Sinan:That bad?
Esra:She used my middle name.
Sinan:At least you two talked.
I bit my lip, debating what to text back, until I eventually just closed the chat. As much as I loved Sanny, he’d never fully get it. Our parents had always given him more freedom. It wasn’t because he was older, since I never aged out of their control. Not even because of my health, since he’d had just as many liberties after the accident that caused his hearing loss, if not more.
The only thing they’d ever expected from him was to look after me. Because I was hissister. Agirl, in need of being kept safe.
I was fully aware that I was only at Bravetown because Sanny was still looking after me, but at least Sanny’s version of that was text messages containing five words or less.
He hadn’t even tried to stop me from getting drunk last night. Every goddamn celebration at home, every dinner, everyone around me got champagne flutes and wine, and I was handed juice. For what it was worth, Sanny somewhat understood that I was tired of being handled with kid gloves.
I spent the rest of the day feeling like death incarnate.
I took some aspirin but they just reminded me that Noah had thrown me over his shoulder and carried me home last night, and I hadn’t made up my mind yet whether that was brutish but thoughtful, or just another instance of him being an asshole control freak. Then thinking about Noah carrying me like I weighed nothing made me think of Ace Ryer and the videos I’d been forcing myself to ignore. And since my mood was already in the dumpster, I started scrolling through socials for the first time in a week.
Every comment made me hike the blanket higher. There were whole video essays dissecting the difference between me and the previous Annie Lou. And they all agreed that I wasn’t an improvement.
I only made it out of bed because Adriana lured me to the saloon with promises of free nuggets.
Dino nuggets were good– but nuggets shaped like cowboy boots, hats and sheriff stars were on a whole different level. I was six or seven pieces deep when Lucas climbed on to the barstool next to me. While the saloon was busy, our designated staff area wasn’t, so he didn’t choose that seat out of necessity.
I sighed and pushed my plate a little toward him, hoping that would be enough of a peace offering.
Lucas was kind of like a puppy. Lively and cute, but also a bit clueless.
“Sorry about this morning,” he mumbled, taking one of the star-shaped nuggets and dipping it in ketchup.
“Me too,” I said, and offered him a smile.
“This morning?” Adriana asked from the other side of the bar, where she’d been polishing the same three glasses in rotation for the last twenty minutes. She raised her brows and shimmied her shoulders. “All the juicy details, please.”
“I accidentally answered her phone when her mom called, so she kicked me out of bed. Literally kicked me. I have bruises.” He lifted his shirt, but there was zero bruising. In fact, he lifted it in a way that showed his abs more than the side of his ribcage where I’d shoved my feet.
“We fell asleep watching a movie,” I clarified, rolling my eyes at him, “which is all you’ll ever do in my bed, so put your clothes back on.”
He grinned and ran a hand provocatively down his stomach.
Adriana and I both made gagging sounds at the exact same time, only to then break out in laughter. Lucas grimaced and took another one of my nuggets, poking his tongue out at us.
“You need a real girlfriend,” Adriana said and filled one of the glasses with water.
“I’m trying,” Lucas whined.
“Sleeping with a girl doesn’t make her your girlfriend,” she said and put the water down on the short side of thecounter, alongside a bottle of beer, without breaking eye contact with Lucas.
It took me a moment to realize Noah had just stepped up to the bar. He took the drinks without a word, then sat down with Sinan in the furthest booth. I’d come to realize that Sanny always preferred that booth because it was the quietest, so the noise from the saloon didn’t interfere with his conversations too much. They both had dried flecks of white paint all over their hair and hands. I hadn’t been to Sanny’s apartment yet, but I knew he’d moved into Zuri’s rental, so I doubted they’d been painting anything over there. And paintball seemed way too much frivolous fun for Noah.
I considered going over there for a moment, but my knee was still being a jerk, and I didn’t want Sanny seeing me limp around.
“Some Bravetown superfan sliding into your DMs isn’t girlfriend material,” Adriana replied to whatever Lucas had just said.
“Isn’t there anyone in town you actually like? Maybe someone else who works in the park? Vivi? Heather? Morgan?” I asked, jumping back on the conversation.
“Nah.” Lucas shook his head. “I’ve known everyone here my entire life. You just kinda know when there’s no one in the mix for you. Maybe I should pull an Adriana. Maybe I’ll meet someone on the road.”
“Oh yeah? Learned to hold a note yet?” Adriana laughed and popped her hip out.
