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stop myself from laughing.
     
    “Uh huh,” he says patiently.  “Well that’s very brave of you to tell me.  And now that you’ve been honest with me, I feel free to tell you something that I’ve been hiding.”
     
    “What?” asks April.
     
    “Before I met you…”  He exhales loudly. “I killed a prostitute and mummified her in my basement.”
     
    April and I exchange an annoyed glance. “Come on Drew,” she says.  “I’m being serious here.  I’m trying to tell you something very personal and you’re turning it into a joke.”  
     
    “Huh.  Well, I’m sorry I didn’t take you seriously, but I still love you, and we can talk about this tomorrow.  Have fun with your sister—hi Ember.”
     
    “Hi Drew!” I say before they sign off.
     
    “Sorry, he didn’t buy it,” April says.  “I think I need to work on my acting skills.”
     
    “Don’t blame yourself.  It was pretty unbelievable—you did what you could with the material.”
     
    “Okay, now your turn.”  April grabs the wine bottle and pours the last few drops into her glass.  “Truth or dare?”
     
    “Truth,” I say.
     
    “You always pick truth.”
     
    “Fine then, dare.”
     
    She rubs hands together and smiles mischievously.  “Okay, I dare you go to a bar with me tonight and hook up someone new.”
     

Chapter 10
     
    Crossroads
     
    “That is so not going to happen,” I say.  “I just got out of a relationship three months ago—there’s no way I’m going out with you.  I already know I’m the ugly sister.  I don’t need it rubbed in my face.”
     
    “Ember, that’s a horrible thing to say.”
     
    “It’s true!  I’m the hot girl’s fat sister and every guy in the bar is going to rush over to talk to you while some poor wingman gets stuck with me.”
     
    “First off, that’s your low self esteem talking, not reality.  You need to get over it and give yourself a chance.  You’re adorable, caring, funny, beautiful, and any guy would be lucky to have you.  And second, you chose dare and this is your dare, so stop acting like you have a choice in this.”
     
    “April, I’m very emotionally fragile right now.  I don’t need to be brought down any further.  I might never get back up again.”
     
    She rolls her eyes.  “Ugh, fine.  I respect the fact that you don’t want me cock blocking you tonight, so how about this?  I’ll make myself look really unattractive so there’s no question that you’re the babe, and no one will have any interest in dating me.”
     
    I narrow my eyes at her. “How?”
     
    “You’ll see, but trust me.  Once I’m finished, I’ll be completely undatable.
     
    “That’s impossible.”
     
    She claps her hands and rubs them together. “Challenge accepted.”
     
    ***
     
    Twenty minutes later, I’m standing in the living room wearing a black dress, heels and red lipstick. 
     
    “Are you almost ready?” I call out to my sister. 
    She opens her bedroom door and steps out, and I’m impressed.  She’s wearing her hair in a ponytail, showing off an impressive hunchback at the back of her neck.  And her face is scrubbed free of makeup, except for a massive cold sore on the side of her lip.
     
    I whistle.  “I take it back.  You look…awful.”
     
    “I was going to give myself a missing hand, but then I thought, overkill.”
     
    I lean in to take a closer look at the cold sore, impressed at how realistic it looks.
     
    “Lip liner and crafting glue,” she says.  “Now come on, let’s go.  We’re going to Crossroads.”
     
    “I’m not going there!  People we know go there.  Let’s go to an old man bar where we won’t run into anyone. ”
     
    “First of all, I’m the one who should be embarrassed tonight, not you.  And second, you’re not going to meet a romantic prospect at an old man bar.  Plus Crossroads is the only bar in walking distance, and after all the wine we’ve had, I’m not good to