Page 68 of True Honey
Drew’s stomach grumbled from beside me and I looked over at her. “I guess we should get food…” I said, completely forgetting about it in all the commotion.
“You two go, Auggie is two hours into an intense Mario Kart tournament with the boys, I’ll make sure he gets some pizza,” Ella said with a smile, pointing to the couch.
There was a pile of boys spread out across the living room, August sitting in the middle with a hardened concentrated look on his face. Red, that stupid asshole cat, was sprawled out across the back of the couch with Josh’s fingerspressed into its ratty fur. It stared at me like it could see into my soul and it gave me the heebie-jeebies. That cat was absolutely going to murder me in my sleep.
“Is that?” My eyes looked over the rest of the room, landing on a dark-haired girl with a massive smile on her face before turning back at Arlo.
“No idea how that fucking idiot pulled her,” he shrugged. “Apparently getting half naked in the middle of playoff games is the new flirting.”
“You should try it on your next girlfriend,” Ella teased and Arlo dug his fingers into her sides making her laugh loudly.
“How about I try it on my current girlfriend,” Arlo teased as we turned our attention back to the living room.
Adeline Sarah was sitting at Jensen’s side laughing loudly and by the looks of things she was winning the race they were in the middle of and Van was screaming about her cheating while Josh watched on in amusement at Dean's misfortune with red shells.
“Good for him,” I said with a smile. Drew looked hesitant to leave August for a split second but I pressed my hand to her back and she shifted her gaze to me. “We can order something?” I asked her and she nodded.
COURTNEY
Silas came back with two bags of food and it all smelled incredible as he pulled it out and set it on the island in front of me. “What is it?” I asked.
“Thai, I hope you like that… I probably should have asked.” He stumbled around his choice for a second, losing that normal shield of confidence.
“I do,” I said with a smile, plucking a sauce-covered carrot from the container in front of me as he reached for plates.
“Sorry it’s not pickles,” he teased.
“Don’t bring them into this,” I said, piling my plate with whatever looked good. The reality was, after telling him, three different types of pickles appeared in the fridge the next day. I was never telling him something was my favourite again.
We sit in silence for a little while, going back and forth with stupid little questions that have no actual point but it’s nice to see him relax a little after the evening we had. Seeing him so wound up at the hospital had caught me off guard. The Silas I had come to know was a man of positivity, he always looked for the good in a situation but I guess that didn’t apply to his own mistakes or faults.
I didn’t know anything about baseball, or injuries but hearing that he truly believed that he caused the injury was devastating and it seemed his friends knew that he would feel that way and were quick to counter his thoughts.
“Thank you for today,” I said quietly, “it’s odd but I feel better.”
“In all honesty, I didn’t even think I was going to get you on the bike,” Silas said.
“Why?” I asked, nibbling on a string of spicy noodles.
“I figured I had screwed up whatever friendship we did have. After dinner and then breaking the cup…” He shrugged.
“I’m not that fragile you know,” I argued gently and it forced him to smile.
“Auggie sees it differently,” Silas said and my heart stuttered.
“What does that mean?” I asked, trying to hide my panic.
“Do you know anything about Cael? About their family?” he asked me. It was almost infuriating that he just continued to serve himself food while my breathing had stopped. “Was it in any of the notes Ella gave you?”
“A little, it was mostly basic stuff,” I said, and set down my fork.
Silas sighed. “Auggie reminds me of Cael,” he said. “There’s something so innocent and observant about him. Something so undeniably kind. I don’t know a single kid that would choose a dumpster cat when he has more than one kitten to pick from.”
“He’s always loved the underdog,” I said, trying to calm myself.
“That, right there,” Silas pointed out. “Is why he sees you differently,” he explained. “You’re very good at hiding it, I’ll give you that.”
“Hiding what?” I scowled at him.
