Page 35 of Eternally London

Georgia places her hand atop mine, empathy lining her features. “I’m so sorry, Londy.”

“I mean, it is what it is. We’re trying our best. We’re doing everything we’re supposed to. Granted, I probably shouldn’t have drunk last night, but I haven’t had any alcohol since last May, and it hasn’t seemed to help much.” I chuckle dryly. “I needed last night. The party was perfect. Loïc knew I needed my people. This whole ordeal has been such a lonely journey. Obviously, I have Loïc and the doctors, but the majority of the time, I feel so alone. It just sucks and doesn’t seem fair.”

“It’s not fair at all.”

Georgia scoots closer to me, and I lean my head on her shoulder.

“I’m so glad you’re back, and I’m especially happy that Dad cut you off,” I say.

Georgia laughs. “Gee, thanks.”

“I’m just glad you’re here for a while.”

“Me, too.”

I lift my head from Georgia’s shoulder but stay right up next to her. I’m so thankful I was able to grow up with a sister. From my earliest memories, Georgia was always there, my built-in best friend.

“Paigey Poo, we need to hear about your Ethan adventures,” I say to Paige, knowing her stories will make me laugh, as they always do.

Paige doesn’t need to be asked twice. “I haven’t told you about the best foreplay ever, have I?”

“I don’t think so,” I say slowly, knowing that, with an intro like that, the story is sure to be entertaining.

“Oh, this is a good one. Picture this.” She dramatically waves her hand in front of her. “An open door, a rabid raccoon, and the best sex of my life.”

“Stop it.” I laugh. “They are not related.”

She nods enthusiastically. “Oh, yes, they are. You know the ropes.”

“Uh, no…I don’t,” I say, grinning wide. “I can honestly say I’ve never usedrabid raccoonandamazing sexin the same sentence before.”

“Okay, so long story short, Ethan came to visit. After going grocery shopping, we came back to the apartment and were unloading and stuff. Well, I guess whoever was the one to bring the last bag in left the back door open. Ethan said it was me. I said it was him. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. So, we put away all the cold stuff, but all the fruit and nonperishables, we left in bags on the floor. We got distracted.”

“With hot sex?” Maggie asks.

“The TV.” Paige nods, and the three of us giggle. Paige shrugs. “The Walking Deadwas on. The groceries could wait. So, stupid, hot Negan is on-screen, walking around with his bat.” She pauses and looks at me. “You do know that Negan is Denny fromGrey’s, right?”

“Yes, I do.” I chuckle.

“He’s so gorgeous.” She shakes her head, as if to get back to her initial train of thought. “So, Negan’s on the TV, and we hear this rustling coming from the kitchen. So, we pause the show and go check it out. Are you ready for this? Guess what was in the kitchen.”

“A raccoon,” the three of us say.

“Yes!” Paige shrieks. “A freaking raccoon. Now, I know you’re thinking that raccoons are all cute and cuddly, but I’m telling you that they are not. We tried to shoo him out of the kitchen, and he stood up on his hind legs, like a ninja—paws out, claws ready—and hissed like a possessed demon. It was so scary. I screamed as I ran into the living room and hid behind the couch. I peeked out and saw Ethan trying to get the thing to leave with a broom, but once the raccoon backed into the hallway, it ran down the hall, toward the bedrooms and not toward the exit.

“So, I don’t know how long this ordeal went on for. It felt like hours. It might have been minutes. Who knows? Anyway, it consisted of lots of screaming—from me. Ethan tried different tactics to lead the raccoon, no doubt infected with rabies, out of the house. And, of course, there were many scary attack moves from the ninja raccoon. He was out for blood.”

Paige is so animated when she tells stories, and I can see this killer raccoon as she talks about him. Maggie, Georgia, and I are crying from laughing so hard.

“Ethan finally gets the killer to leave by blocking all the alternate routes, taking a couch cushion, and basically pushing it down the hall, so the raccoon could only go out the door. Then, once the beast was out and the back door was bolted shut, we had the hottest sex ever.”

“Yeah?” I wipe the tears from under my eyes.

“Totally. Like amazing, jaw-dropping, animalistic-screaming sex. I think we were just happy to be alive.”

“Stop.” I raise my hand in the air, overtaken by laughter. “You did not almost die.”

Paige smirks. “You weren’t there.”

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