Page 25 of Unlikely You

“You can take it back to her,” I said. “She doesn’t have to pay me. Tell her she can forget about it. I plan to.”

I expected my rejection to make the girl cry or something, but she just said, “okay!” and skipped off to inform Honey. If I wasn’t careful, she was going to sneak that twenty dollars into my pocket or something. I was almost curious to see what lengths she’d go to get me the money. How far would she go?

I wanted to find out.

Hey,you read that Agatha All Along fic that I sent you the link for? It updated and I’m scared to open it.

If Melliferal hadn’t started the fic, I might threaten to never speak to her again. She needed to read it so we could suffer together. Online, anyway.

Yes, I started it and I had to stop because I couldn’t handle the emotional damage. Someday I’m going to take a week off and go somewhere and do nothing but read books and refuse to talk to anyone.

That sounded like heaven, honestly.

If you do it, tell me when and I’ll do the same thing. We’ll be alone, together.

It sounded amazing. Shutting off all my messages except for hers. I’d rent a cozy cabin near a mountain. Or on a mountain. Somewhere there had to be a mountain. But there also had to be decent wi-fi. I’d plan out every single hour with what book I was going to read, what snacks I would bring. I’d pack all my coziest clothes and meal plan and pack everything up to bring with me. I’d create the perfect playlist too, themed to go with each one of my books or fanfics, of course.

It would be amazing. If only I could take the time off now, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I didn’t have any full days off scheduled for at least a month. Summers were too busy with the marketplace. I had to make the most of the tourist season and bank more revenue for when things got quieter in the winter and I switched my attention to holiday shopping for my online store.

I had to think strategically every single day.

That sounds almost perfect. I wish we could make it happen, but at least on my side, it’s going to be a while.

She sounded just as swamped as I was. Not that I knew what she did. That was one of the rules, so neither of us knew what job the other had. But I could at least assume she didn’t work some kind of corporate job, or something that had odd shifts, like a nurse. I wasn’t sure if she’d gone to college. She’d never talked about it. Not that it mattered. Our jobs weren’t the reason we were friends.

I know what you mean.

I spent the next fifteen minutes looking up remote cabins up north and dreaming of my reading retreat.

I arrivedat the marketplace prepared for Honey’s antics the next day and spent at least ten minutes going through my stuff and making sure she hadn’t hidden the twenty dollars somewhere. So far, nothing.

The Holloways arrived with their usual fanfare. Singing their way to the table, not even caring that everyone was staring at them.

There was a kind of unselfconsciousness about them that I was a little in awe and terrified of at the same time. What was it like to walk around like that and not care if you had that many eyes on you? To be so intent on your own enjoyment that it didn’t matter where you were. You justhadto sing.

They were living in a musical and everyone else was in reality.

“Good morning,” Honey chirped to me as she uncovered their display. Of course it was covered by several sheets with bees on them.

I grunted back at her. Had to keep up with tradition.

Honey let out a little snorting noise that made me look up to find she was smiling.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said, still grinning like she had a secret.

“Stop trying to give me twenty dollars,” I said low enough that only she could hear me as her parents continued to sing and encourage the other two, who were a little less enthusiastic. The oldest teen girl was mouthing words but clearly no sound was coming out of her mouth. I supported her rebellion.

Honey laughed and I stared at her dimples. I wanted to lick my tongue into them. Fuck.

She leaned closer. “Never.”

I let out a disgusted sound that made her laugh under her breath.

This was ridiculous.

Chapter Ten

---