo, but then shook her head. Summer had always had a crush on Nat, though, ever since she was five years old. No one, no boy had ever been able to shake her out of her crush on Nat, so at least that was a good thing about Drew.

Rachel was looking forward to getting out of the dreary grey San Francisco weather and into sunny Malibu. Aunt Sookie’s Malibu pad had always been magical. It was where they can be anyone or anything they wanted. And at this moment, in the Donovans’ lives, they wanted to be anywhere other than here.