Page 83 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
“Well, how do you put ashes inside fireworks?”
I frowned, biting my lip. “Um... I’m not actually sure.”
“Well, you might want to start thinking about it,” Liv said. “We’re totally scattering the ashes before we see my mom. I’m not missing that. Hey! I might know someone who could help you, actually, and he has a boat.”
My heart lifted with hope. “Really?”
“Yeah. I just have to make sure he’s not dead.”
It was as if she’d thrown a bucket of ice water over me.
“So, you know,” she added casually, “maybe have a backup plan in case we get there and he is.”
For a moment, I knew I had a window to ask her what had happened. How had she died? Was the person who could help me with her when she died?
Great, something else to think about. I mean, I guess I hadn’t thought past the whole stealing-the-remains part and then getting to L.A. Of course it wouldn’t be as easy as launching fireworks into the sky from a chartered boat. Would I even be able to charter a boat?
“Look him up on Facebook and send him a message,” Liv ordered, her tone resolute, and I did as she instructed, searching his name. “That’s him!”
I clicked into the profile and hit the message button, my fingers stalling. What was I even supposed to say to the guy?Hey, I know your dead friend, and she said you could help me with some fireworks for my dead grandmother.
Yeah, right.
“Just keep it casual,” Liv instructed, as if this were the most normal thing in the world for me to be doing. “Just say hey, tell him your name, and tell him a friend of his said he could help with some ashes and fireworks. It’s cool. Just do it.”
My fingers hesitantly tapped out the message before I hit send, hastily pocketing my phone as if the action could undo what I had just done.
“This is why it’s important to plan,” Ellis muttered under her breath.
I bristled and glared at her.
Okay, she was no longer cute. I no longer had a crush or whatever the hell it was.
“Plans change,” I said sweetly. “All the time. For instance, we’re not going to Tulsa today. Once we’ve seen Red Oak, we’re going to hang around Carthage. And tonight, we’re going to the Drive-In.”
Liv shrieked with excitement. “Woo! Drive-In!”
“It’s not on the schedule!” Ellis spluttered, indignant. “We don’t have time!”
“What clock are we running against?” I asked with a frown. “The oneyoupreset?”
“Drive-In! Drive-In! Drive-In!” Liv chanted from the back seat.
“I organized this based onherdoc!” Ellis snapped, jerking her head toward Liv. “The Drive-In wasn’t even on there!”
“An oversight,” Liv called out airily. “Oh, this will be awesome. I wonder what they’re showing!”
“So what?” Ellis growled, clearly annoyed. “Now we have to find a place to stay tonight, watch a stupid movie at an outdoor cinema, and be set back even further on this trip?”
“Do you have something important to rush back to?” Liv asked, her voice full of smirk. “Do you need to get back to googling how to date at twenty-one? Or did you have more death statistics to look up? You are a busy woman, after all.”
“Shut up,” Ellis ground out, her voice like steel as her cheeks turned red.
“Oh right—sorry—the dating thingfailed,” Liv said with a laugh. “I forgot. You know, Dove, right before she stumbled into your store, she went on this date with this girl. It was an absolute trainwreck. I’m talking, so bad you couldn’t look away kind oftrainwreck. This girl was cute, too. And all Ellis could talk about was dying or defeating death. It was so cringe.”
“Shut up!” Ellis screamed suddenly, slamming the brake and yanking the car onto the shoulder of the road. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”
“She’s too good for people, you know,” Liv continued in a condescending tone. “After all, who can relate to her three-time death defiance? And she’s too scared to know people, or let people know her. She thinks very highly of herself. Like if she died, people surely couldn’t live without her—”
