Playing for Keeps Read Online Free Page B

to come over and check it out for yourself.”
    â€œMy size?” Carmen asked. She was model thin and nearly six feet tall, which meant that not everything that fit her friends looked good on her.
    â€œYour size,” Jamie said.
    That was all it took.
    â€œI’ll be over in twenty minutes,” Carmen promised.
    She hung up the phone, and it immediately started ringing again. Alicia! Carmen had completely forgotten she was on the other line.
    â€œSorry, chica ,” Carmen said. “Jamie and I were talking eBay finds.”
    â€œThis is no time for eBay!” Alicia shouted, still pacing the room. Carmen could hear her kitten heels click-clack-click on the floor.
    â€œCome pack for me,” Alicia begged her. “It’s our first Amigas Inc. trip, and I’ve got to bring my A game.”
    Carmen laughed, mostly because the idea of Alicia’s bringing less than her A game was so ridiculous. They didn’t call her Type A Alicia for nothing.
    â€œWell, Jamie just offered me a vintage treasure to come and help her pack,” Carmen said. “What you got, chica , to make me come to your house, too?”
    Alicia raised an eyebrow. “How about my unending friendship, my deepest loyalty, and my most profound respect?”
    Carmen giggled. “Throw in a plate of Maribelle’s empanadas and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
    â€œDone! See you soon!”
    On the other end of the line, Carmen shrugged. “Just don’t blame me if Jamie complains I didn’t spend enough time on her.”
    Alicia nodded on the other end. “I’ll take the heat. Now enough talking. Get over here. The clock is ticking!”
    At seven the next morning, they all met up at Miami International Airport. Their flight didn’t leave until nine, but check-in began two hours before, and Alicia’s mom liked to be on the early side. She had told everyone else’s parents to do the same.
    Thanks to Carmen’s wardrobe consultations, each of the female members of Amigas Inc. were not only efficiently packed, with one carry-on suitcase each, they were also perfectly dressed for the trip in cute and comfy leggings, long, embroidered T-shirts, and airplane-friendly cashmere wraps. Gaz carried an impossibly small duffel bag and wore his standard uniform: jeans, a blue cotton button-down shirt, and old-school high-tops.
    Even after Carmen had visited both Jamie and Alicia to help them pack, the three girls had stayed up texting until almost two in the morning. As they’d gotten a grand total of about four hours of sleep, they greeted one another with yawns and sleepy whispers.
    Gaz, on the other hand, was wide awake and raring to go. He was so pumped about the South by Southwest Festival that at one point, before he could be stopped, and much to Alicia’s chagrin, he jumped on a chair in the airport lounge and screamed, “We’re going to Austin, everybody! The home of the indie music scene.”
    He was only a little embarrassed when Alicia’s mother motioned for him to get down and said, “No more coffee for you, Gaz.” There was no way his mood was getting dimmed. Not even by a calling-out. Or the prospect of a long flight with Alicia giving him the cold shoulder for embarrassing her.
    Luckily, once they got on the plane, the trip went smoothly, and exactly two hours and forty minutes later, and three bags of M&M’s, eight sodas, a lot of peanuts, and one teeny-tiny incident involving a mixed-up seating assignment, the plane touched down in Texas, where everything—including the quinceañeras —was bigger. It was time to start planning—once they found their ride.
    â€œLet’s head to baggage claim,” Mrs. Cruz suggested when everyone was safely off the plane and accounted for. “Ranya said she would meet us there.”
    Turning, she led the group, like a mother duckling, through the terminal, following signs to the