He gave me a half-smile. “Mostly like I got shot.” my mouth when Andrei
“Your ability to paint a picture with words never ceases to amaze nie, Bubba.” He sat on the couch next to me, pulling me to him in a rough hug with his good arm. “Are you hungry? How’s your stomach?” He thought for a minute. “I could eat.”
I leaned back from him, looking offended. “Why am I the only one that has to starve when on pain meds?” I was mostly just making light of the situation, but Ivan answered me seriously. “It’s because you’re a redhead, princess. You react differently to drugs and anesthesia than non-redheads.”
“I do?” I asked, now curious.
He nodded his head. He started to speak but stopped himself. He glanced nervously at Misha and Andrei. “I knew a couple redheads when I was younger. I felt worse for them than I did me, if you get my drift.” My mo uth fell open, my eyes wide. I was horrified at the thought that there were boys treated worse than he was. “Loud and clear.” I noticed Misha and Andrei looked at us curiously, but this was not my story to tell and I could tell Ivan did not want to get into it. I quickly stood up. “Bubba, I got you a sandwich, just on the off chance that your stomach was made of steel and you could eat when you woke up.” I walked to the kitchen to grab it for him, coming back with water for everyone too.
Once Andrei had finished eating and I was satisfied that he was not going to vomit it up, I asked, “now, who wants to go for a walk with me?”
They all three stood up. I was still sitting on the couch, looking at all of them above me. “Unexpected, but I’ll take it.”
Andrei smirked at me. “I got shot in my shoulder, not my entire body.”
Ivan laughed. “I can’t feel anything anyway, so it won’t matter what I do.”
I just shook my head, moving them around so I could grab each of their good arms as we set off on our adventure. I wasn’t planning on walking too far, as I didn’t want to tire them out too much, but they kept insisting they were fine. We walked all the way to the lake, all of them heading to my favorite spot and sitting down.
The reason it was my favorite spot is because It had several seating options available. There was a fallen tree to lean against, a rock to sit on or lean against, as well as a large log as a third optian. It was perfect for the two invalids to find a mostly comfortable spot to sit. a sat in silence for a few minutes. 1 laughed, looking at Andrel and Misha. “The last time we were here was the day t orld found out I was the go ddamn princess.”
I wander hardly see him anymore?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe he still talks about me a lot? I don’t know. We do have a ton of hilariously stu pid stories, because, well, have you met me? I do stu pid shit all the time. Maybe he talked about me enough that she thought we were still closer than we are.” I looked down, tracing my finger through the dirt at my feet, making random designs. I was lost in thought. over Max. He was my best friend for a long time, but we barely spoke anymore. Most of that was my fault. I couldn’t tell him everything anymore, but he also didn’t push to see nie very hard. I sighed, trying to push him from my mind.
“You met Max after a really difficult time in your life, Sephie. It’s easy to ignore things about people when you’re traumatized and trying to not be completely alone. He hasn’t been as good of a friend to you as you have to him,” Ivan said. He was looking at me thoughtfully, almost sympathetically.
I smiled at him. “You sound like Adrik.” I laughed. “I think he secretly ha tes Max.”
Ivan laughed as well. “It’s not that secret, princess.”
Sephie
“I KNEW IT!” We were all laughing now.
“Ivan’s right. We all watched him ditch you that night in the restaurant, after not seeing you for a week, for some random girl who’s name he probably can’t remember,” Misha added.
I shrugged my shoulders again. “That’s just Max, though. He always did that.”
“No, that’s an as shole, spider monkey. As sholes do that,” Andrei said.
I snapped my fingers at him, pointing at him. “Language, mister. Language.” “Don’t try to change the subject just because we’re right,” Andrei said quietly.
I thought for a moment, inhaling deeply. I loved the smell of the meadow, the dirt, the trees, the grass, the lake. Everything felt fresh here. Alive. It helped me recharge to come here. I looked at all three of them smiling. “You are right. You’re all right. I’ve been hanging on to him because I was scared to be alone without him. That was the hardest part about losing my mom and being sent to my uncle. I felt completely alone. Even though I had a mostly sober uncle for the first year or so, it was still living with a stranger, so it was almost the same as being completely alone. When I met Max, I suddenly didn’t feel so alone anymore.” I was staring at the dirt at my feet, still tracing patterns with my fingers, but I heard one of them get up. As soon as he sat down next to me, I didn’t even have to look. I knew it was Misha. “You’re not alone anymore, gazelle. You’ll always have us to annoy the shit out of you,” he said, his wide smile across his face.
I heard the other two get up and come closer to me. Andrei sat in front of me while Ivan sat next to me, leaning his good shoulder into mine. Andrei looked at me, more seriously than I’d ever seen him, “we’re not going anywhere, spider monkey. You’re never going to be alone again.” He reached out and grabbed my ankle, squeezing it. Ivan didn’t say anything, he just leaned over and kissed my cheek. I had tears in my eyes at their response to me thinking out loud. I leaned my head over to Misha’s shoulder, then to Ivan’s, smiling at Andrei the whole time.
“I love you guys.”
All at once, they said, “we love you too, Sephie.”
We sat and talked for a while longer until my bu tt started to get sore from sitting on the ground. We stood up to walk back to the house. When Ivan stood up, he swayed back and forth before catching himself. held on to him, as best I could, somewhat panicked that he was going to go down completely again. He stood for a moment, waiting for the feeling to pass.
“You okay, Squishy? What’s going on in there?” I asked, concerned that we’d overdid it with him. He lost a lot of blood yesterday.
He looked at me and I could see a flash of fear before he masked it and got control again. “I’m okay. I just stood up too fast.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.