Page 70 of Love on the Waiver Wire

It feels a little bit like happiness.

Heidi’s eyes find mine as she sings, and she knows it. Her smile broadens as she grabs the other mason jar from the island, handing it to me. Amara sees and quickly grabs a whisk, passing it to me too.

And we just sing.

And dance.

And yell.

And I’m happy.

* * *

“So, what’s going on this week?” Heidi asks as she pops a piece of pancake into her mouth.

The first three Amara had made were absolutely burnt to a crisp. I mean absolutely charred.

I made a joke about them spending time on Mustafar, but I always forget that Amara has never watched Star Wars. I keep meaning to force her to.

At least Mila appreciated it.

More pancakes were on the stove in no time, and we barely dodged a blowout fight between Mila and Heidi over what the standard size of a pancake should be.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being so close to the three of them, it’s that there are large pancake families and small pancake families. I much prefer small pancakes, but there’s nothing bad about large pancakes.

I take a sip of orange juice, pushing my last bite around my plate absentmindedly.

“I’m not sure,” I shrug. And I really don’t know.

“Why do I have a feeling that this has to do with a boy?” Mila asks. Amara flashes her a scowl while I hear Heidi slap Mila’s leg under the table. She jumps at the contact.

Whenever I’ve needed this, they’ve always gone to great extents to make my day feel completely normal. This means no talk about why I may be feeling the way I do, or negative things. If I want to talk about them, I can bring them up.

They’re not positive to be positive, and they don’t force me to justlook at the positives,so to speak. They just want everything to feel normal. Safe.

I always end up telling them on my own time.

This time, I shrug. “I can’t really talk about it,” I tell her, not bothering to look back up. “It’s complicated.”

I know they’ll be pissed at Leo, and I have no idea what Owen told him. With Mila’s temper, I don’t need her marching next door and giving Leo an earful and getting anyone in trouble.

“Well we’re here for you whenever you need, you know that.”

I nod, letting a little smile free.

* * *

My friends left about two hours later, after more laughs, another forced sing-along, and Heidi pelting Mila with chocolate chips.

And although I feel better, I still don’t feel like myself. I know the only thing that can pull me out of it is time.

Buzz.

My phone vibrates in the pocket of my sweats, making me jump. I take it out, my heart stopping as I read Owen’s name flash across the screen.

Owen Crosby

Loser of this week brings the other to the aquarium. Sound good?

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