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I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows, slightly concerned. “What were you planning…”
Her grin turned devious. “You’ll have to wait for your next birthday to find out, won’t you?” she said in a sing-song voice, hitting “play” on the next message to cut me off.
“These chickens look horrible. I don’t like them.”
Silence followed as we waited for Abi to say something else, but she never did. We burst out laughing, a single tear rolling down my face as I tried to steady myself. “You shouldn’t judge chickens so harshly,” I laughed, wondering what on earth she’d been doing.
“Yeah, they’re probably doing their best,” she agreed, shaking her head.
“Hey! Hey, girl, it’s me. You. I…I don’t know how to explain this. Worst headache—ugh, hang on.”There were shuffling noises, as if someone had dropped the phone or fallen down heavily.“Ugh. I’ll make this quick. The sound of my own voice—ugh. Stay away from Celeste. It’s important. So, so important. Protect her, yeah? I’ll thank you for it later.”
Our laughter died away at once while we stared at the phone, an uncomfortable silence falling between us.
“Hey,” Abi said quietly, finally tearing her gaze away to look at me. “I’m really sorry that bitch used me as a puppet to hurt you. I still can’t believe I tried to drown you.”
“Abi, seriously. It’s alright,” I said, just as serious as she was. “I know it wasn’t you—not the real you. Sabine is a psycho, and a strong one. It wasn’t your fault.” I shook my head. “But if it makes you feel better, I’ll turn you into a frog for twenty-four hours, or hex you to…I don’t know, stub your toe real bad.”
Abi snorted. “That’s mean,” she replied, the grin returning to her face as she played the next message.
“Hey, Abi! It’s me—ah, it’s Cody. California is soboringnow that I’ve been to Florida. Really wish you took me up on the offer to check it out! But I get it. ‘Wolfy stuff,’ hah! Hey, when we catch up, I’d love to take you out sometime. Let me know when you’re free, yeah?”
Abi’s eyes went wide, and she stared at the phone. “Oh, crap!” she laughed, her face turning pink. “I just ran into him when Fenris took me to Florida. I had no idea he’d asked me out!”
“What?!” I knew it wasn’t nice, but that misfortune was pretty hilarious. “Abi, what did you do?”
“Nothing! He didn’t say anything! Aw, man, he probably thinks I’m some stone-cold bitch now!” She laughed again, shaking her head. “Damn.”
I raised a brow. “It’s fine, he seems like a nice guy. He doesn’t seem like the type to hold rejection against you.” I paused. “Wait…do youwantto reject him? I thought you were gonna ‘talk’ to Gilbert when he got back to Florida. What’s going on with that?”
“I don’t know!” Abi wailed dramatically, flopping onto her back as she stared at the ceiling. “I’ve never had two guys this legitimately interested in me at once—and hell, they’re both hot, Celeste. One is older and definitely smarter, but the other is a lot more spontaneous and unpredictable! How am I supposed to choose?”
I sighed and shook my head. “Okay, how about this—imagine you’re waking up in the morning. You roll over, and someone kisses your forehead.”
“Okay…” Abi’s eyes were already shut.
“Who are you picturing?”
“Gilbert,” she said slowly, like she was waiting for me to spring a trap on her.
“Okay,” I said. “Now, imagine you’ve just been told some really bad news. You don’t know what to do. Who do you turn to?”
Her eyes fluttered back open, and she turned to frown at me. “Now that’s not fair—it’s you or Liana! One of my girls.”
I shrugged. “That’s fine. That’s what friends are for.” I leaned over to give her knee a squeeze. “But if you were really mad at me, who would you tell?”
Abi made a face. “I think…yeah, it’d probably be Gilbert.”
“Well…” I trailed off and shrugged. “I don’t know, being with Fenris feels like finding something I was missing before. He’s not, like, my perfect match in every way—I think we’re quite opposite sometimes—but…it fits.”
“Yeah…that’s one of the things I like about Gilbert, you know? My whole world got flipped upside-down learning that vampires were a real thing, and he was as cool as a cucumber the whole time. Nothing I do seems to fluster him, and he’s really smart. Always has a good comeback. Sometimes, his sense of humor is so dry, you’d miss it if you weren’t paying attention.” Her smile grew a little. “Quite opposite, heh. Like you said. Something just feelsrightwhen I talk to him.”
I smiled at her, but she frowned. “Wait…but if I never got to see Cody again, I’d really miss him! He’s a lot of fun to be around.”
“He is,” I agreed. “But you guys might just be good friends. You’re both really similar—lots of charisma, too many jokes, never met someone you couldn’t flirt with.” I raised a brow. “You sure you don’t like him just because it’s like looking in the mirror?”
“Hey!” She laughed. “Yeah…yeah. There’s no reason we can’t be friends.”
“I think you need to have both those conversations, though.”
