Page 33 of Love Sick

She blows a blue strand of hair out of her face. “I don’t even know.”

Grace organizes the cupcakes on a small sideboard under a window.

I eye the perfectly swirled chocolate frosting. “I see you managed to find sugar.”

She sticks her nose in the air. A secretive grin stretches those devil-red lips. “Yes, thanks to my neighbor upstairs. Have you met him? His name’s Voldemort.”

I chuckle despite myself. “No, but I recently ran into an evil witch all covered in flour who lives downstairs. Probably baking children into pies.”

She chooses one of the cupcakes and swipes a finger through the icing, sucking it off with a pop. “Children, huh? Yum.”

“Hey, Santini!”

I yank my gaze from Grace’s mouth to find Alesha motioning for help with the turkey. The pan is unwieldy, but we get it settled on the stovetop.

“You made an actual turkey?”

She shoots me a smirk as she brandishes the carving knife. “It’s Thanksgiving, Juju. Was I supposed to make fish?”

Raven wedges her head between us. “Oh, it smells heavenly. Can we eat now? I’m starving.”

“Heard that,” Kai calls from the dining room. “Let’s eat before I have to be at the hospital. Shift starts in two hours, people. The vaginas won’t heal themselves.”

Grace meanders toward the table, nursing one of my IPAs.I bought those for me, I want to say. To see if she’ll pout. If she’ll argue. If she’ll pour the beer down my throat until I’m drowning. What will it take to make her snap completely?

She gives me a subtle toast as she sits.

A festive centerpiece of fall-colored leaves and an excessive amount of glitter takes up most of the table, forcing us to set the side dishes at the periphery. The five of us squeeze into her four-person round table with barely enough room for our turkey-themed paper plates.

“Happy Friendsgiving!” Raven reaches for a dish.

Kai slaps her hand. “Heathen! We say what we’re thankful forbeforewe eat.”

She wrings out her hand. “Jeez.”

“I’m thankful I managed to get this food done before y’all got here.” Alesha takes a swig of her beer, swiping a hand over her sweaty brow.

“AndI’mthankful we managed to find a time when we’re all off to celebrate,” says Kai. “Even if I can’t drink because I’m somehow the only one who works this weekend.”

Raven taps her chin. “I’m just thankful to be here. Learning to be an OB. It’s hard and sometimes I have to remind myself it’s what I wanted, but itiswhat I wanted and I’m so lucky.”

We all murmur our agreement, toasting each other.

Across from me, Grace sets her beer down and smiles, showing me her sparkling white teeth against those pretty red lips. Maybe her teeth are diamond-edged, the better to rip our throats out. Maybe her lipstick is blood from all the throat-ripping she does in her spare time.

Why am I always staring at her mouth? It’s so annoying how pretty it is. It’s even more annoying that she hates me for unfair reasons. I didn’t do anything to her.

She takes a breath. “I’m thankful for you guys. Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without you as friends. I’ve—I’ve had a lot of trouble with social anxiety. You make it so much easier to deal with everything.” Her hazel eyes sparkle from the candles in the room and when they finally land on me, a creeping foreboding wakes in my chest. She tilts her head, and her voice sharpens to a point. “Evenyou.”

Oh, you lying little liar!

My pulse comes to life. “I’m thankful for Sapphire’s continued hatred. Keeps my life interesting. At this point, I wouldn’t know how to survive without it.”

She scowls. “You’d probably die of ego overload, Golden Boy.”

Her words brew a storm inside me that enlarges with each beat of my heart. “I’m golden? Why? Because I’m nice and people actually like me? Maybe you should try it sometime.”

Color rises in her cheeks. “Iamnice!”

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