Page 108 of Wayward
“I’m doing something important, Zane.” My fingers roll around Haley’s shoulders, and she moans but quickly covers her mouth. Not quickly enough. Heads appear in the opening.
“Sorry,” Haley says and points back at me.
“Never be sorry for making that sound, Sassy. We’ll be right back. Move.” Dante bosses Sam and Zane to the kitchen. It’s not long before they return with the pizza, beers, and plates.
“Hey, Little Bird.” Zane hands her a beer and a plate with pizza before dropping in front of the sofa and pulling one of her legs over his shoulder.
“Where’s mine?” I ask as I’m getting up to get it myself. I was hoping to eat something else. I glance over my shoulder at Haley. She’s turned a lovely shade of red. And I’m hoping she’s thinking the same thing.
“I’ve picked out the movie. And no criticizing my retelling when we watch this one. I did my best.” Zane turns on the TV.
“Yes, but you missed the whole subplot. You told it as an action movie, and it’s really a love story.” Haley runs her foot down the side of Zane’s arm.
“Potato, potato,” Zane says, turning up his British accent. “This is good pizza, mate. I can hardly tell it’s not real.”
“It’s real. You have to reframe the way you think about food, Zane.” Dante sits on the floor next to him.
Sam’s the last in the room. “Excuse me.” He pushes between Haley and Easton.
“I kind of miss the days where you had to have your personal space.” Easton laughs but moves over.
The sun starts to set beyond the television. There’s a massive blackout curtain, but we’ve never pulled it. Having the crashing waves outside the lanai makes me feel more relaxed. It’s still hard being here. We’ve gone out a few times, but the second we’re recognized, we all want to head home. At first it was just Easton being noticed, but we’ve been on enough media now that we’re all getting it. The ones that survived, they’re calling us. AndGilligan’s Island, which is even worse. But whatever.
I haven’t told anyone other than Sam about the email I got today—it said that they were offering it to him too. But we didn’t have to negotiate as a group. I’m still not sure I want to do it. Though it sounds interesting.
There’s a lull in the movie. I’m not telling Zane, but he made this one way better than it is. Maybe he shouldn’t go to school for architecture but for script writing.
Sam leans forward, his eyes connecting with mine, and I give him a nod.
“Pause it for a second, Zane,” Sam says. When the movie is off, Sam rolls his shoulders. “So . . . today Calvin and I got an interesting offer.”
“Really?” I can hear the dread in Haley’s voice.
“It’s nothing bad, Chiefie. It’s good. In fact, really good. Sam and I have been offered a publishing deal to write a survival guide. Well, I’ll do the part on surviving off the land, and he’s doing the marine section. Two books.”
“That’s fantastic.” Haley turns to me and then back to Sam.
“Amazing,” the guys echo.
“It is, but there’s a catch: they want to put our faces on it and use all of us as marketing.”
“Oh.” Haley nods. “That’s fine. It’s something we’ll get used to. Right Easton?”
“Uh, you never get used to it. But it will be different as time goes on. I think it’s a great opportunity if you want to do it.” Easton stands. “This calls for the good stuff.” He vanishes down the hallway to the wine cellar, which isn’t a cellar because this is Miami, so it's a room off the dining room.
“Do you want to do it? I think it’s fantastic, but I don’t want you doing it just . . .” Haley trails off.
“Haley, I want to do it,” Sam says. “Zane and I chatted in the grocery store about the two of you going to school. We can move back to the ocean again later. Plus, Pittsburgh has rivers. You and Zane can go to school. We’ll write the books, and Dante?—”
“I know at least three restaurants that would love to have me. There might be one or two that I’m not allowed in as well.” Dante takes the bottle of champagne from Easton. “Let me do that.”
“And I can work from anywhere.” Easton picks up his tie from the floor. “Even better if we don’t have an office in the city. Though we have a Pittsburgh branch.”
“Then it’s settled.” Haley raises her glass of champagne and sips from it. “Whoa, this is good.”
“I know something that’s going to taste even better to celebrate with, Chiefie, but you’re going to need fewer clothes.”
Easton grabs a remote, and the blackout shade makes its first appearance. I hate waiting to pull her shirt off, but early lastweek, Maya pointed out a photographer floating in a speedboat. They took off when one of the security guys headed outside.
