Page 64 of Live for Me

“Hey,” Indy said walking right into the bathroom without bothering to knock or say anything before just opening the door. “She finally answered.”

He turned his phone until the screen faced me, and I was looking at Trista’s smiling face.

“Oh, look at you,” she said, smiling even wider. “Indy said you had a big night planned.”

“What big night?” I heard Jersey ask from somewhere behind her. Just the sound of his voice had me reaching for the phone to take it from Indy’s hand.

“Hey,” I said in the weirdest, most unpleasant and shaky voice to ever come out of me. I watched his hand swoop in front of Trista’s face to take her phone from her, too, until he was looking back at me.

“Well, okay then. Fuck me, right? You guys calledme. But sure, J. Havemyphone,” Trista said.

He looked so happy.

He looked well rested, and somehow younger.

He looked better than I’d ever seen him.

Seeing him somehow took all the pressure of this evening right off my shoulders but managed to add a different weight to the way that my heart missed being able to interact with him at the press of a button like I used to.

“What’s the big night, boss lady?” he asked.

“Uh, right,” I hesitated. This call really was supposed to be with Trista so I could ask her if I looked the way that I should for a night of bar drinking. “Utah is taking me to a bar.”

“Why?”

“She’s never been to one,” Indy chimed in from behind me.

“You’re not really missing out on much. Cigarette smoke, liquored-up assholes, shitty lighting, and bad choices. There. Perfect summary. No need to go anywhere now.”

“He’s just trying to be nice. I missed out on being able to do a lot of the things that normal kids do while they’re growing up.”

“You don’t need to look like thatfor him,princess,” Jersey added.

“Will you leave her alone?” Trista added quickly. “She likes him, J. She can look however she wants for whoever she wants. Give me the phone if you’re going to make her feel weird about it. Go bother somebody else.”

She tried pushing him. She tried taking the phone from him. She smacked him in the back of the head. All while he smiled and held her off with a single arm.

“Can I talk to her, Jersey Boy?” I asked.

“See. She doesn’t even like you. Give me the phone,” Trista said.

“Stay out of trouble, Memphis. Maybe remind him that I’ll come back there to remove his head from his shoulders if he lets anything happen to you just because he thinks getting you drunk will get him laid,” Jersey said before he handed the phone to Trista.

“He doesn’t thinkthat,” Trista snapped and pushed him out of view of the screen. “God, you’re the worst. Hang on a second, Memphis. I’m going to go lock myself in the bathroom really quick to do this in peace.”

“Right. Tell yourself thata lockcould keep me out, Fancy Face,” Jersey called to her as she walked through their house.

“So, he’ll never stop being a psycho. No matter how long we stay here,” Trista said as she closed a door between them. “A bar, huh?”

I looked at Indy uncomfortably.

“Oh, you expectmeto leave for this conversation, too?” he asked and put his hand over his heart like I’d stabbed him in it.

When I only stared at him for a few seconds, he sighed and started to back toward the door.

“Fine. But I’m going to go tell him to be on high alert for the night because of whatever this is,” Indy said and motioned between me and the phone before he closed the door behind him.

“What’s wrong, Memphis?” Trista asked when I looked back at her.

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