Page 26 of The Love You Fight For
“What?”
“Lennon is helping Sam move stuff into her apartment today, but I haven’t heard from her in hours.” He slides his phone into his back pocket and laughs. “Sam moving into The Outpost Penthouse was not something I saw coming.”
“No shit.” I didn’t see it coming, either. “I’ll check on them before I pull the chain. Later.”
I wave over my shoulder as I leave the rec center gym, and I hear Macon call goodbye just as the doors close behind me. I nod my greeting to some of the volunteers milling about the building, then head straight to my truck. I drive to my house, shower and change clothes quickly, grab my camouflage baseball cap, then I rush to The Outpost.
Instead of parking in my regular spot in the lot, I pull behind the building and park next to Sam’s BMW. The moment I open my truck door, I’m hit with screeching and laughter, so I bolt toward the sound, only to find Lennon and Sam on the staircase, standing on either side of what looks to be a brand-new full mattress.
“What the fuck are you guys doing?” I shout as I rush to them, and both their heads turn in my direction.
“Oh, thank god, Casper,” Lennon says, though she’s hard to understand through her incessant giggles. “Help. We’re stuck.”
“We’re notstuck.” Sam fights like hell to contain her own laughter. “We’re...just...resting.”
They both start laughing again, and I watch as the mattress slowly inches backward, down the staircase, and Lennon screeches again.
“Oh fuck, I’m losing it,” she shouts between laughs. “Oh my god, I can’t die because of a rogue mattress. This is so embarrassing!”
“Stop making me laugh,” Sam shouts back. “Just...push it!”
“I can’t push it,” Lennon says. “I can’t. I can’t feel my arms.”
Their giggling is contagious, and my cheeks hurt from grinning when I spring into action, rushing up the staircase and taking the back end from Lennon.
“Jesus Christ.” I grunt as the weight of the thing pushes into my chest. “Fuck, Lennon, what the hell? You thought you guys could get this up there by yourselves?”
She’s lucky this thing didn’t slip and run her over on the way down. It probably weighs a hundred pounds, and it’s awkward as fuck, all floppy and unevenly distributed.
“We got it halfway,” Lennon says indignantly, panting to catch her breath.
“We can...get it the rest of the way...without you,” Sam shouts from the other end of the mattress, but her statement is breathy and weak. “Shoo. Be gone,man. We have this...under control!”
Lennon busts up laughing behind me again and the mattress starts to shake as Sam falls back into laughter, too. All I can do is wait patiently, holding up my end of the mattress until Sam catches her breath.
“Are you done?” I ask, forcing seriousness into my tone. “I’m going to be late opening up the bar if you don’t get your shit together.”
“We don’t need your help,” Sam snaps again. “We were fine before you swooped in. We’re not damsels in dist?—”
“Oh, shut up, Sam. You were ten seconds from losing the mattress and letting it crush Lennon.”
“I was not!”
“Youwere. Now, be quiet and listen,” I say sternly, like I would if I were shouting orders to the guys at the garage, or giving some drunk asshole a warning to behave or he’d get booted from the bar. “I’ve got this end. I can hold the majority of the weight. I just need you to guide it up to the landing so we can lay it on its side and shove it through the door.”
“That was already our plan,” Lennon chirps.
“You shut up too, Len,” I tease, sending her some side-eye.
She huffs and folds her arms, but she can’t hide her little smirk.
“Ready, Harper?” I shout, and she growls.
I can picture the look of disdain on her face. She hates the idea of someone—of me—coming to her rescue. When she doesn’tanswer, I lift the mattress a little higher so more of the weight tips onto her, and I hear her squeak.
“I don’t have all day, princess. I’m ten seconds from leaving and letting you two dummies get back to your suicide mission.”
“Ugh,fine.” She groans. I feel the mattress shift as she fixes her grip. “All right, let’s go.”
