Page 12 of Wild Like Us
“It was dumb.” I can’t even rehash the event without feeling second-hand embarrassment from my own embarrassment.
Her eyes soften.
My dad has swapped seats with my mom. She scoots in beside me, and when I lean into her, she lovingly cups the side of my head.
“It’ll be okay,” she whispers.
I breathe in.
Yeah.
It’ll be totally okay.
How am I going to face them tomorrow? They’re my bodyguards. Inescapable.
As though reading my anguished face, my mom asks, “You want us to drop you off at the penthouse or would you rather stay with us?”
“Spend the night with us,” Winona says fast. “Iwhale-ymiss you, sis.”
I sit up more. “Iwhale-ymiss you too, Nona.” And I’ll gladly take a night with my family. Avoidance can’t be that fucking bad for the soul. Not when I’m with my sister and my mom and my dad. “Let’s go home.”
“Groovy,” Winona smiles, stepping on the gas.
Windows down, wind whips through the car, and I wonder if it’s strange that I call my childhood househome.I haven’t lived there for a couple years, and still, it feels like home.
Where I’m safest. But if I want to experience more out of life, how much higher do I really need to fly from the nest?
Pulling out my phone, I type out a text.
I’m spending the night at the cottage with my fam
I add a thumbs-up emoji and send it to Akara.
My phone buzzes in a second flat.
K. Call me if you need anything or if you leave.– Kits
It’s so formal.
No emojis. No gifs.
I can’t tell what’s happening to my friendships, except that they’re changing. I wanted them to in a way, but not like this. And I don’t have many left to destroy, but they’re all imploding around me.
3
SULLIVAN MEADOWS
TEN DAYS LATER
I wakeup before the crack of fucking dawn.
Sleep and I are mortal enemies. If I’m being particularly honest here,Sleepcan go fuck itself. There’s so much I can do in those hours of slumber. So much I can accomplish. But my time is thieved away, and I hate that sleep is a requirement to function at full capacity.
It’s what I think every time I wake up in the early morning. Today—it’s 3 a.m. My retro alarm clock glows a pale blue light as I roll out of bed.
A small smile inches up my lips.
Sometimes it feels like I’m givingSleepthe middle finger every time I wake before sunrise.Fuck Sleep. Fuck it good in the ass. I let out a soft, quiet laugh.
