Page 104 of Jinxes and Drumsticks

I didn’t want you to feel pressured to do anything about it. I don’t usually do much for my birthday anyway. Gets depressing after twenty-five.

Bullshit, we’re definitely having a party.

I can’t go anywhere, though.

Then we’ll bring it to you.

Before she can fight me on it, I bring up the camera in our text thread and start recording a video. “Hey guys, we’re going to have a party at Lillith’s place for her birthday, alright?” I say.

“Oh, fuck yeah, can I bartend?” Roxie asks from the driver’s seat.

“I’ll bring my fiddle if you want,” Fletch supplies.

“I thought that was a given,” Oren says, looking back into the camera and smiling when he realizes I’m recording. “Hey, Lillith,” he says with a little waggle of his fingers.

“Are you going to come?” Wren asks Satoshi.

“I will if you’re there,” he says, a dusting of pink coloring his cheekbones.

I turn the camera back on myself and grin. “Alright, it’s obviously on. Party at your house, baby.”

I send it off and wait for her to watch it. A few seconds later, I get a text message from her.

I love you so much.

It leaves me floating all the way through the show.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

The show goes shockingly well. People in the mountains really like to fuckin party. Apparently, even at the Moose Lodge? Usually, shows kind of thin out as soon as we leave the stage, but here people converge on us. The group skews a little older than I’m used to, but man, can these people hold their liquor. They almost drink me under the table before Wren has a chance to eye me subtly with a reminder not to.

Right. We have to go talk to Lillith’s mom. Can’t get too sloshed before doing that. Would be a shit idea.

The guys, on the other hand, have free reign to get as fucked up as they want on canned beers, Jell-O shots and cocktails served way too strong in little dixie cups. Wren and I linger for a little while, waiting for everyone to lose focus on us. When I think everyone’s accounted for, I take Wren aside and whisper in her ear.

“If we’re going to do it, it should be now. I think they’ll be at it for at least a couple of hours.”

She nods, slipping out of the building before me. I follow her out just a few moments later while the guys take simultaneous shots of long ski together.

We’re quick to climb into the van. Wren brings up Lillith’s mother’s address on her GPS while I text Lillith to let her know that we’re heading over.

Be safe. Please, is her only response, but I know she wants to say more because the dots keep coming up and vanishing from the screen as I pull the van out of the packed parking lot. All in all, it’s not a long drive. We’re maybe on the road for ten minutes before we pull up to a cabin that looks... actually nice.

It stands two stories tall, but narrow. A tidy little garden covers the front yard and a swing hangs from a massive oak tree that looks like it’s been there since before the house had been built. No car in the driveway, so maybe she doesn’t leave often.

I pull the van up into the gravel drive and put it in park.

“What do we say if the others ask questions when we get back?” Wren asks me. “What if they notice we’re gone?”

I shrug. “We’ll say you took me to get Taco Bell. They’ll believe it. That’s a common request for me after a show, especially when I’m drunk.”

“Taco Bell?” Wren asks.

“You’ve never had it?” I ask.

“No...”

“Well, that’s something we’ll be rectifying as soon as we’re done here,” I say with a laugh as we exit the van together. I let her lead the way, though it feels strange to hide behind someone more than a foot shorter than me. She’s taller than Lillith, but only by a couple of inches, and I still think I should be the one in harm’s way when the door opens, but both of them keep insisting that this is the best way.