Conventionally Yours (True Colors, #1)

by Annabeth Albert

Facts were more comforting to me than false platitudes,

almost never had soda—the moms had been strict about junk food growing up—but

The last thing we needed was me hyped up on sugar and caffeine.

“It’ll be okay.” There. See? I was capable of the feelings-sparing white lies that other people could reel off so easily.

Well, I supposed my life was divided into before and after. Before, I had a wide friendship circle.

And I had my family. After? My social life had shrunk as the result of work

Alden sounded more anxious than angry, that earlier tension coming out in faster speech and restless hands drumming on the seat.

Away from the game, he really was a big ball of worries—the car, the trip, my driving…

both moms owned matching Prius hatchbacks.

ewww

I hated pity and false praise more than just about anything, and hearing it from Conrad—who was usually so dismissive of me—had the skin on my back prickling.

I had never slept next to another person that I could remember.

Cosplay kind of freaks me out—like Halloween or clowns. Makes it even harder to read people and to know when they’re serious.”

but if Blake touched Conrad’s arm one more time, I was going to throw something. Possibly Blake.

“He was just being nice.” I had to snort at that. “Nice isn’t looking at you like you’d make an awesome dessert.”

ever since my first kiss with a slightly built science geek, I’d liked that body type a lot.

his cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink. No, not adorable. Bad Conrad. Bad.

I wasn’t completely friendless, but my contacts tended to be more situational, like my online Odyssey play group,

It’s never enough being me. We have to label it. Work to overcome it. Treat it. Fix it. Because, yeah, I’m imperfect.”

So many parties. Didn’t you have that too?” “Some. I…uh…didn’t get a ton of invitations.”

I got that Alden could be a little prickly, but every little kid deserved a crowd of friends.

First, you cancel on bringing Gamer Grandpa, and now you two kids can’t keep to a schedule.”

“We’re sorry, sir. We had a tire blow, and now we’re stuck in traffic. We didn’t expect this kind of delay.”

“Well, I didn’t expect this much hassle either. You’re a small-time vlog, and I’m doing you a favo...

“You know what, forget it. I’ve got to get to my kid’s baseball practice, and I don’t have time for this.”

Wow what a major asshole

“I’m a forbidden topic apparently, and Dad threatened to take their phones if they kept texting me.”

“The oldest one, Cassie, sometimes sneak-texts me from a friend’s phone. She’s watched the show some too.”

My older sisters think the game is stupid.

It had been years since I’d had a situational-triggered asthma attack, but I could feel one teasing at the edges of my awareness.

“She follows Dad’s lead. Always has. Gets panic attacks when they fight, especially when he yells.”

the occasional smashed dish. Don’t tell, Conrad. He doesn’t mean it. It was only a bad day. I’ll clean it up.

I hadn’t wanted a relationship, having had too much of my parents’ messed-up marriage to believe in love.

I probably shouldn’t have told Angelo about Dan, shouldn’t have teased him, shouldn’t have liked how his jealousy had made me feel.

he thought he’d text Dan with my phone. Send him some of the pictures we took. Sort of a…taunt, I guess.”

instead of Dan, he texted the entry above it, the one for Dad, but it wasn’t just Dad—it was a group text with a bunch of relatives.

“In Dad’s defense—” “There isn’t one,” Alden said firmly.

First he cut off the phone. Then the car. And when I still didn’t give in, he went for the tuition that was due right then.

Figured I was his kid and he’d have to care sometime. Then his health insurance dropped me. And I knew.”

I need my daily asthma meds. And they’re not cheap. But he didn’t care.

I wanted to kiss him, that much was certain.

But I also didn’t want to be the mistake he regretted later when he wasn’t sad and things were back to awkward between us.

Actually kissing someone for the first time didn’t rearrange the planets or suddenly make magical unicorns appear on the path back to the car.

his officious attitude was still unsettling, a feeling that intensified as he introduced his equally slick adult sons,

Their crisp white shirts and smarmy smiles seemed more suited to a used-car lot than a game store.

The owner looked over Conrad and me the way my mom inspected roasts for Sunday dinner. “Who wants to play him for your little show?”

Eww, jerk

I trusted my decks and myself as a player, but I didn’t trust Bart to play clean.

“We weren’t going to keep it anyway. Just having fun with you. Good job letting yourselves get suckered into that game, though.”

Just wanted to do something nice for you.” “Financial realities don’t negate the niceness of your gesture,” I said reasonably.

I’d had another message from Mom asking if I’d come to any conclusions about what I wanted for my future. I figured “Kissing Conrad” didn’t count,

the place deep inside me that had wanted Conrad all along and that couldn’t believe its luck.

win, but conservatively. I had him, which was the greatest stroke of luck of all, and I didn’t want the universe thinking I was getting greedy.