Page 10 of Toxic Wishes

“Right here,” a tall, lanky guy says as he walks to my front porch. Once he steps inside, he places an arm around Naomi’s shoulders. “Jake,” he says as he looks over at me. “Nice place ya got here.” Two more guys appear from behind them. I’m assuming they parked a few houses down since my dad’s car driveway was full.

“Hey babe,” a Middle Eastern guy says, leaning down to kiss Adalee. Another huge, tall guy stands beside Jenna.

“Jordan,” the guy standing next to Jenna says as he reaches his arm out to shake my hand.

“Blake, nice to meet ya.” I’m the first one to break the handshake.

“And this is Ahad,” Adalee says.

“Nice to meet you, man.” We shake hands.

“Come in, guys. Make yourselves at home. We have beer, vodka, and those spritzer things if you girls are thirsty,” I tell them, swinging a hand toward the kitchen.

“Yummy, are they the fruity kind?” Adalee asks. “I’m not sure. My Dad's girlfriend buys them, so I’m sure they are.”

The girls walk to the kitchen, and the guys start flocking towards them immediately.

“You want a drink,” I say, tipping my beer at Abigail.

“No, I’m fine.”

I give her a look.

“For now, maybe in a little bit.” She adds before narrowing her eyes on me. “Should you be drinking?”

“It’s a beer. It’s just flavored water.” I take a small sip before saying, “come on, let's go talk shit to the crew.”

I walk toward where our friends sat, Abigail following behind me, and we all immediately started talking about music. I felt completely in my element around Abigail. So much so, it was hard not to feel like we are more than friends around her. It feels like I’ve known her for years, but I wasn’t sure how Abigail felt. She was so quiet, especially around big crowds, that it was nearly impossible for me to read her.

“No way. I still like how Blake did that intro and how Abigail brings it in with that chorus. That was fire, bro,” Brooks says.

“You mean this one,” Abigail starts singing, moving her fingers to imitate the beat accompanying her voice.

Edison laughs excitedly, Duke bites his knuckles, and Brooks jumps up. They all do this at the same time.

“That’s it! That’s fucking gold right there. And then when Edison and Blake come in with the bass and guitar, that’s the fucking jackpot right there, baby! That song is the one we should lead with when we present it to a music agent.” Brooks says.

“Aww, is this your friend from Orchestra?” Jenna asks as she approaches us in the living room.

“They aren’t in my Orchestra class, we all just like making music,” Abigail says, looking away quickly.

“That’s adorable.,” Jenna says, sitting across from us. “Abigail has always been creative, so seeing her thrive where she’s comfortable is like a dream come true.”

The tone of our conversation was too early to know if she was being genuine or putting on a front,

. “We all think she has a brilliant voice, but the music business is cutthroat. You have to not only play the part but look the part too because you are in the public eye.” She huffs out a haughty laugh. “Which means you have to be easy on others' eyes.”

Some of the guys snicker with Jenna, but I don’t. I just studied Abigail's behavior. She doesn’t say anything. She barely moves, and for a second, I wonder if she’s breathing.

“Ya, but now that Abigail has lost weight, the camera would love her.” Jordan, Jenna’s boyfriend, says as if Abigail isn’t even in the room.

“I know, and if I could just bash each cheek in with my fist, you would be perfect,” Ahad, Adalee’s boyfriend, says. “The camera loves that high cheekbone look.”

I flinch at the disgusting words being spoken about Abigail. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and the thought that Abigail was so used to this type of talk around her made my stomach weezy, and the only thing I could do was swallow hard to keep the contents of my dinner from coming up.

“Jenna took me to their house once. I met their parents. She looks somewhat like her mom, but not really. It’s crazy that you don’t look like your sister or cousins.” Jordan adds.

“Ya, genes are crazy,” Abigail says defiantly. I see Abigail's eyes tear up before she sucks in a breath.

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