Page 38 of Archer
I held out my hand and pulled her up as I watched her spot Crow. Just as I was about to introduce them, Crow sized her up. His silvery blond wisps of hair fell into his icy eyes as he stood tall, giving the impression that he was looming over Rose despite being across the room. “That’s her?”
My eyes shifted to Rose, the petite wholesome baker, looking both shy and awkward, unsure how to handle Crow. He’d only terrify her more.
“She has a name,” I said, wishing he could at least try to be pleasant. “Crow, this is Rose. Rose, this is Crow.”
Her face cracked into a smile, but she tried to hide it by pursing her lips together before asking, “Crow?”
Crow looked at her, scrunched his nose and scowled. “Got a problem with it?”
I expected her to cower behind the counter or again, or at least back down with apologies for offending the brutish man twenty years older than her. But instead, she said, “No, I’ve just never heard of a name like that.”
“It’s not my real name.” He scoffed. “What kind of name is Rose?”
“It’s a really pretty name,” she said simply as if it was an objective fact. “Duh. Why are you called Crow?”
“We all have nicknames,” I said, ending the confusion before her and Crow ended up sticking it out. Crow wasn’t used to women standing up to him. “It’s a motorcycle club thing. Very standard.”
“Oh,” she said, pulling her lips to the side as she pondered. “So, what’s your nickname?”
That caught me off guard and I burst out a single, “Ha!” while Crow laughed steadily. Rose. looking even more confused, asked, “What’s so funny?”
“Do you think my name is Archer?” I asked, pointing to my chest, feeling almost hurt that she had no idea who I was, but was too amused to worry about it.
“Isn’t it?” she asked, throwing her hands in the air with exasperation.
Crow was hunched over laughing as he asked, “Forget Rose, what kind of name is Archer?”
“I always thought it was kind of a dumb name, but it’s not like you can choose your name,” she said. “Except… apparently… you did.”
“It’s not a dumb name,” I said, folding my arms as Crow howled with laughter. “I wrote my name down for you when you first got here like you asked!”
“I thought that was a name of like… your emergency contact or something.” Rose’s voice grew squeakier by the second. “How am I supposed to know what your name is? You’ve only called yourself Archer!”
“It’sobviouslya nickname,” I said. “I even have a bullseye tattoo ’cause I got the name for throwing a knife at one of the Freeways’ tires from super far away and stopped them from stealing a bunch of our cash. I figured you knew.”
“Why would I know that?” She asked. “Archer isn’t common, but itisa name.” Then, she pondered. “Wait. Then… what is your name?”
I ran a hand through my hair, wincing as I said, “Uh. Russell.”
She tilted her hair and stared at me through squinted eyes. “Huh. Yeah. You don’t look like a Russell. I’ll keep calling you Archer.”
“Great,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Glad we cleared that up.”
Crow, who settled down with his laughter, wiped a fake tear from his eyes as he said, “Two shitty names. Good job, Archer.”
“Yeah, like Crow is agreatname,” I grumbled. Turning to Rose I said, “You should be proud, Rose. Ever since you’ve got here, I swear to god, Crow has been happier than he’s ever been.”
“Huh?” She pulled her neck back with confusion. “Why? You don’t even know me.”
“’Cause you were such a pain in my ass when you first got here and apparently nothing makes Crow happier than seeing his buddy in misery,” I said, sneering at Crow before walking toward the fridge. “This guy laughs maybe twice a year, and you’ve got him to reach his quota for a decade.”
Forgetting that I wondered why Crow was there in the first place, I grabbed two beers and some pink lemonade vodka cooler some chick left there half a year ago. I passed Crow a beer and Rose the cooler. “Here, you’ll like this. It’s sweet.”
We took a seat at the breakfast island, with me sitting beside Rose and Crow across from us. The energy around Rose had lifted from when I first arrived. It was nice, and settled a bit of my earlier nerves, even though it appeared what was making her happy was simply being in another person’s company other than myself, even if it was Crow. Still, it was nice to see her smiling and laughing again. She scanned Crow with her eyes, resting her chin on her fist. “You don’t seem that bad.”
Crow looked at her with a mixture of surprise and what almost looked like offense. Having a hard, cold exterior was what made Crow he was. To take that away, well, I wasn’t sure how he’d take that.
“Trust me,” I said, sliding my elbow across the island to lean closer as if I was whispering a secret. “You don’t know him.”
