Page 61 of Little Fury

“You thought no one knew?”I grin at him.“Do you know how windows work? Like, I get that you’re old and shit, but still. Cause windows, they do this crazy thing where they let the people on one side see what’s going on, on the other side. It's super trippy, really. It’s like you’re almost in the same room as the other people. Even when those people are making out like teenagers.”

Harry is unimpressed with me at the moment. He is getting redder by the second. He really does do the best unintentional Yosemite Sam impression when he gets like this.

“Ava, I did nae raise ye t’back talk me!”he yells at me.

“Um, actually, you did. You raised me to take no shit. You also fostered and helped me grow my sarcastic and smart-ass mouth. So, you need to maybe look in a mirror. And to help, a mirror is like a window. Both have glass but only one of them allows you to see things through it. The other, the mirror, shows you a reflection, so chances are, you'll be looking at yourself in it.”

The screen goes black.

Did Harry just hang up on me?

How much trouble am I in? Am I grounded now?

My computer rings again, and I answer the video call right away. Beth’s laughing face lights up my screen."Hi!”I say, happy to see her.

“Heya,” she says back.

“Did he finally explode? Did actual steam come out of his ears this time?”

“He's taking a moment,”she tells me, laughing the whole time. We both laugh for a few more beats. I have tears in my eyes, and my abs hurt from laughing.“Okay, seriously, Beth, pull it together.” She laughs again and shakes her head at me.

“Ok.”Taking a deep breath, she continues.“What happened, Ava?”

I give her a quick rundown of the events last night. I pause when I reach the point in the story where I told Marcus something different than what happened.“Finish the story, Ava, the whole story, not whatever shite you told Marcus.”I hear Harry say.

“Um, guy number two locked the deadbolt, telling me he was well aware Marcus was not in the house with me.”

“What then?”Beth asks. Harry moves into view andstudies me through the screen, so I give in and tell them all the details.

“Guy two was mad I killed his buddy. I asked him if he wanted to have an old west shootout or if he would prefer to put the guns down and see if he could take me.”

“Ava, why taunt the guy? Just shoot him,”Beth asks me.

“Because I needed a couple answers. He took option two, thinking he could have a little fun with me before he killed me. He came at me fast, but his training was shit. He tried to take me down with one hit, but he missed. I punched him in the throat.”

“Go on,” Harry prompts.

“I asked him a couple questions. He didn’t answer the first one right away, so I may have shot a couple of his fingers off.” I see Harry’s mouth quirk up at one side at that.“Then he answered the questions.”

“And what questions did you ask him, Little Fury?”

“Well, Harry, I asked him who sent him.”

There is a silence between us. Harry wants me to tell them, and I want him to ask for it.

So, instead, we sit there staring at each other.

“Guess who’s visiting us here?”I say, breaking the silence.

Harry turns his head ever so slightly, asking who.

“Alexi,”I say very matter-of-factly.

Harry says nothing, and neither does Beth. They look at each other, and Beth gets up and leaves the room.

“Where is she going?”

“She already knows anything I might say regarding Alexi and has a few things to do.”

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