Page 153 of Lovers Like Us
Great.
Xander reads my face. “Whathappened?”
“I don’t know,” I say quickly. “Something with the bus. Can I call youback?”
“Bro, just give me a number first. It’s killingme.”
“One million,” Isay.
He flips me off, and I reaffirm I’ll call him back and then I hang up. I swing my legs off the bunk and jump down. Entering the crowdedlounge.
From the driver’s seat, Thatcher cranes his neck over his shoulder. “Everyoneokay?”
“What’s going on?” Iask.
The next words are ones I didn’t ever want tohear.
“The bus brokedown.”
* * *
Prognosis:no one knows what the fuckhappened.
The bus just kind of died, and now we’re waiting for a mechanic to drive out into the middle of absolutelynowhere.
All of my cousins and Donnelly, Oscar, and Jack sit on the pavement across from a wheat field. A plume of gray smoke sputters from the rear of the bus. I’ve helped my uncle fix up an old Jeep several times. So I understand cars, but this is abus.There isn’t even ahood.
Farrow laces his boot, and I check my phone for receptionagain.
Nosignal.
I remember how Quinn and Luna flew back to Philly after crowds cleared in L.A., and right about now, I’m fucking glad she’s missingthis.
After talking in private, the co-Omega leads return to our spot, and Thatcher tells us, “You all should get back on thebus.”
I give him a look. “You want my family and SFO to get on the thing that’s smoking and may catch on fire? That’s a hardno.”
Akara fits his baseball cap on. “It’s late. No one is coming untilmorning.”
Fog rolls in from the distance. No street lamps. Only the bus headlights illuminate our eerie setting. Pitch black. Endless empty wheat fields. It’s already the start to a bad horrormovie.
But I feel safer keeping everyone out here than on an explodingbus.
Thatcher reads my resolute expression, then nods. “Okay. We’ll stayoutside.”
Frogs croak and crickets chirp in the unnervingsilence.
While on the ground, Beckett stretches out his legs and nods to me. “Virgins die first, right?” He doesn’t watch horror movies, but he knows I do withKinney.
I’m about to answer, but Donnelly muses, “Protect the virgins at allcosts.”
“Virgins raise their hands,” Oscarsays.
Only Sulli raises her hand and scrunches her nose. “What? Really? I’m the only fuckingone?”
Jane squeezes her in a side-hug. “We love you most. But not because you’re a virgin. That’s just acoincidence.”
Welaugh.
