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But then he pulled me onto the couch with him and I lay there, half on top of him, with his arms around me and my head tucked under his chin. He rubbed my back and kissed the top of my head every so often.
“Feel better?”
I nodded again. “I just... I just needed this. Exactly this. With you. I need to know you’re okay, that we’re okay. That everything will be okay.”
He lifted my face and brought me in for a kiss. “Everything will be okay. You and me, we’ll be okay.”
“You’re not leaving?”
He smiled and shook his head, his eyes soft. “They’ll have to drag me out.”
I chuckled and he kissed my cheek, my nose, my forehead, and tucked me back in under his chin.
Then we heard keys in the front door. I’d forgotten about Ellis. “You better not be naked,” he called out.
“Eat a bag of dicks,” I replied.
Jeremiah tried to sit up, but I held him right where he was. “Mm-mm. Don’t move.”
Ellis came in and all but fell into the single seater next to us. He looked exhausted, and he didn’t give one fuck that Jeremiah and I were tangled on the couch together. “What is it with the ‘eat a bag of dicks’ line as an insult?” Ellis said with a frown. “I mean, sure, tell me to eat a bag of dicks and I’d be like, ‘yeah, no thanks, not my style.’ But if I told you to eat a bag of dicks, you’d be like, ‘hell yes, go turkey-mode, and gobble-gobble.’”
I threw a cushion at his fucking head.
He caught it and laughed. Then before I could say anything, or get up and beat the shit outta him, the TV power button came on, the fridge kicked in, and a few other electrical appliances beeped.
I sat up. “Holy shit. We have power!”
Ellis threw his hands up, victory style, then looked at the TV and quickly deflated. “Oh... my PS5.” He sighed. “Christ, Tully, why don’t you have a gaming console?”
“Because I’d never use it,” I said, helping Jeremiah sit up, now that I’d peeled myself off him. I got up to get us all a bottle of water.
Ellis rolled his eyes. “Because you spend all your money and time on storm-chasing shit.”
Jeremiah smiled. “Same.”
Ellis groaned. “I’m living with the storm boys.”
I came back with two bottles of water and a baby bird. I gave one bottle to Ellis and kept the other for me and Jeremiah to share. I handed the bird to Jeremiah and reached for the air-con remote.
Jeremiah stroked the bird’s neck, and it squawked a bit. It was young and it couldn’t fly yet, but like Jeremiah had said, he was a fighter. “We should name him,” I said. “Given he made it through the worst of it, I think he deserves a name.”
Jeremiah’s eyes met mine. “Really? I’ve never had to name something before.”
“Never?”
He shook his head. “I’ve never had a pet before.”
Jeez.
I leaned against his arm and gave the bird a gentle pat. “Even if we find him a home in a day or so, we can still name him. I’d reckon all the vets and wildlife carers would be pretty busy right now, so a few days won’t hurt. He likes that minced meat. Which is gross, but he likes it. Lucky Mum and Dad knew what to feed him, because my entire education relies on Google, and without power and the internet, I had no clue.” I checked my phone. “Still no service. It’s funny how long the battery lasts when you can’t use your phone.”
“Oh,” Ellis said, grabbing the remote for the TV. “Maybe there are updates on the news or something.”
Some channels weren’t working at all, but we found the local one. Channel 4, because of course that would be the only channel still working.
Footage of Darwin filled the screen, from the street and from the air. There was just so much devastation. So much loss. They showed people crying, people being rescued, people carrying kids and pets through water. They showed collapsed buildings, and they showed Ellis’ street.
Christ, it was hard for me to watch. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for him.
