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“Just look at me.”
I took her in. She was as stunning as ever and with Optimus’ hand resting at her waist it was perfect. So perfect.
“You look fucking amazing!” I yelled, throwing my hands in the air.
“Thank you!” she yelled back at me.
Before we even had a second to blink we were both laughing. The tears had dried up and there was nothing left to say.
She didn’t hate me.
She gave Optimus a quick squeeze before rushing over to me.
This time, I embraced her with everything I had. Warmth washed over me, flooding my whole body. Chelsea and I hadn’t been friends for long before shit went south, but it felt like a lifetime.
“I missed you,” she said smiling as she pulled away. She held her hands on my shoulders and looked me over, much like a mother would her child after so long apart. “You lost weight?”
I giggled. “It’s this new diet I like to call,‘stress yourself skinny.’”
“The only thing I get when I’m stressed is a tub of ice cream.” She laughed.
She nudged me toward the chair I was just sitting in, moving to pull up her own beside me. Optimus moved over and stood behind her, a looming omen, maybe even a warning. He was protecting her.
“I meant it when I said you don’t have to do this,” she murmured, reaching out to place her hand over mine. “There’s always going to be another way. And wewillfind it.”
I shook my head. “If I can help, I want to. I’ve spent too much time running and pretending that everything was going to be okay if I just moved on.”
“Everything will be okay.” She smiled at me reassuringly. I knew she was trying to be supportive. No doubt Optimus had told her about what was going down and how dangerous it was. But this was about me needing to do something selfless. I needed to feel like I wasn’t just wasting away in the world. I needed to find me again.
“Hey, I get to cross stripping off my bucket list.” I wiggled my eyebrows, but she just frowned at me, letting me know it was too soon to start joking about it. I sighed. “Look, just let me do this? That girl, Lane. She could be hurt, she could be suffering and if I can stop it, then I will.”
Chelsea groaned, looking over her shoulder at the man behind her. “This is stupid, Op.”
“Don’t even talk like you haven’t already tried to offer yourself for the job, woman.” He smirked down at her and she quickly looked away blushing.
“You hypocrite!” I laughed. “How did you think you were going to draw him in with your dancing skills?”
Even Optimus chuckled.
“I havesomeskills!” she demanded.
“The Mexican wave isnotsexy.”
She frowned at me, but it quickly turned into a smile as she gave me a light shove in the shoulder. “Fine. But you promise me, you’ll come back in one piece?” Her face turned solemn again. I almost felt like I had whiplash from her changes in mood. “I just got you back,” she muttered.
I took her hand and squeezed it. “Trust me, I’m not about to change that anytime soon.”
