Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 132933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
“Brother.” His tone says, I will kill.
“I just started messaging him. Today,” I remind them. “We’re just talking about TV shows. It’s nothing.” The word feels wrong after I say it.
Eliot and Tom don’t usually express this much worry over my choices, but I guess this is different than going clubbing with them and finding a random guy. There, they can at least see the guys. They can’t see him. They aren’t even sure if this is a him.
“Did he say anything else?” Eliot asks about the DMs, and I scan the part about romance.
“Yeah, but it’s just more TV stuff,” I say vaguely. I promise to keep them in the loop. Though, maybe I won’t read the messages verbatim again. I feel protective of the convo between me and this Fanaticon user, and our words should stay between us.
“I have to go. It’s pizza night at the penthouse.”
We say our goodbyes, and I click out of FaceTime. Eliot and Tom think I’m out of my mind wanting to live at the packed penthouse.
But I don’t see why I wouldn’t. As we get older, Maximoff, Jane, and Sulli will all move out on their own one day. Maybe even one day soon.
One year. Two years. Three? This will be a blip in my life. A small particle in time that I can look back on (hopefully fondly), and why would I want to give up this experience just to live on my own?
The idea of living with Eliot and Tom can be enticing at times, but I’d never commit to that move. When they’re with their family, especially their brothers, I often feel like the lone Hale in a sea of Cobalt boys. I don’t love that feeling.
The penthouse is my home. For as long as I’m allowed to live here, I will.
Glow-in-the-dark stars are stuck in a frenzied pattern to my ceiling, and a purple lava lamp emits a violet tint along the dark-painted walls, beanbags, fuzzy rugs, and tapestries. Orion, my furry Newfoundland puppy, snoozes on my white globe chair that kinda resembles something from a spacecraft. A Star Wars Wampa cap is squished beneath him.
Swiveling back to the vanity mirror, I secure the front pieces of my hair up in two little buns and then the rest into a fishtail braid. Sometimes I just like looking like I could be inside The Fifth Element. Somewhere else other than here, at least. I swipe some glitter underneath my eyes like war paint and then throw on a Thrashers hoodie and shorts.
“Alright, Moondragon, what do you think?” I hop off the stool and spin in front of the fish tank. My goldfish swims away from the glass towards purple coral.
“You’re right, I need earrings.” I pluck some flying saucers from a bowl of loose jewelry. I’m not the most organized, but I don’t lose much very often.
“Orion.” I let out an off-pitch whistle. He perks up. “You ready for pizza night?”
He jumps off the globe chair, excitedly wags his tail, and circles around my legs. I flash the Vulcan salute to Moondragon. “I’ll be back later, MD.”
I’m not ready to tell people about my goldfish. My mom always said she could never keep a pet fish alive, and so I wanted to try. But a part of me knows I could be just like her in this instance. However, I am determined to not be a fish killer.
All goldfish will survive under my care.
Well, Moondragon at least.
“Roommate night is not just about pizza,” I admit to Moondragon and Orion, crouching down to hug Orion’s soft brown fur.
Usually these roomie events extend to the bodyguards that live three-floors below us. So I think he should be here.
To my pets, I announce, “I’ve figured out who I’m going to ask on a date—the triple date.” My Newfie licks my cheek, and I smile, nuzzling against him while scratching behind his ears. “You would approve of my choice, Orion. You already love Donnelly.” Nerves swarm my belly at saying his name aloud…and then at a vivid and cheek-roasting memory. “You remember when I asked Donnelly if he wanted to go to Wawa with me and he blew me off? I do.” I wince a little. “He thought I was asking him on a date. I wasn’t…I really wasn’t,” I tell Orion, his tail wagging excitedly. “I just thought it’d be nice to visit Wawa for the first time with him.”
It’s why I’ve never gone.
I guess I was waiting for Donnelly.
We cleared up the miscommunication, like it never happened, but I still haven’t ventured to Wawa yet. Am I still waiting…?
“Clearly he doesn’t want to date me,” I say under my breath. “Which is super fine. I like hookups. Sex has been fun lately, and I don’t want to be anyone’s girlfriend. It’s for the best for both of us. My dad would…he could destroy his future, and I want him…I want him to have the strongest, most endless future. One with…”