Page 50 of Silver Linings
“Jae would be out the second he saw a Huntsman spider, and Sam would probably get too friendly with a kangaroo, and it would beat the shit out of him. Obviously, Faye would last the longest.”
Both guys look affronted while Faye does a happy shimmy in her seat.
“I’m gonna go get another drink. Does anyone want anything?” I look around the table.
“I’ll take anything thatisn’tfrom Australia,” Jae requests at the same time the others request refills of their current drinks.
I slide out of the booth and head over to the bar to put in an order for another round when I feel my phone vibrating in my back pocket. I pull it out, and it’s like my subconscious summoned this call.
Laurel.
It’s do or die. I can’t keep putting off my family forever, and it’s probably better to do it now when I have a plausible reason to hang up if things go south quickly. The buzz from the alcohol helps too.
“Hey, Laur.”
“What the fuck,dickweed? Mom’s called you like…a billion times, and you won’t answer her, but you answer me?”
“Mom’s called me twice…”
“That’s basically a billion times for a mom. She asked me if I thought you’d already joined a gang yesterday.”
“I did. Questionable job description, but really good benefits.”
I can hear her huff on the other end of the line. She may be mad, but she’s also a secret softy.
“She’s worried, and so am I. When are you going to come home?”
I scratch a hand down my face in frustration as I turn my back to the bar. I see Jae from our booth giving me anare you okaylook. I nod and signal I’m going to slip outside.
I step out into the cool early October air, passing through a group of people and a cloud of cigarette smoke to sit on the stoop of the building next to the bar.
“Iamhome, Laurel.” There’s a pang in my chest at the resulting silence, loud and thick and suffocating despite the noise of the city surrounding me.
“You’re never coming back?” She’s shell shocked, I can hear it lacing her tone.
“I don’t know… I’m sure Dad’s happy I’m gone.”
“He was just hurt. He didn’t mean what he said when you told us you were leaving.”
“He did, and we both know it.”
Vicious, ugly words were thrown around that night. They haunt me before I close my eyes, like a specter waiting until I’m asleep to descend and feast on my misery.
It’s your fault he’s gone. You might as well leave too.
Laurel sighs deep. “Are you happy there?”
“I–” I want to say yes and immediately ease her worries, but I go for honesty, or at least as honest as I can be. “I’m getting there. I like my job, and I’ve made some new friends you would like.”
I think of Silver and how quickly she and Laurel would take to each other.
“Well, anything’s better than the riffraff you already call friends,” she sneers in sarcasm.
At that exact moment, Jae steps out to check on me, mouthing to ask who’s on the phone. When I mouth back that it’s Laurel, a look of unfiltered glee fills his eyes, and his smile beams from ear to ear.
He launches himself over the railing of the stoop to sit next to me and grabs the phone out of my hand while I’m distracted by the fact that he parkoured over a stone fence like he was an Olympic pole vaulter.
“Hey, baby, have you missed me?” His voice is deep and seductive.
