Page 86 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
I sent him a smiley face emoji, then set my phone down with a relieved sigh. “Alright. Done. We should know more soon. Depending on what kind of records there are, it could take a week or two. Other departments don’t like giving us—um, them—their information, which is a pain. But hopefully it won’t be that long.”
Winter squeezed me tightly. “That’s good, lovey. In the meantime, we can keep buying them food.”
“What do you mean?”
Lyric grinned at us. “I think we’re going to be stopping by the museum quite a lot.”
Winter nodded, his chin still on my shoulder. “Yep. We can take turns bringing them dinner while they’re there.”
That made me smile. “I like the way you think.”
He chuckled and kissed my cheek.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Winter
“Good deal.” Lyric pulled their feet up onto the couch, biting their lip and making their I’m-nervous-but-want-to-say-something face.
“What’s up, Lyr?” I asked after waiting them out for a bit.
“Uh… I guess you guys want to head to bed…?”
I gave them a weird look because that was… a really fucking weird thing to ask, but Miles said, “Not yet. You wanna watch a movie with us? We still have plenty of snacks and crap we can eat.”
It was late, and I knew my boyfriend was hella tired after working all day and from all the cooking and cleaning, but he’d clearly picked up on Lyric’s… reluctance to leave. I kinda loved Miles even more for being so considerate.
It made Lyric sag in relief, and I stared at my best friend for a long moment. Finally, I asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, shug.”
“You sure?”
They rolled their eyes at me and waved me off. “Yes.”
“Then why don’t you want to—”
“Come on, Win,” Miles said, cutting me off and shooting me a shut-the-hell-up expression. “Let’s sit over on the couch so we can see better.” He pulled me from the loveseat and pushed me to sit beside Lyric.
My best friend looked at me for a long moment, and without thinking about it too much, I lifted my arm in invitation. Lyric immediately scooted into my side with their head on my shoulder. I glanced at Miles to make sure he was okay with this—this was absolutely just a platonic cuddle—and he sent me a smile.
“Who wants a refill of their drink?” He grabbed our cups before we could answer and rushed into the kitchen, and I knew without him saying it that he was letting me have a moment with Lyric.
“Sooooo, my bestest bestie,” I said, giving them a squeeze. “What’s going on with you?”
They sighed and leaned more heavily into me. “Nothing really, I just… don’t want to go home yet. Peaches doesn’t like cuddles.”
Peaches was Lyric’s cat, and she was a very independent little thing that liked to sit up on her perches and stare at us mere mortals all the time. She’d been severely abused before Lyric adopted her, so she really only ever let Lyric pet her, and shedidn’t like being held. She was a sweetheart who clearly loved Lyric very much, but Lyric was an affectionate person.
I took a moment to formulate a response because I didn’t really know what to say or how to help. “You know you’re welcome to come over anytime, right?”
They snorted. “You’re never home anymore.”
“I meant over here too.”
They paused. “Don’t you think Miles would mind?”
“Nope. He wouldn’t mind at all.” I knew that without asking. If someone needed something, Miles would jump in to help without a second thought. “Like I said, you can come over anytime.”
