Page 67 of True Sight
“I just appreciate your friendship, that’s all. I didn’t really want to be friends with you but you forced yourself on me and I’m glad you did.”
“That was a nice attempt at a compliment.” She smirks before hugging me back. “I’m glad we’re friends too.”
We walk up to my apartment building, and before I go up she grabs my arm and looks at me.
“Conrad.” There is a hint of unsureness in her voice that makes me uneasy.
“Yeah?”
“I’m really happy for you. The others might not understand you like I do, but I know that you deserve this type of happiness. Henry seems like a really lovely guy. I hope you let me spend more time with the two of you.”
I look at my newest friend and can’t help but smile and squeeze her hand. “He would like that very much.Iwould like that very much.”
She smiles, squeezing me back before dropping myhand and pointing a finger at me, suddenly looking very serious. “And just so you know, you still need to wear a condom when you have sex with a man. You might not be able to get knocked up but you can spread things by not wearing one. Be sure to wrap it up before you have fun, okay?”
“Goodbye, Marge,” I say flatly before rolling my eyes at her.
“Bye, Miller, say hello to your man friend for me. Bye, Annie girl, I love you so much. Have fun at game night.” With a final last dose of babytalk and a kiss on Annie’s head, she turns on her heels and heads for her car. I watch her go and wave when she pulls out of the parking lot before heading back down the street towards the corner pharmacy.
I suddenly have something I need to pick up.
“Denis, no!”Hank shouts across the table at Malcolm who nearly falls out of his seat laughing. It’s a few hours later and I’m sitting around the table with my three best friends playing through our ongoing campaign.
“Sorry, Auffroy, you’re on your own dude,” Malcolm jeers back and runs his hand through his long, dark hair.
“With that spell, Denis escapes from the band of thieves and makes off for the forest, leaving Auffroy on his own. Tolith, your roll,” Kolbi instructs before handing me the die.
“So Alice has demanded that Ophelia and I not come to the bar this weekend and is forcing us to take the weekend off. You idiots wanna do anything?” Malcolm asks, bringing us out of the game and forcing us back into reality.
“I’m game if everyone else is.” Hank shrugs his shoulders and takes a swig of his beer.
“We should go out as a group, we haven’t done that in awhile,” Kolbi suggests, looking around the table at all of us.
“I really wish we would stay focused on the game,” I grumble, turning the die over in my fingers. The twenty-sided piece of acrylic holds a comforting feeling of familiarness to it after two years of using it weekly.
“Oh, come on, Tolith,” Malcolm groans and slaps a hard hand down on my shoulder. “Come out with all of us, the four of us, the girls, it’ll be fun.”
“What about the girls?” Ophelia’s voice calls out from the living room. Within seconds, all three of them come sauntering in, further interrupting our gameplay. I push out a heated breath and set the die down on the tabletop knowing it will be a minute before I get to roll it.
“We’re all going out this weekend, the whole group,” Malcolm explains, sliding his chair back and pulling her into his lap.
“Uhh, we already have plans this weekend,” Bailey starts from behind Hank, popping her hip to one side and draping her arms around his shoulders.
“And it’s no boys allowed,” Magnolia finishes with a smirk. When she reaches Kolbi, he takes her hand into his and runs his thumb along the back of it. Seeing the small signs of affection between everyone makes my heart squeeze. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to have this kind of moment with Henry. Just the thought of my friends finding out about him makes my stomach knot. I do my best to refocus on the conversation at hand.
“And where do you think you’re going, flower?” Kolbi questions, looking up at her through squinted eyes.
“We’re going out,” Bailey chirps, smiling wide at everyone around the table. Being a dog person now, I sometimes like to compare the people in my life to different breeds and Bailey is 100 percent purebred golden retriever. Her and Hank both are.
“A night on the town, just us girls,” Ophelia almost purrs. Her devilish smirk grows a few inches as she looks between Bailey and Magnolia.
“What can I do to get you to let us come along?” Malcolm asks, shaking her a little with his arms that are wrapped around her. The way they look at one another is as if they’re going to rip each other’s clothes off at any minute.
“Nothing,” Magnolia stresses and looks at him seriously. “It’s just us girls, and Margaret, she’s coming too.”
“Sounds like fun, baby. You all go out and enjoy yourselves,” Kolbi says to her before pressing up to kiss her on the cheek. “The boys and I can just hang out here.”
Malcolm and Hank shrug and nod before the three of them look at me for confirmation.
