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ZARA
Everyone files out after an exasperated Rhys. I can understand why he’s so frustrated. Ruby’s commentary makes everything take twice as long as it should. I find that I enjoy it, though. It’s distracting and half the time it’s what I need to stop from getting lost in my thoughts.
“Who gets to pick the movie tonight?” Rhys says as he steps outside. I’m a few steps behind him, holding my glass jar while Miri has the one that holds Rhys’s blood.
“I do!” Ezra has a smug smile on his face that gets brighter when everyone starts to groan and complain. “My house, so I get first dibs.”
“Why is everyone so upset?” I ask Rhys as quietly as possible, but he doesn’t see the same need for secrecy. Miri plucks my glass out of my hand and proceeds to dump it in the fire and then puts the jars in a small bag that she cinches up tightly. That bag gets dropped into a larger bag.
“Because Ezra has the worst fucking taste in movies ever.” Rhys leans down as if to whisper in my ear, but he speaks loud enough for everyone to hear. His breath tickles my skin and I shiver. I’m sure he notices.
“Not true. You all love my movie selections. You’re just too prissy to admit it out loud.”
“So not the case, man.” Archer smacks Ezra on the back as he walks past him, flopping back into the spot on the couch he occupied when we first arrived. Lena settles in next to him, cuddling up to his side. Archer throws an arm over her shoulder and a pang of longing shoots through me. I want that.
“You’re all a bunch of liars.”
“What are we watching?” Miri asks as she sits on a blanket spread out on the ground. Davis is already lounging on his side, looking like he might fall asleep before the movie even starts.
“Tonight, our main feature will be Big Trouble in Little China.”
“Boo,” Lena yells, throwing popcorn, but Ezra just chuckles.
“This is a penultimate movie that Zara missed growing up.”
“You so haven’t missed a thing,” Archer groans.
I can’t help but notice that Ruby looks excited by the choice. I shake my head at the two of them.
“Why are you smiling?” Rhys speaks next to my ear, this time just for me to hear. My fingers lift up to my face like I need proof that I am, in fact, smiling. Seeing their friendships, it’s so obvious how much these people all care for each other. It’s something I’ve never had, never even dreamed that one day I might be a part of. Ruby’s opened her home to me and everyone has been welcoming, even though they could have treated me like a pariah. It’s more than that, though. I think for the first time in my life, I’m genuinely happy.
“I’m just…happy.”
“Good. I like seeing you smile. It’s my goal to make sure that happens as often as possible.”
I blush, feeling a little lightheaded. None of this seems real.
There’s another blanket on the other side of the couch, and Rhys nods toward it. “You want to sit?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Grab your popcorn and snacks and get ready,” Ezra says as he starts up the movie. “Rhys, are you going to cut a hole in the bottom of your popcorn bucket so that when Zara grabs a handful, she gets–”
“–stop talking, dickhead.” Rhys holds his hand up, his middle finger in the air.
“I thought we were trying to give her real life experiences, not traumatizing ones,” Ruby says. “Besides, that only happens in parody films and 70’s porn.”
There’s so much of our two worlds that are the same, but I still struggle with some of their references. “What’s porn?”
Every head swivels around to look at me.
“Oh, you sweet, innocent babe.” Ezra shakes his head and Ruby growls at him like a feral animal.
“Do not call her babe.”
Ezra shakes his head, his hands coming up in front of him like he’s scared Ruby is going to kick him right between the legs. “Babe, like itty bitty baby, a newborn child, not in a sexy nickname kind of way.” Then he turns to me. “Porn is—”
Rhys throws his hands up and claps them around my ears, muffling the sounds, but not totally blocking them out. I giggle and duck out of his hold.
