Seriously, my name in his mouth is straight fire to my face, like extra sunburn. And being this close to him has got my insides tight, like all my cardiac veins are choking out my heart because it owes them money. But Valentino seems totally chill, I doubt I’m rattling him at all. One glance at his full, bottom lip reminds me that my own is chapped, so I grab my ChapStick to correct that. He watches me glide it across my lip, and he’s got to be thinking I’m prepping for a kiss, which I mean, I’m not, but also, I wouldn’t be mad at that at all.

Damn, maybe I am thinking with my dick.

I also keep making an ass out of myself.

I can’t be left alone with Valentino right now.

“Dalma!” I wave her over, and she comes to the rescue ASAP. “Dalma, this is Valentino.”

“Hi,” Dalma says, shaking his hand; I didn’t even get to shake his hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Valentino says. “Your boyfriend here—”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Dalma says. Deep breath, then: “No, no, no, no.”

I stare at her, slightly—nah, majorly insulted at how long she was living in those no-no-no’s. “Okay, calm down, I’m not trying to date you either.”

“He’s practically my younger brother,” Dalma says.

“Younger by two months,” I say.

“As if the world couldn’t have ended in the two months it took for you to be born.”

“You always say that, like you’re trying to have me killed off.”

I don’t get it, are we throwing down for Valentino? We’re eighteen, not eight, but I saw him first, said hi first, made an ass of myself first. I get to see where this is going first.

Thankfully he doesn’t seem completely turned off of us.

“You definitely have the practically sibling bickering down,” Valentino says, not a beat of judgment in his voice. “I’m the same with my twin.”

Holy shit, there are two of him.

I mean, I got to wonder at this point if I’ve already died and moved on to the afterlife where there are two Valentinos. Maybe Dalma and I don’t have to compete at all—we both get to bring a Valentino home and live happy lives.

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

“Twin bro or sis?”

“Sister,” Valentino says, which means the fight for his heart is still on.

“Where’s she at?”

“Scarlett is back home in Arizona.”

Back home. So he doesn’t live here.

This is why I need to stop getting ahead of myself.