“What? Me, insult a beautiful girl? Are you crazy?” Keira wiped her dripping nose and waved off Luka’s small nudge against her shoulder. “Especially not my twin’s beautiful girl.” Kona ran past them and both Keira and Luka followed his quick movement. “Um, don’t tell him I said you were beautiful.”
“You’re such a chicken shit.”
“Nah, but my brother is stupid when it comes to you.” When Kona turned a corner and his eyes flew back to them, Luka moved to a seat in front of her. “Okay, maybe I’m a little bit of a chicken shit.”
Kona and Luka had gotten past their anger from the locker room, from Luka filling Keira in on Kona’s juicing, but that hadn’t stopped her boyfriend from glaring at his twin when he spoke to her in the cafeteria or offered her a plate at Thanksgiving. Kona knew Keira would never look at Luka the way she did at him, and with any other guy that smiled at her or nodded a greeting, the ones Kona barely noticed. Still, she hadn’t thought it important to tell him that Mark Burke sometimes called, just to check up on her. She didn’t think there was a need to invoke Kona’s jealous tendencies. Besides, Mark wasn’t interested in anything but friendship with her and Keira wouldn’t look twice at him anyway. But Luka, Keira thought, seemed like a threat to Kona. She didn’t know why, though she guessed some lingering anger at his twin and more than a little bout of sibling rivalry had something to do with Kona’s attitude.
Keira also thought Kona might be a little jealous that Luka had played in every game that season.
“Why are you out of uniform?”
“I didn’t slack. Haven’t been pulled off the field, and this shit,” he pointed to Kona beginning to struggle as he ran, “is because he’s gotta earn back his spot. Plus,” Luka’s gaze flicked to the left and he nodded in the direction of two men dressed in dark suits and long coats. They didn’t fit in with Robins’ relaxed gray slacks and CPU jacket. “The scouts are starting to hunt for fresh blood and I think Coach wants to show Kona off a little.” Luka looked up at Keira smiling. “Just don’t tell him that. He still needs to sweat a little.”
“You still pissed, Luka?” Another drip and Keira swiped at her nose again with the Kleenex. “You barely said anything about me giving your brother stitches, but you’re still pissed at him for making a mistake?”
Luka turned around, moving his arm to the back of his seat. “Keira, no offense, but you’re just his girlfriend. He’s my brother. He’s my twin and he put me in a shitty position. And he acts like I’m trying to steal you or something.” Luka looked back at the field to watch Kona talking to Robins, sweat coating his t-shirt and jogging pants. “I can almost understand you knocking the shit out of him because I know how he can push buttons, but I don’t get how he could get messed up in that shit for so long or put me in the middle of it.” Keira sneezed again and this time her entire body bent forward, moving her hair over her face. Luka tried to repress his laughter, tried to brush off how ridiculous Keira knew she looked by moving his hand against her forehead. “You alright?” She nodded, hurrying to clean her face before Luka’s laughter got too obnoxious. “Anyway, we still need to have words. I don’t completely believe that he can stay away from that shit or what Ricky wants him to do.”
Keira’s eyes flicked to the field, to Kona shaking hands with one of the scouts on the sidelines and then her gaze moved right, straight into the wide, calculating smile on Professor Alana’s face who sat quite a few rows away. Keira didn’t like how the woman grinned at her or how her eyes flicked between Keira and Luka.
“Why’s your mother here?”
Luka followed her gaze and then stood up. “Oh. She and Tutu kane are taking me car shopping.” He patted his jacket pocket and grinned at her. “Unlike my twin, I was never into cars or buying old beaters to fix up. I’ve saved up for three years and am finally gonna get something sweet.” Luka nodded to his mother before he smiled at Keira. “Listen, you’re good for him and I hope he stays clean, but seriously, Keira, get your ass to the dorm and take some meds. Love or not, don’t get sick for him.”
Keira watched Luka move down the aisle and join his mother on the stairs before the woman waved him in front of her. She leveled one final smile that was wicked and threatening at Keira and the girl’s stomach coiled tight. Keira doubted it was the cold that had her stomach rumbling. There was a scheme in Professor Alana’s eyes that warned her the flu was the least of her worries.