Page 50 of Between the Stars

I turn the paper sideways. What the fuck? Right. I didn’t have my shirt on the other night and she saw my chest. Crazy kid. She disappears down the hall and I stare at the television, thinking of Abbi again. Have I ever stopped? Probably not.

Okay, say I show up in Tennessee and remind her she’s making a mistake, would that make me a pussy? Maybe I need to work a little harder to convince her she’s fucking up. Maybe I didn’t fight hard enough.

* * *

I don’t remember fallingasleep but I must have because when I wake up, Sev is standing over me with an electric razor and smiling. “Hi.”

My heart jumps into my throat. Fuck. “What are you doing?” I dare to ask.

She grins. Awkwardly. “Nuffin.”

“Nuffin my ass.” I sit up, my heart still pounding. I glance around the room, blinking rapidly and trying to make sense of my surroundings. “Why do you have a razor?”

She hides it behind her back. “I nots know.”

“Did you have a plan?”

She nods, but doesn’t tell me it.

“Let me guess…. My hair?”

Another nod.

Fuck. I run my hand over the side of my head. Yep. She shaved it. Groaning, I sit up to see a dusting of dark hair all over the couch. “Why do you need my hair so bad?”

“To makes you my size.”

Well fuck. She’s trying to create me again. “Go brush your teeth.”

“Why?”

“Do you want your dad to find out I let you eat his chocolate ice cream?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Then I suggest you wash your face and brush your teeth.”

Sev takes off around the corner to her bathroom while I brush my hair off the couch. I’m afraid to look in the mirror. At least it was on the side, I think. Maybe I can shave both sides and rock a Mohawk for a bit. Might not be all bad.

It’s not more than two minutes later when Barron walks in with Kacy and Camdyn. Barron takes one look at me as he yanks his beanie cap off and hangs his jacket on a hook. “What happened?”

I force a smile. “I don’t even know. I woke up and she had the razor.”

Barron shakes his head, smiling at Kacy as she walks by with Camdyn in her arms. “I told you not to turn your back.”

I ruffle Camdyn’s hair in passing as I enter the kitchen. “Clearly I underestimated her. And I didn’t turn my back,” I point out, placing my whiskey glass in the sink. “I was resting my eyes.”

Barron leans into the counter and watches their cat strut by. “I see Vader has a new hair cut too.”

I turn my head to notice the black cat that showed up the day they brought Sev home from the hospital is sporting a new look. Right down his back is a strip of missing hair.

“He looks betters,” Sev notes, holding her toothbrush in hand, no shirt on, just her underwear.

“I’m impressed he didn’t shred the shit out of her for doing that,” I add. “Where’s your clothes?” I ask Sev. “You went in there with some on.”

Sev sighs, rolling her eyes. “I nots know.”

Camdyn climbs onto the kitchen island and sits, staring at me. “I had so much fun.”

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