Page 22 of Magic or Madness

“I’ll see you soon, Bambi,” I say softly, hanging up the phone, and my mood has completely changed since I came into the bathroom.

I no longer have the urge to wrangle Journey’s throat with my bare hands. All I can think about is Fallon, our promises, and our mutually destructive obsession.

It’s beenthe longest quarter of a day in my life, but finally, I’m waiting outside of the body shop, and Fallon is walking toward my truck.

Her purple hair flows down her back in waves, and she’s wearing a black t-shirt with black leggings to match. She looks absolutely delectable, and she’s coming straight to me.

“Hi,my beautiful girl.” I open the passenger door, smiling down at her as I help her up.

I lightly wrap my arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to her forehead and inhaling that unmistakable vanilla perfume.

“Hi, Ozzy,” she purrs, securing her arms around my neck and I’m melting, barely able to resist kissing those perfectly pink lips.

“Dinner, and then a showdown with your roommates?” I ask, tilting her chin to meet my eyes.

“You read my mind. What are you in the mood for?”

I bite my lip, trailing my hand around her jawline, and her body tenses with my touch.

“Well, I know what I want for dessert.”

“Dessert before dinner? That’s a crime, my love,” she smiles, and my heart skips a beat at the sentiment.

“Love?” I ask, and she shrugs, unbothered by the slip of her tongue.

“Positive thinking.” She reaches up, kissing my cheek, but I pull away from her, knowing that if I don’t, I’ll be stuck in this spot at her mercy.

Once I slip into the driver’s seat, I drive us toward a sandwich shop, which I now know is Fallon’s favorite food. Any meat on a roll counts as a sandwich in her book, and she claims she could eat them for the rest of her life.

“I have an idea for a restaurant, actually. It’s buffet style, with all the meats, bread, cheeses, and toppings you desire, and at the end, you choose from an array of chips. It completes your sandwich, and it would be calledChip In, because you put chipsinthe sandwich,” she explains passionately, her face lighting up as she details her dream restaurant.

She adds emphasis to her words, getting her point across in a way that accentuates her pitch. She’s talking so quickly that I can barely keep up, but I could listen to the inner workings of her mind all day, every day.

“I love it, Bambi. One day, we’ll make it a reality.” I smile, and she slides across the bench, tucking under my arm as I drive.

“What’s something you’re passionate about, Ozzy?” She wonders, looking up at me with those dark, doe-like eyes.

I take a moment to reflect on her question, scrounging my brain for an inkling of something that I care about, besides work, my brothers, and her.

Finally, something pops into my mind, and I know she’s going to make fun of me,but fuck it, I already promised her I’d tell her anything she wanted to know.

“My guilty pleasure is reality TV. Specifically, the girls who got pregnant at sixteen, and now we watch their lives with their kids. When I can’t sleep, I watch reruns of that show, fascinated by them, and how it all changed their lives,” I confess, and she bites her lip, trying to conceal her smile.

“You likeTeen Mom?” She asks, a playful tone in her voice, and I nod sheepishly.

“That’s the name of it, yes. I used to watch it with someone who isn’t here anymore, so it makes me feel closer to her, I guess,” I say slowly, hating how quickly this topic turned into something darker.

“That’s beautiful, Ozzy. I like that show, too.” She rubs my arm gently, not pressing me for more details.

I know one day I’ll have to tell her the truth about Masha, and what she meant to me – to all of us – but I admit, I hope it’s a while before I do. Those memories already haunt my dreams and I hate reliving them when I’m awake.

“What’s something you think about way more than you should?” I ask her, wrapping my arm tighter around her shoulder.

“Greek mythology,” she answers quickly, without even a second thought.

I laugh hysterically, almost insensitively, but it’s not anything close to what I was expecting, and she scrambles trying to explain herself.

“That’s probably the last thing I’d ever guess,” I say, and she sits up, looking into my eyes.

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