Page 50 of Butterfly Effect

Can you afford it?

Peter Peter Bo Beter

If you up my salary, yes.

Me

We can talk about it later

Peter responds with a GIF of Will Ferrell fromOld Schoolcaptioned, “You’re crazy, man. I like you, but you’re crazy.”

I shake my head and go to the next bedroom over, but it’s not far enough. Knowing Gabe’s on the other side of this wall has me restless. I toss and turn. Switch the pillows. Flip them over. Kick the sheets off, then layer them on again.

“Get outta my head, Finch.”

Does she revisit that night last summer like I do? Nah, she’s probably plotting my demise, the hateful freckled thing.

How lucky is that, though? She dreams of me.

I smile at the thought, and sleep soon follows.

Fletch takes a whopper of a bite out of his purple glazed doughnut and points to the screen. It muffles his words.

“I’m telling you, that ring is something.”

“Bullshit, Donovan.” Landon swats the air. “Looks fake to me.”

I keep my hands clasped behind my head and let one knee sway. “It’s turquoise. How valuable could it be?”

“You know nothing, Wade Boehner.” Since he proposed to Indi, Radek thinks he’s some sort of precious gems connoisseur. “It depends on the source and quality of the stone.”

Smug asshole.

“Whatever, man. I bet it’s not more than five hundred.”

Fletcher sputters, spraying doughnut crumbs all over my rug. “Nope, I say ten grand at least.”

“You’re disgusting, Fletch. Better clean that up.”

“Or what?” He takes another purposefully messy bite, showering the rug with more crumbs.

My first finger and thumb hone in to twist his nipple. He yowls and accidentally kicks Landon, who jabs an elbow to both of our guts.

“Seven grand for me, now shut up. Geoffrey Munn is talking.”

“…There’s good news, and there’s bad news. We were talking at the table over there, and you were incorrectly told that this was created in 1960…”

“See?” My hand motions to the TV.

Fletch pokes a sticky finger in my ear. I palm his face to push it away.

“Ay! Why are you so nasty?”

“…But that’s not true. It’s actually from before the turn of the century, and the center gem is high-quality Persian turquoise. Paired with the twenty-two-carat gold band and three-diamond clusters on each side, this piece is worth twelve-thousand dollars…”

Fletcher flies to his feet, whooping and clapping like an overstimulated cymbal-banging monkey.

“Gah!” Landon slaps a loud thud into the couch cushions.

---