Chapter Twenty-Four
Winter
“Good deal.” Lyric pulled their feet up onto the couch, biting their lip and making their I’m-nervous-but-want-to-say-something face.
“What’s up, Lyr?” I asked after waiting them out for a bit.
“Uh… I guess you guys want to head to bed…?”
I gave them a weird look because that was… a really fucking weird thing to ask, but Miles said, “Not yet. You wanna watch a movie with us? We still have plenty of snacks and crap we can eat.”
It was late, and I knew my boyfriend was hella tired after working all day and from all the cooking and cleaning, but he’d clearly picked up on Lyric’s… reluctance to leave. I kinda loved Miles even more for being so considerate.
It made Lyric sag in relief, and I stared at my best friend for a long moment. Finally, I asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, shug.”
“You sure?”
They rolled their eyes at me and waved me off. “Yes.”
“Then why don’t you want to—”
“Come on, Win,” Miles said, cutting me off and shooting me a shut-the-hell-up expression. “Let’s sit over on the couch so we can see better.” He pulled me from the loveseat and pushed me to sit beside Lyric.
My best friend looked at me for a long moment, and without thinking about it too much, I lifted my arm in invitation.
Lyric immediately scooted into my side with their head on my shoulder.
I glanced at Miles to make sure he was okay with this—this was absolutely just a platonic cuddle—and he sent me a smile.
“Who wants a refill of their drink?” He grabbed our cups before we could answer and rushed into the kitchen, and I knew without him saying it that he was letting me have a moment with Lyric.
“Sooooo, my bestest bestie,” I said, giving them a squeeze. “What’s going on with you?”
They sighed and leaned more heavily into me. “Nothing really, I just… don’t want to go home yet. Peaches doesn’t like cuddles.”
Peaches was Lyric’s cat, and she was a very independent little thing that liked to sit up on her perches and stare at us mere mortals all the time.
She’d been severely abused before Lyric adopted her, so she really only ever let Lyric pet her, and she didn’t like being held.
She was a sweetheart who clearly loved Lyric very much, but Lyric was an affectionate person.
I took a moment to formulate a response because I didn’t really know what to say or how to help. “You know you’re welcome to come over anytime, right?”
They snorted. “You’re never home anymore.”
“I meant over here too.”
They paused. “Don’t you think Miles would mind?”
“Nope. He wouldn’t mind at all.” I knew that without asking. If someone needed something, Miles would jump in to help without a second thought. “Like I said, you can come over anytime.”
“He’s right, Lyric,” Miles said, carrying three glasses into the room. He grimaced as he set them on the coffee table. “Sorry, I didn’t give you guys enough time.”
Lyric snorted. “You’re fine, and thank you. For the drink and the invite.”
“I mean it.”
Lyric gave him a small smile. “I know you do.”
Miles grinned back, then rushed out of the room. “I’ll grab the chips and dip.”
“Doesn’t he know we’re stuffed to the rafters with all that food he made? I haven’t stopped eating since I got here hours ago.”
I snorted. “I think he’s just giving us another minute.”
They sighed and sat up, pulling away from me to grab their glass. “I’m just sick of… feeling alone all the time.”
“I know how you feel.” I shoulder-bumped them.
“I know you do, and I’m so glad you have Miles now.”
“I am too, but… you know having Goliath helped me out a lot. I know you have Peaches, but like you said, she doesn’t really cuddle. Maybe another animal would.”
They glanced at me. “You think I should get a dog?”
“Or a cat or a whatever. Any kind of pet will help. We can find one that likes to cuddle. You can even get a dog or cat or whatever to sleep in the bed with you.”
That made Lyric smile a little. “I always did want like a million cats. I’ll be the crazy cat lady.”
I snorted. “No, you won’t.”
They shrugged. “Honestly, the thought did cross my mind the other day. I love Peaches to death, but… it’d be really nice to hug a cat or dog or whatever when I need to. Plus, having another pet in the house might actually do her some good, you know?”
“Well, there you go. We could go to the shelter and see if you find anyone you like.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded. “Definitely.”
Lyric stared at me for a moment, then grinned and called out, “Hey, Miles?”
“Yeah?”
“Want to go to the shelter with Win and me to pick out a pet next weekend?”
“For who? You or Win?”
They snorted. “For me, you goof. I need another pet. Peaches and I could use another family member.”
Miles walked back into the room, carrying a ton of snacks. “That sounds like fun. When are we going?”
“How about next Saturday?” I asked. I was glad Lyric didn’t want to go tomorrow because I kind of wanted to spend the day relaxing at home with Miles if we could. “We don’t have anything to do, right?”
Miles thought about it, set everything on the coffee table, then pulled out his phone, likely to check his calendar. “Nope, nothing planned.” He put his phone in his back pocket and smiled at Lyric. “Let’s go next Saturday!”
Lyric grinned. “Sounds like a plan.”
Of course we didn’t get to relax at home.
I woke up to my phone ringing, but Miles was curled up beside me in bed, so I clicked the button to make the phone shut up and snuggled into my boyfriend.
But it started ringing again, so with a sigh, I grabbed it and checked the screen.
Chaos
I sat up quickly, answering the phone with a, “Hello? You okay?”
That made Miles wake up enough to stare at me sleepily. He was on his belly, and his hair was sticking up all over the place. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. I wanted to climb on top of him and lick every inch of him.
But I shook that off.
“Hey. We’re both fine, we’re just having problems with those damn pixies again.
They’re pushing people and dive-bombing them in the gardens now, and the manager reamed Ace out even though it’s not his fault.
I wanted to quit, but Ace loves this job, so…
” He trailed off with a sigh. “I’m on a bathroom break, so I thought… I dunno what I thought…”
“We can come over now.” To Miles, I mouthed, “It’s Chaos. Pixies again.”
He huffed and stuffed a pillow over his head for a beat before he sat up beside me.
There was a pause on the phone long enough I almost asked the kid if he was alright. But then he said, “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course not. We’re just waking up, though, so we need to take showers and feed the animals, so we can be there in an hour or less. Unless you need us there sooner?” We’d go without showering if we really had to, but I didn’t really want to do that.
“No, no. An hour is perfect. Thank you, Winter.”
“You’re welcome, kiddo. See you soon.”
“Bye.”
He hung up, and I said to Miles, “Looks like we’re going back to the museum.”
“Oh joy.”
I snorted, kissed his cheek, and climbed out of bed.