Page 73 of Midnights
“Your eyes lie to you, Bird. Trust your instincts.”
“Grandpa, how am I supposed to see without my eyes?”
He never wavered. Just took a step back, and said. “Find me.”
I remember the frustration I felt, and the way I wanted to rip the damn thing off. But then, slowly, I’d start to notice things I hadn’t before.
It was always the birds I picked up on first, their song was always cutting through the quiet. Then, it was the rustle of the wind shifting the leaves. The way the earth felt under my feet, like it was alive and humming with something that felt…different.
Rachel stirs beside me, then immediately jolts upright.
“Ahhhh wake up, wake up, wake up! It’s castle day!”
A pillow collides with my face before I can react. If I’d actually been asleep, that would’ve been the worst way to start today. Thank fuck for small favors.
I push it away, groaning as I rub the sleep from my eyes. “Alright, alright! I’m up,”
I roll over, blindly feeling around for Rachel so I can land a well-deserved punch. “We never told them what time, so technically, we can sleep in.”
I burrow deeper into the blankets. “Go back to bed.”
Rachel doesnotgo back to bed.
“I can’t sleep, I’m too excited.” She yanks the blanket down, leaving me exposed to the cold morning air.Ahh.
“I had thebestdream. We were at a castle, and a prince came out. He told me I was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen and asked me to marry him, making me a princess!”
I bite my lip, barely holding back my laugh. I can picture it so clearly, Rachel in an extravagant princess gown, her prince groveling at her feet like she’s the sole reason he breathes.
Rachel sighs dramatically, flopping back onto the mattress. “And after the ceremony, he went under my dress and—”
“Nope!” I cut her off, launching another pillow at her. “How are you going to marry a prince when you’reclearlystill in a Bobby situation?”
She just grins, unbothered. “You’re just jealous.” She rolls onto her stomach, kicking her feet behind her. “And I’ll tell you this once, so listen up. If a prince proposes and wants to whisk me away to a castle, I’m not about to decline. You only getonehall pass in life, and Bobby woulddefinitelyunderstand.”
I arch an eyebrow, smiling. “Yes, I’m sure if a prince came knocking to make Bobby his princess, he’d be just as accepting.”
Rachel gasps, clutching her chest like I’ve personally offended her honor. Then she hops off the bed, snatching her phone with a dramatic huff.
“Testy this morning, are we?” I tease. “So, how is good old Bobby?”
The change is subtle, but I don’t miss the way something in her expression shifts before she schools her face into something unreadable.
“He’s… Bobby.” She mutters like that’s supposed to be an answer, but it’s not.
I wait, knowing she'll keep going.
She exhales, gripping her phone a little tighter. “He’s mad at me, so we’re not speaking right now.” She says it like it's not a big deal, but I know better. “I told him about our plans and made sure he knew not to worry if I wasn’t texting back right away. That I’d call him when we got back to the house.”
She hesitates.
And then, quieter, she adds. “He told me not to bother.”
She tries to brush it off, tucking the hurt away behind a forced shrug. But I see the tightness in her jaw and the way she won’t meet my eyes.
What really gets me, though, is the flicker of something else that she tried to hide just before she looked away.
It looked a lot like fear.
