“You’re picturing it right now aren’t you?” Xavier asks, capturing my attention.
I feel as a small smile melts onto my face, nodding my head, I say the words out loud.
“Yeah I am, and she’s there with us.”
Chapter Thirty Three
Evie
Eight Months Postpartum
AsnortleavesHarperasshe topples over onto her side, I’m holding back my own laughter as I continue my dance in the living room. Being sure to turn around and bend over in front of her as I attempt to twerk.
Josie returns and pauses briefly before she continues to walk into the living room. When she gets close enough she begins to move her arms in a pumping motion above her chest, joining me in my crazy dance. Causing Harper to blurt out laughing, which causes me to lose my battle and topple over myself howling.
Josie’s mom just left with Hayes, taking him for a sleepover. We told her to use the loft and that Harper and I would just crash on the couch so she didn’t have to travel far.
When our laughter dies down, I go to stand up only to stub my knee on the coffee table.
“Oh fuck a duck!” I grunt, grasping onto my knee in agony.Shit, this might actually bruise. I pull up my leggings and check out my skin. A purplish-red circle about the size of a ping pong ball has already started on the side of my knee.
“Oh no, it’s already starting to bruise.” Josie says as her fingers lightly graze over my skin. A little shiver runs through me at her touch and I hope it wasn’t too obvious. “I’ll go get you an ice pack to put on that for a bit, go sit and put your leg up.”
A smirk forms as I follow her directions, “are you going to nurse me back to health? Kiss my boo-boo better.”
Josie chuckles as she walks to the freezer and retrieves said ice pack.
“Okay, smart ass.” She mumbles, placing the cold gel pack on my knee, which causes me to jump at the change in temperature.
There’s a knock at the door, and Harper jumps up. “Sounds like our food is here! I’ll grab it.” She’s out of sight before anyone can object.
She’s back with two big brown paper backs in her arms.
“I don’t even remember what we ordered. We got Thai food right?” I ask, getting up and flinching slightly. Once I get a couple steps in the pain in my knee isn’t too bad, so I take that as a win. Harper places the different take out containers on the dining table, while Josie grabs plates and utensils from the kitchen. I change directions from the table to the fridge and grab three cans of Diet Coke and place them on the table.
“I don’t know if anyone wants adrink, drink. So I grabbed pops for right now. We can always switch later on.” I say, pulling my own can toward me and opening it immediately. Taking a sip, allowing the bubbly goodness to trickle across my tongue and down my throat.
“Sounds perfect,” Harper replies, “I think we got a little bit of everything because we couldn’t decide what we wanted. So dig into whatever smells good.”
My eyes devour the spread of food across the table. We really did order everything, Pad Thai, Thai Spring Rolls, some noodle soups, with some curry dishes as well.
We spent the next half hour eating our fill of food. Before I know it I'm leaning back feeling bloated but so satisfied.
“Oh fuck, my eyes were totally bigger than my stomach,” I groan leaning back and undoing the button of my jeans.
Josie and Harper groan in similar fashion, and I survey what's left of what we ordered.
“Oh my – we still have so much food left over." Josie says with wide eyes. “Guess we are having Thai for leftovers.”
She gets up and begins packing up what's left and bringing it to the fridge. Harper offers to help Josie put the food away, while I take the opportunity to change into sweats.
“I’m going to run to the loft and get into comfy clothes, I’ll meet you guys in the living room if you want to get the movie set up.” I call out to them as I jog toward the door. It’s short lived though with how bloated I am. The evening air hits me and I take a moment to inhale the summer air.
I love this time of year, it’s later but the sun’s still in the sky. The crickets have come out and their continuous tune lulls me into a comfort that I sometimes forget about. When I was a teen I used to lay out on my trampoline in my moms backyard and watch the sky change from blue, pink, purple and then black. We lived in the middle of town, so the light pollution made the stars dim.
I remember laying there, loaded up with bug repellant to try and deter the mosquitoes from eating me alive, and trying to find the constellations. I would share my secrets to the stars, and when my last relationship ended I found myself out in the late summer night, seeking out an open space to lay there and watch the stars come out.
After I showed up on Harper’s door that night, the year before her and Dalton broke up, I had finally stopped the tears. I told Harper I was okay, and encouraged her to go back to bed. She didn’t believe I was okay, but she knew me well enough to know I wasn’t going to tell her anything more that night. Once she left, I silently made my way outside and in the middle of her backyard I laid on my back and more tears ran down my face as I told the stars my scars. I told them about everything that he did to me, and how I accepted his love because I didn’t think anyone else would love me. I let his toxic words break me down, until they became the truth that I saw in myself.
