Page 84 of Bliss: Part 1
Apparently, the circus wasn’t a fun and worthy memory.
“That’s a long time ago,” I said, my voice soft. “Do you remember it?”
“Yeah. Pretty well.” He looked down at me. “You want to go? Watch the show?”
I hesitated, then shook my head. “No, thank you. We should save the money for food.”
He gave a little smile. “Probably a good call. It’s all a money grab anyway.”
That made me smile too. We were on the same page.
I reached for his arm and wrapped my hand around it. He didn’t flinch. Just let me hold on. I could tell he wanted to distract me from everything. Keep me in the moment, not back in the heaviness of the past few days. And it was working.
Still, I knew the guys had some guilt hanging over them. Even if they didn’t say it out loud. They thought they had influenced me, pulled me into something I didn’t want to be part of. But the truth was, we all made those choices together. We were all in it. It was mutual. Every step we took to get to where we were now was taken purposely and willingly by all of us.
I’d already told them not to feel bad, but I knew they still did.
“A circus show isn’t as fun as it used to be,” Dash added, clearly wanting to move the conversation along.
We drifted between the food stands, pointing out different snacks and making little decisions here and there until everyone had something. We each got something different so we could try everything: funnel cake, loaded fries, mozzarella sticks, corn dogs. Then we sat down at one of the round tables to eat.
Shortly after sitting down, Rhys started talking about the barn. They were almost done remodeling it and were planning to put in a projector and screen instead of buying a TV. It was cheaper, and better for movie nights. Didn’t take up too much space either. Everyone was chiming in, adding ideas, talking about how they’d set it up. I loved how excited they were to finally finish it, and I was excited too, to finally hang out in there with them.
As they continued to talk, I looked up to watch the people around us. That’s when I saw Tia and Tyler.
They were walking toward us, hand in hand, both smiling and looking as perfect as ever. Tyler looked relaxed, and Tia smiled brightly at me.
“Hey, guys,” she greeted as they came to a stop next to our table.
“Hi,” I said, smiling up at her.
“Was wondering if you two would show up around here,” Dash said, scooting over to make room at the table without even thinking. He was inviting them to sit with us, and they accepted without hesitation.
While Tyler said hello to the others, Tia reached for me and gave me a warm hug. “How have you been, Bliss?”
“Good,” I said. “Thanks. You?”
She nodded. “Me too. I was gonna text you earlier this week to hang out again, but Tyler’s parents took us up to this retreat in the mountains. But I’ve got time tomorrow, if you want to do something.”
“That sounds great.” I smiled. “What do you want to do?”
“We could hang by the pool again,” she suggested.
I nodded. “Sure. Can Dash come too? Will Tyler be there?”
Tyler, who’d obviously heard us, jumped in. “You should all come. We can have a barbecue. Have a few drinks and hang out.”
I looked around the table. Everyone seemed into the idea.
“Sounds good to me,” Rhys said.
“Yeah, I’m in,” Ashby added.
I turned to Tripp. “Tripp?”
He gave me a calm, gentle look. “Of course I’ll come.”
Then he glanced at Tyler. “Thanks, man.”
