Page 129 of Girls Night
I shake my head. “I’m good, Jules. He just caught me off-guard when he tossed me into the wall. I guess I triggered him when I shot him down again. How did you know I was out there?”
“The thud. I literally had just finished getting Netflix booted up when I heard it. Gave a few seconds to make sure I wasn’t hearing shit, and then heard your voice. What did he say to you?”
“That I’m too pretty to be gay.” I scoff a laugh, gaze dropping to my feet. “Who the fuck says that?”
Jules tilts my chin up with one of her manicured fingers, forcing me to look at her. “Someone who’s salty they can’t tap that ass.”
When I don’t answer, she locks her arms around my neck, swallowing me in a hug. “Ignore him. I’m sure he’ll give up after this.”
Somehow I doubt that, but I don’t mention as much, nodding silently to appease her while gripping the back of her tee. Fe
“You’re safe, okay?” she insists, easing back to regard me again. The sympathetic way she looks at me assures she knows where my mind has run off to. “I promise.”
Chapter Four
Jules
I didn’t mention shit to Kaia about what I overhead when I left the cafe this afternoon. Not after what I stumbled upon her enduring right outside our door. It wasn’t the time. This Izaak dude is really starting to piss me off, and while he may not have done anything too severe, he still sparked shit Kaia doesn’t like reliving. That’s enough for me to make sure he and I will be having a little chat the next time I see him. Don’t get me wrong, Kaia can hold her own, she’s fierce as hell and doesn’t need me to act as a shield, but past demons make this situation rather sensitive, and if I can help ease her mind in any way, you better believe I’m stepping up to bat.
That’s what best friends are for, right?
And right then, I needed to get her mind off what happened. I’d worry about our little Izaak problem later.
Once we put all the groceries away, we grabbed our blankets and pillows, and set up in front of the TV out in the living area. I’m a total chicken shit when it comes to horror stuff, so naturally, I was jumping and yelping like a little bitch within twenty minutes of the first episode while Kai laughed at me. She’s lucky I’m so adamant about completing that bucket list. Otherwise, I would’ve tapped out and called it a night.
Four episodes—and all the snacks—in though, and I’m ready to piss my pants.
“Don’t start it yet, I have to pee,” I tell her, peeling the blanket off.
“I’m surprised you didn’t pee yourself with how many times you’ve screamed already,” she jokes. “Everyone on our floor probably thinks I’m killing you and shit.”
“Shut up!” Shoving her onto her back, I rise from my spot on the floor and make a beeline for the bathroom with her laughter ringing out in the background.
“You’ll never make it through the whole series at this rate.”
“Shut up, yes I will!”
“Doubtful!” she yells back. The familiar zip of the lighter follows.
By the time I join her back out in the living room, there’s already a small cloud of smoke surrounding her.
“We’re definitely the potheads on our floor,” I quip, sinking to the floor beside her.
“Correction,” she exhales another plume, making a few O’s as she passes it to me.“I’mthe pothead. You’re the unfortunate roomie who has to deal with it firsthand.”
She knows the drill around here, I don’t smoke, and still she always passes it to me. Not in a pressuring way, more out of hope that I’ll take it one day. I don’t know that I will, my one and only experience with weed wasn’t great—I got so dizzy, I thought I was gonna pass out—but I like to think of it as “our thing.” Kinda makes my stomach flip every time. Cheesy as fuck, I know, but it’s the truth.
At my knowing smirk, she smiles and waves it around tauntingly. “It’ll calm you dowwwn.”
“Not when I start sweating bullets and complaining I’m having a heart attack,” I counter.
“It was one time, Jules. Probably a strong ass strain, and you’d never smoked before. What did you expect?”
“Not that, obviously. All my friends raved about it, and there I was hyperventilating on the bathroom floor in Hadley’s cousin’s bathroom.”
“Do you think I’d leave you alone if something like that happened again?” she asks, and it’s a genuine, dead ass question. She’s not smiling anymore, and the sheer protective sense emanating off her in waves heats my cheeks.
“No, but…”
