Page 10 of Glad You're Here

“Two… Three!”

When she pointed at me, I yelled, “Fuck!”

No one in the bar even batted an eye. Thea grinned and slow-clapped for me.

I laughed out loud and threw my arms up in the air, “Whoo! Damn, that was liberating!” Liberating. Invigorating. Life-altering. How funny that these minuscule moments could change things. How funny that one little word and a pair of laughing green eyes could make me feel like I deserved to take my life back— that decisions could be mine and that I could trust myself.

Thea laughed so hard that her shoulders shook, and she covered her mouth with one hand. I wished she wouldn’t. I wanted all of her laugh. That glow coming from inside of her almost blinded me.

“Okay, okay,” she finally said when she caught her breath. “I have never seen someone so happy to say a word in all my life.” Thea picked up the Sharpie and drew a thick, black line through the first item on my list. “Next, you’d like to get blackout drunk.” She shrugged. “That’s not as fun as it sounds, and it comes with a hangover that makes you think you died and went to hell. I’ll help you out, though.”

I shook my head. “No, we have to save some things for the rest of my vacation. Besides, I still have a headache from last night. What about you?” I pointed to my list. “Do you have a list of things you’ve always wanted to do?”

“Nope.” Thea folded her arms across her full chest. I tried not to notice the line of cleavage created by that movement. Of course, she didn’t have a bucket list. Thea didn’t mess around. I could tell she did what she wanted when she wanted.

“Nothing?” I prodded, sliding a blank napkin and her black marker toward her. “Not even one little thing?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.” Thea picked up the marker and scribbled on the napkin:

Ride a dinosaur

Get abducted by an alien

Write a book about my struggles with Freud’s penis envy

Travel back in time and assassinate Hitler

Find the lost city of Atlantis

Become a mermaid and lure imbeciles to their deaths

Travel back in time and steal George Washington’s wig

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