Page 23 of Aftershock

“Nope, no chance I'm telling that one.”

“Fine,” I relented. “Do you still want to ask questions?”

“Oh, hell yeah! You still know way too much about me! I have to pry some skeletons out of your closet.” She eyed me up and down while letting out a heartfelt laugh.

“The only skeleton I have is the one in my body,” I bantered back.

“Jesus,” Lexi cackled. “You really need to work on your jokes.”

Looking at the grin on her face following her outburst, I countered with, “Well, it made you laugh, so I think I'm doing just fine.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” She gave an upward nod of her head while squinting her eyes at me. “Anyway, what’s your least favorite album of mine?”

“Why? So you can get mad at me?”

She shrugged noncommittally and replied, “Only if you say Papercuts.”

“Oh no, that's in my top two!” I exclaimed, reassuring her.

“Probably Resilient because I only know like four songs from that album.”

“Which ones?” She prodded back while lifting an eyebrow.

“Resilient, Dauntless, Rule Breaker, and…” I chuckled a bit before continuing, “Surprise, surprise, the song Daddy Issues.”

“Dad’s. Am I right?” She laughed, causing me to smile at her in return. “Speaking of dad’s…do you think you’ll be okay enough to go to the funeral?”

“I don't know,” I said honestly.

“Hey, just remember, you’re stronger than you think.”

Scoffing at her words, I questioned, “And if I’m not, can I send you my therapy bill?”

“Sure, Autumn. My address is 1234 Go Fuck Yourself Road.” She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, “And here I was trying to be nice.”

I looked at her while she shifted positions on the floor. My legs began to tingle as if they were about to fall asleep, so I straightened them out in front of me. I rubbed my hands along the length of my calves and let out a sigh. For some reason, Lexi believed that I would be okay, but I, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure. What if going to his funeral pushed me past the point of no return?

“We can survive this, right?” I asked solemnly while pursing my lips.

“Survive what?”

“This,” I motioned with my hands to our surroundings. “Life.”

“Definitely,” she answered with certainty. I smiled at her optimism, but then she ended her thoughts with, “Until we die, that is.”

Shaking my head, I reached into my bag and threw the first thing I could find at her, which happened to be my AirPods.

“Ass!” I yelled out while simultaneously laughing.

Lexi caught the case in her hands with ease and smiled. “You know we suck at doing these questions. We keep going off on random tangents.”

I scrunched my face at her words. “I guess you’re right.” Cracking my knuckles, I took a deep breath before yelling, “Okay, rapid-fire questions. Go!”

“What?” She panicked frantically while scrambling to think of a question. “Uhhh, what’s your biggest pet peeve?”

“People chewing with their mouths open.” I shivered at the thought. “What's your favorite red carpet outfit?”

She pondered that question for a bit, then said, “The red satin dress with a lace train that I wore to the MET Gala.”

---