Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 145257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
They’re really here for me. Dropping everything to watch me climb.
My smile is uncontrollable, unable to shrink in size. “I’m really glad you’re all here. It means a fucking ton to me.” I nod a bunch. “Thank you.”
Jane gives me a side hug. “Anything for you.”
When we part, I watch Maximoff head to my Patagonia backpack near the nightstand. “Your dad gave you this, right?”
“Yeah.” While he unzips the bag, I shift the washcloth on my throbbing ankle and ask, “Where’s Luna?” I sound bummed, and I already feel greedy having three cousins here to surprise me.
Some people would hate this kind of surprise arrival, but they knew I’d love it. I love the company of familiar, trusting faces.
I love the company of family. The company of my cousins—they’re like other birds in a nest. And maybe I haven’t flown too high from mine, but what if we’re all just flying together somewhere else? To another nest?
Can that be enough?
Or do I really, really need to chart a course away from everyone?
My frown deepens.
“My sister’s still in Philly,” Moffy tells me, searching through the backpack. What’s he looking for?
Charlie chimes in, “My brothers requested her appearance at their upcoming shows.”
Eliot and Tom. One is a theatre actor, the other a singer in an emo-punk band. The three of them have been best friends since diaper-era, and in the past couple years, I’ve only recently gotten super fucking close to Luna. We were roommates in the Philly townhouse, but I try to remember she’s two years younger.
I’m closer in age to Charlie and Beckett.
Still, I can’t help but feel a pang of hurt that I wish would go the fuck away. I’m not in competition with Tom and Eliot for Luna’s time and attention. But I guess, now that I don’t have Beckett—I just thought I had Luna.
Taking my mind off friendships, I ask Moffy, “What are you looking for?”
He zips the backpack up, empty-handed. “Your dad forgot to mention he packed a gun for you. He wanted me to make sure you stored it right—”
“Akara already did,” I interject. “We saw the gun in the backpack.” I motion to the nightstand.
Moffy opens the drawer, sees the encased gun, then closes it.
My head whirls, running through all their words. And my gaze beelines back to Charlie, realizing Moffy and Jane excluded him from their big proclamation. “So you’re not here to watch me climb, then?”
“Correct,” Charlie says. “I’d actually rather be anywhere than watch you fall off a mountain.”
“Charlie,” Jane snaps. “She’s not falling off a mountain.”
Maximoff rubs the bridge of his nose. “Can we just ban those four words from this point forward?”
Charlie shrugs. “Fine.” The fact that Charlie chose not to take the low hanging fruit and rile Moffy is another reminder that their friendship has been solidly repaired.
I look between Jane, Maximoff, and Charlie. They have history together that I don’t share with them. High school stories.
Beckett and I—we were the ones that had each other’s backs growing up. It was us against the world. We chose to be homeschooled around the same time. Sacrificed family and friendships and everything in between to pursue a dream. Mine was swimming. His was ballet. He’s the one singular person in my entire life who understands exactly what kind of toll that took.
He was right next to me.
We were together through it all.
But best friends aren’t supposed to lie to each other. They’re not supposed to keep secrets from the person that matters most to them. It was soul-crushing—devastating—to learn about Beckett’s cocaine problem from Charlie. And it’s not like Charlie intended to tell me, he just blurted it out. How could I be so fucking clueless? I wish I’d known. Maybe I could’ve talked to Beckett. Been there for him. Done something more than nothing to help him. And when I did finally find out, Beckett lashed out at me. Said some cruel things that can’t be taken back.
The silver lining is that Charlie says Beckett hasn’t touched cocaine since Scotland.
I hang onto that.
Maximoff comes closer, eyeing my ankle. “How does it feel?”
“It barely hurts,” I tell him.
“That’s good,” Moffy nods. “Farrow should still look at it though.”
I nod, then glance at Charlie. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”
“My brother couldn’t come because of his ballet schedule,” he says. “So I’m here as his proxy.”
That’s hard to believe. “He sent you?”
Charlie cracks his neck. “In a sense.”
“That’d be a no,” I state.
“He’s miserable without you, and I can’t take it anymore. You need to talk to him.”
I let out a long breath. Beckett and I have shared the same air since the fallout, but we haven’t cleared the air. “So that’s why you’re here? To convince me to talk to Beckett?”
“Basically.”
The fact that Charlie had a small influence in getting Oscar & Jack together has seriously gone to his head.