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She puts her hand on her hip. “Because it’s movie night. And since you missed the last one… Well, you can’t bail on us again.”

“Us?”

“Yeah, you, me, Elle.” She frowns, and I meet her with a blank stare. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I can’t make it tonight, sorry, I’ve got plans.”

One of her eyebrows shoots up. “Plans? Dressed like this?” she says, circling her hand in front of me. “You’re wearing sweatpants, which means you’re just going to work out again for hours on end.”

“So? I like to stay fit.”

“If you work out even more than you already do, your muscles will burst through your clothes, Col. And no one wants to see that.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” I say.

She rolls her eyes but can’t keep the corners of her mouth from lifting, even though I can see she’s trying to.

“Fine, you look amazing. Girls will swoon over you, like they always do. But there’s such a thing as too much. Please, please, please take a break for one night and join us, okay?”

I know I can’t get out of this one. Weekly movie nights are our thing, and if I don’t show up again, Maggie will start to get suspicious. I can’t keep using the workout excuse forever.

“So, I’m on popcorn duty?” I ask.

“Yes,” she replies, her face lighting up with joy.

I take a bag of popcorn out of the cupboard and put it in the microwave. It doesn’t take long before the popcorn starts popping. As soon as I hear the familiar ding of the microwave, I take the bag out again and put the food into a bowl.

By the time I arrive in the living room, the girls have already set everything else up for movie night. There’s a bottle of wine on the table, a plate filled with cookies, and a couple of cold beers. Maggie is stretched out on a beanbag in front of the couch, and Elle is laughing at something my sister just said.

“I’ve come bearing gifts,” I say as I put the bowl of popcorn down. “Are you going to hog that beanbag, sis?”

I try to sound casual to hide the fact that I’m nervous about spending the evening on a couch next to Elle.

“Of course. This seat’s taken now. If you wanted the beanbag, you should’ve arrived earlier.”

I flick my gaze to Elle, who throws me a shy smile. “There’s plenty of room here,” she says.

I plop down and scoot to the corner of the couch, so I don’t have to endure the awkwardness of maybe accidentally touching her leg or something. “So what movie are we watching tonight?”

Maggie shows me a movie poster on her phone. “How about this new thriller? It’s supposed to be really good and extremely scary.”

“Sounds good to me,” Elle says.

I nod. “Yeah, same.”

“Perfect.” Maggie grabs the remote and opens the movie app on our television.

While she’s looking for the right movie, I look over at Elle. “Have you heard from Mister Questionnaire?”

She pulls in a breath. “No, thank goodness. I did however ask Layla for clarification.”

“Clarification?”

“Yeah, why she thought it was a good idea to set me up with Zeke.”

Maggie laughs while scrolling through the list of results. “I wish I could’ve warned you about him before you went a date with him.”

“You knew about his weird antics?” I ask my sister. “Then why didn’t you warn her?”