Always Only You by Chloe Liese (z-lib.org).epub

Bile crawls up my throat. Painful, sharp, stabs of jealousy. What is going on?
“Zigs, this is Frankie and her friend, Annie.”
The woman extends her hand first to Annie, who’s closer, next, to me,
bringing her features close enough to inspect. Of course. Startlingly young. Tall.
Milky skin, vivid green eyes, rich red hair that’s so long, it’s almost to her hips.
Her clothes don’t fit her well—baggy sweatpants and an oversized, stained
sweatshirt. Still, there’s something familiar and appealing to me about her
appearance.
“Wow,” she says, eyes wide. “I’m finally meeting Frankie. Ren talks about
you constantly.”
My belly flip-flops, and I can’t help but grin. Ren turns bright red and
grimaces. She notices and stares at him.
“What?” Genuine confusion laces her voice as she glances from him to me.
“You do.”
“Yes,” he says on a sigh. “You’re right.”
Pink stains her cheeks as she glances at the floor. “Sorry.”
“You’re good, Zigs. It’s okay,” he tells her quietly.
Something about her embarrassment, that moment of realizing her slip,
reverberates with familiarity. I’ve done it so many times—said what everyone
else is thinking but which is apparently catastrophic for adults to admit. I’ll
never get it and try as I might to learn the pattern of what’s said and what’s not, I
can’t. Meaning, sometimes I fuck up. I’ve been in her shoes.
There’s something familiar, too, about the wide-open curiosity in her eyes
when we shook hands, her concerted effort to observe the niceties of an
introduction but the eagerness to return to the sanctity of her own body and
thoughts.
It all clicks into place. This is—
“You’re his sister,” I say in shock. “You’re—
“Yes, this is Ziggy,” Ren says quickly, locking eyes with me. “My little
sister.”
Something passes between us. He’s trying to tell me something with his eyes
but I’m the world’s worst candidate for that. So, to play it safe, I keep my mouth
shut and gather my thoughts for a moment.
I smile up at her, feeling an odd kinship with this young woman who, even
after just a few moments of knowing her, I recognize so much of myself in. This
has to be the sister he told me about. The one who’s on the spectrum, too.
“Well, then,” I say to her. “My turn to say Ren talks about you lots, too. And
it’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”
She blinks up at me, then away, on a reluctant smile.