“Jake wasn’t my boyfriend!”

“Another question, Pete,” Jordan began. “How on earth did you convince Mom and Dad to let you play?”

I blinked. “Well, I didn’t really. It was the summer before last….”

She interrupted. “Yeah, I remember. You spent two months lifting weights.” She laughed. “You had your hair in that short ponytail, and you grunted and sweated twice a day for an hour, and Molly and I laughed at you.”

Well, yeah, they had. But the ponytail…? Did I remember that?

“It was August,” she mused. “As hot as it ever gets in Friendly, and you had to make yourself all sweaty and stinky.” She grinned, but then her expression changed. “Am I going to have to do that? To make the team?”

“Probably. You’re even skinnier than I was,” I said. I wanted to derail this conversation, but couldn’t really think of a surefire way to do so. “Uh…. What’s your boyfriend going to think?”

She made a dismissive noise. “I don’t have one right now, and if they can’t stand the competition, I’ll do without. But, hey! Jake encouraged you. Came over and served as your spotter in case the weight got away from you, kept telling you how good you were doing.”

Well, that was how I remembered it, too….

“That’s the kind of boyfriend I need!” said Jordan, completely derailing my brain.

“Jake!” I squeaked. “Jake wasn’t my boyfriend!”

“Well, sure, he wasn’t! That’s when he started going out with Joanna!”

“I—! You—! He—!”

“She had just gotten back from cheerleader camp and had her hair lightened, and was all gorgeousity and tits. Mom and I kind of figured that’s why you had your bodybuilder phase,” she mused. “Then suddenly, you announced you’ had joined the football team!”

My heart felt like a lump of lead, yet kept on beating. It seemed as loud as a two-stroke lawnmower engine, but Jordan didn’t notice.

“Dad didn’t know whether to be proud of you, or lock you in your room,” she continued, grinning slyly. “Especially after you and Megan started going out.”

“I’m not a lesbian!” I yelped, then cringed. Why did I say that?

“‘Course not,” Jordan agreed. “You’re going out with Lee this afternoon, ain’t cha?”

“It’s not a date!”

“That’s what you used to say when you and Jake spent every Saturday night together!”

“I—? We—? Who—?” I did, we had, and my sisters had teased me about it then. They had, hadn’t they? “Jordan!” I made fists under my chin.

“Snacks and a movie, right?” she responded. “If he pays, it’s a date!”

“He—he—he’s paying because…because—he took pictures of my butt!”

She laughed. She laughed!

I couldn’t help myself, . I tried not to, but I got the giggles, then the hiccoughs.

“Oh, Pete!” she crowed. “Your face!” She pointed at me and peered closer. “Sonuffa? Are you wearing makeup?”

“Joanna...,” I began.

“She talked you into it? For your date?” She was all a grin a yard wide.

“It’s not a date!” I denied reflexively. “She just helped me cover up a black eye I got….”

Her grin turned to a frown. “How in the world did you get a black eye at an ice cream party?”

“Well, uh, some guys showed up, and Joanna and I showed them the door? Joanna’s Aunt Bev invited them….” I let that trail off.

“You shouldn’t fight with boys,” Jordan scolded me. “You could lose and get hurt, and they get all bent out of shape if you win.”

I snorted.

“Boys are pretty stupid about stuff, ain’t they?” she mused.

“Sometimes,” I admitted.

“Like, do the guys on the team get jealous of you getting cheered and all that?”

“Not as long as we’re winning games,” I noted.

“There’s that,” she agreed. Then she grinned again. “Lee took pictures of your butt?”

“Movies,” I said, which set us both off with the giggles again. “It’s his job! He takes pictures of the team!”

“Starring Pete’s butt!”

“Well, the one he showed at the team meeting yesterday did!”

Now she had the hiccoughs. We got up and went into the laundry room for paper cups of water.

Standing beside the big stainless- steel sink, we sipped from the wrong side of our cups to control our hiccing.

She cocked her head sideways, looking at me between sips. “You never wear makeup,” she commented.

“Well, no,” I admitted. “I don’t want to be the only one on the football team with mascara in my gym bag.”

She almost snorted into her cup. “But you should? I think you should!”

I rolled my eyes, and we wandered back to my room. “I don’t think so.”

“Just a touch of lipstick,” she suggested. “With those new clothes and your cuter haircut, you could have Lee stepping on his tongue!”

My turn to sputter into my cup. “Jordan! Where do you come up with something like that?”

She grinned like I do when I make the yardage we need for a down. “So Lee took a movie of your butt and you got offended?”

“Not exactly….”

“Yeah, sure. It’s kind of flattering.”

“Pfft!”

“But to make it up to you, he’s taking you to see a movie he didn’t shoot!”

“Hah! Yeah, no.”

“Is it a scary movie? Are you going to see it in his van?”

“Yes, and yes!” I tried to snarl.

“Oo-oo!”

“Jordan, knock it off!” We were sitting on my bed again, and I glared at her in closeup.

She laughed. “If you get scared….”

“I said, ‘Knock it off!’”

“But you’re so much fun to tease!”

“You remember what I do if you go too far?” I asked, making sure that she did remember me holding her down and tickling her.

“Okay, okay?” She relented and changed the subject. “Where did you get the new clothes?”

“Uh, Joanna gave me stuff….” I just now realized that I’m sitting here with my sister wearing girl’s clothes. Even if they are boy-cut jeans, they’re a bit girly. I cringed, looking sideways at her.

“Must be some of her older stuff. She’d never get her fat ass in those skinny jeans,” she mused. “But you’ve got the more photogenic butt, anyway.”

“Is that a compliment or an accusation?”

She laughed. “You do look nice,” she added. “But I’m going to go see what I’ve got in the way of lipstick for you, ‘cause you ain’t got none, and remember what I said about Lee reacting to the new you, Big Sis!” She stood up and bent to kiss me between the eyebrows before dashing out of my room.

I sat there for a moment, then reached up to touch my forehead where she had kissed me. Did she just call me ‘Big Sis?’

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