Page 57 of Snake Eyes & Bad Luck

Tala’s shock was written all over her features. Wide eyes, mouth ajar, she looked like she was face to with a face. “Avie!”

Avelina didn’t want to cry but it happened regardless. Her heart was in her throat, and all the words tumbled out at once. “Look at you! I hardly recognized you! You’re so relaxed! What are those in your hair—I missed you.”

“I--holy shit, did you get in a fight with a sewing needle? What happened to your face?” Tala reached out, but her palms hesitated an inch from her cheeks. Avie nearly thrust herself into her best friend’s touch, just to soak in it. Just to feel it again.

Avelina giggled, stomach aching for many reasons, but mostly how it was tied up in knots. “Sewing needle? No. Several men with a grudge? Yes. What have you been doing? I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for days!”

“You were?” Tala shook her head, making the little charms and beads in her hair tinkle. Her face was grim and apologetic. Tala continued, “What am I saying, of course you were. You’re a good person, not some asshole who would fuck off for no good reason. Shit, that came out wrong.”

Avelina wheezed, crawling into the booth. Despite how Tala abstained from touching her, Avelina was not of the same mind. She threw her arms around her best friend and squeezed her. After a solid chunk of time, lute playing in the background to cover up the thunder of her heart, she pulled back and confessed. “I didn’t fuck off, and I didn’t want to abandon you. It’s all…well…kinda his fault.”

Avelina jabbed a thumb in Callum’s direction. He scoffed, hands to his hips. “Throwin’ me under the train already, little viper? How crude.”

“Shut up! You kidnapped me!”

“It was a mutual partnership,” Callum laughed, clearly trying to schmooze Tala.

“It’s now a mutual partnership,” Avie explained with a wheeze at Tala.

Tala’s eye was actually twitching in her face. “Is this...the guy from Gloomsdale?”

Avelina beamed, motioning at Callum like she was showing him off. She ignored her friend’s immediate guard that rose like spikes out of the ground. Tala was a cat, reared up and ready to strike. Avelina threw her arm over Tala’s shoulder in anticipation of holding her back. “Tala, meet Callum…” she whispered softly so that no one else would hear, “otherwise known as Cottonmouth, you know the Outlaw?”

“You’re fucking outlaws now?” Tala asked, incredulous at best, violent at worst. Her face contorted as she glanced between the two of them. Avelina grinned sheepishly, unsure how to answer. Tala hardened her gaze at Avelina. A soft, sigh came out, which shocked the warlock. Tala exhaled, “Damn.”

“That’s not…even the worst news,” Avelina muttered. She took her arm back and tucked it into her lap. Tala’s hand was right there, and normally she wouldn’t hesitate to intertwine their fingers. However, a sour taste coated her tongue as she came up with the words to describe the worst of it. “So, the thing is. I’m—well, you should know…”

“She’s a warlock,” Callum harrumphed, sliding into the booth as the bards on stage began to excite the crowd with claps. Everyone around them was enthralled. Which perfectly covered up the important but delicate conversation that happened in the booth.

Avelina shot Callum a dirty glare before leveling her gaze at Tala again. “There was a train robbery. They got my father. Guess all that armor means nothing when you’re in a tin can. And when they held me up with a knife, I agreed to be The Dead Mother’s warlock in exchange for my life. I didn’t fuck off or run away or leave you. I just didn’t have any choice. The Paladins chased me down, they were trying to kill me. And I guess, something changed in Gloomsdale.”

“A lot changed in that swamp,” Callum muttered under his breath. Avelina elbowed him between the ribs and earned a grunt of displeasure from him.

“Life really came running after you with a fucking hammer, huh?” Tala sputtered before snatching up her ale from the table and tossed it back. Avelina laughed too, with just how precise and accurate that statement was. It did come running after her. Tala’s mug sloshed a little as she put what little was left of the ale back on the table. “All this bullshit aside, you’re okay though, right? You’re safe...”

Tala’s gaze darted to Callum with the same distrust Avelina knew and loved. She wants to know if I’m safe with him. She imagined all the ways Tala could rip his head off. The table would mean nothing. She’d spring up and over the wooden surface and break off a fang as a consolation prize. It made Avelina giggle.

“Yes, I’m safe. Callum’s an ass,” she glanced at him and found him narrowing his eyes on her. She glared right back. He smirked in response. Avelina shook her head, returning to Tala. “But he’s my ass.”

“On Your—”

She shot him a warning glare, “I will gut you.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” he hummed. Avelina didn’t flinch or move as he placed a sloppy kiss on her cheek. “I’m gonna grab an ale for myself. Seems we’re gonna be here a minute.”

Callum slid out of the booth, leaving Avelina alone with Tala. Avelina watched him leave before licking her lips. “I mean it, Tala,” she confessed before glancing at Tala. “I’m safe. I can take care of myself now. And I’m in love with him. For better or for worse.”

“That’s good...I’m glad,” Tala frowned, looking rueful and pensive. There was something there that wasn’t there before, and it was obvious her friend too had changed. Avelina took her hand before Tala could worry it too much. “I...am not a good friend.”

“You’re my best friend,” Avelina corrected.

“I’m serious. I’ve been thinking a lot while you were gone. I’m... quick to anger, I don’t trust anyone, and I realized that I wasn’t being a good friend with you. At least, not as much as I thought I was. Fuck, what I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for thinking when you left, that you didn’t care because I cared too much. So much that I put this wall between us that I didn’t even realize it was there. You’ve always been completely honest and yourself with me and... I realized I wasn’t giving that back to you. So...I’m sorry.”

Avelina squeezed Tala’s hand. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t strong enough to tell my father no before.”

Tala furrowed her brows, as if to argue but Avelina shook her head. She put up a finger up before she snatched up her friend’s ale. She chugged the last mouthful and let out a heavy sigh when it burned all the way down. After it sloshed in her belly, she confessed with a groan, “I was a pushover. I was a weak little crybaby who would shrivel up at the smallest flinch. I never stood up for myself. You had to do all the fighting. And I should have told him no, that I wasn’t going back with him to the stronghold. I shouldn’t have left you here with no answers but…and correct me if I’m wrong. I think, despite what occurred, we’re both maybe better? Having made it out the other side?”

Avelina quirked an inquisitive brow at her friend.