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I pulled out the bullet, stitched her up, and somehow, that was it. We were together.
With Drew gone, Liv and I became a team. A better one too.
"What about Astrid?" Annie asked.
Astrid came along a while later. After Liv and I had already formed a bond, a friendship, a little makeshift family.
She'd been a scrawny, bristled, angry thing, living on the street, having run away from her past.
We'd passed countless homeless in our time, more teens than I cared to even think about.
I wasn't sure what had made Liv full stop for her, convince her to come with us, move in with complete strangers. Maybe it was the complete hollowness in her eyes. Maybe it was her tendency to metaphorically strike first before knowing someone's intentions, always trying to keep them at arm's length. And Liv wanting to show her that some people were tough enough to take the blows and still want to be around her.
Whatever the reason, Astrid became part of our life. She was something like a little sister to both of us, the shit-starter, the comic relief on hard days.
"T-t-then L-Liv m-m-m-met R-Roderick."
"And that was when everything changed for the third time," Annie concluded, giving me a soft smile. "In a good way for them, but what about you?" she asked, always curious. Even in text, she had been voracious for tidbits, for anything to know about me. After so many people who took me at face-value, it had been both scary and refreshing.
"L-Like t-t-the t-town."
"That's not really what I asked."
"L-Like y-y-you t-t-t-too," I added, watching as her eyes went gooey at that admission.
I liked how easy she was to read, the way she wore everything on her sleeve. For most of my life, I had been around people who tried like hell never to let anyone know what was on their minds, how they felt about certain situations. Because it was dangerous to be transparent in our lives.
It was refreshing to find someone so wholly untouched by that.
She had her demons too, of course. And I planned to track down that motherfucker as soon as possible to make sure he stopped dimming the light in her eyes, making her run away, making her lose weight, making her lose sleep.
But despite that, despite so long alone and on the run, always having to start over, never being able to make connections, she was still pure good. Sweet. Kind. Open. Willing to trust and open up.
It was rare.
Really fucking rare.
And now, mine.
See, in a way, maybe I was lucky for the way my life had gone. If it hadn't been for all the years so entrenched in the ugliness of the world, I might not have been able to see true beauty when it was right across from me. And if it wasn't for a few precious early years, I never would have known how important it was to hold on tight to the good in the world.
And Annie?
Pure fucking good.
I didn't understand why she wanted anything to do with me. Quite frankly, I didn't want to question it. To look that gift horse in the mouth.
I was just going to accept it.
Cherish the fuck out of it.
And pray she didn't wise up and see she deserved better.
Was that selfish of me?
Probably.
But I was going to do whatever it took to fucking deserve her.
"You okay?" she asked, voice a little squeaky with concern, making me wonder what was playing on my usually well-guarded face.
"M-my t-t-t-throat h-hurts," I admitted.
"You know what is good for that?" she asked, already beaming.
"W-what?"
"Ice cream!" she declared.
I could always go for ice cream.
So, we got dressed. We headed down to the convenience store. We stood in front of the freezer for ten minutes while she hemmed and hawed sea salt caramel and brownie sundae before I finally just bought them both.
Then we ate ice cream in bed.
Like it was completely fucking normal.
And as she drifted off to sleep on my chest later, I couldn't stop the dominant thought pulling at the edges of my mind.
I could get used to this.
I wanted to get used to this.
It was somehow both terrifying and comforting at the same time.NINEAnnieWe stayed in Cape May for three days.
In bed most of that time.
And Camden kept up his favorite pastime.
Trying to fatten me up.
I was too happy to have things I hadn't had in ages to care. Pizza and Italian dinners and steak and drive-through delicious junk. I had been too poor to indulge. And since Cam never actually asked me if I wanted it - likely knowing I would object, wouldn't want him to spend money on me, go out of his way to do something for me - and just showed up with it, well, I simply had to eat it, right?
After those three days, though, realization seemed to dawn on him that we had to get back.
