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“What?” she said.
“You know, the minute there’s a hint of a threat or someone indicates you should be cautious, you’re like, ‘Let’s just throw that out and be risky,’” said Decker, raising his eyebrows.
“Oh, is this the truth effect?” she said. “Is that what you really think of me?”
“No,” said Decker. “I mean, it’s what I think, but it’s not something I’d typically hide from you.”
“I am a mermaid,” she declared loudly. “Welp, you can lie in them.” She reached down to take the shackle off.
It wouldn’t come off.
Of course that was going to happen.
She shut her eyes, taking two deep breaths. “Hollis?”
“Uh huh?” said Hollis.
“Take this thing off me.” She shoved her shackled wrist at him. She opened her eyes.
Lucy set their drinks down in front of them.
Hollis tried to open the handcuff. It wasn’t working.
“Maybe they need keys?” said Decker.
“Maybe,” said Hollis, gesturing for Decker to give him his wrist. He fiddled with the handcuff for a little while, but it wouldn’t come off.
With her free hand, Essence dragged a hand over her face. Decker was right. She was impulsive. Not all the time, really. It wasn’t predictable. But sometimes, yeah, impulsive.
She hadn’t been officially diagnosed, but she was pretty sure that she had ADHD. Not so bad that she really needed medication—or maybe she was just too stubborn to admit she needed help. Anyway, she didn’t have a great executive function all the time.
Maybe she did do things that were risky without thinking about it. It was only… well, what better way to overcome fear than to face it head on?
Still, she was regretting it now. She usually did regret it. And she could just imagine what would happen if she tried to explain this to one of her close friends. They would say to her, Essence, hold up, explain to me why you handcuffed yourself to the man you had terrible sex with last night?
Essence felt sick to her stomach.
Hollis was bent halfway over at this point, peering up at the underside the cuffs while Decker’s hand was sitting on the bar. “So… I think this means that once the cuffs are closed they’ll stay sealed until they reveal the truth? I think that’s the spell?”
“Wait, what?” said Decker.
“I want these back,” said Hollis, letting go of the cuff.
“Well, we don’t want to be handcuffed together,” said Essence. “Why don’t you get them off and we’ll give them back to you?”
“I’m going to go home and see if I can’t bring back something that’ll help me do exactly that,” said Hollis. He let go of the cuffs, picked up his drink, gulped it down, and then slapped down money on the bar. “Keep the change,” he told Lucy. Then he started for the door.
“You’re leaving us here?” said Decker.
“I’m coming back,” said Hollis, pointing at both of them. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Essence blinked down at the cuffs. She tugged on the chain, testing how far she could be away from Decker. Not very far.
Hollis left the building, the bells on the door jingling in his wake.
Decker sighed heavily.
“Sorry!” said Essence.
