5
ERICA
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The big crackling blaze in the middle of the bonfire throws heat across the circle of logs where we are all gathered.
The flames and the chatter from dozens of people eat up most of the sound, so arguments and jokes stay mostly private unless someone yells. I spot Caleb sitting next to Zoe. She’s got that constant look of annoyance plastered on her face. I smile at both of them.
“Are you getting sick or something?” Caleb asks.
“No?” Zoe replies, annoyed.
“Oh yeah. I forgot your face always looks chopped,” he states, completely deadpan, looking as annoyed as she does.
I want to break out laughing but I don’t dare.
Zoe whips toward her right. “Why are you so mean?”
“I’m not mean. You’re just too sensitive.”
“ I’m too sensitive? ‘My face looks chopped. ’ How am I not supposed to be offended by that? Have you seen your face lately?” Zoe says a little loudly.
It doesn’t matter. The noise gets swallowed by the rest of the crowd and the fire itself. We’re all sitting in a loose ring around the blaze.
“You’re just upset because not everybody is as miserable as you are,” Zoe bites back.
“I can’t help but be miserable because whenever you’re around, that’s the energy you give off,” Caleb throws at her.
“Then why are you always around me? You could have sat anywhere else,” Zoe snaps.
“I don’t need your permission for where I sit.”
I’m sitting on Caleb’s right with about two feet of space between us. Teeth on display like a Cheshire Cat, I rise from my log, take Zoe’s hand, urge her to get up, trying to stifle my laughter.
Zoe rolls her eyes and gets up quickly, following me as we walk off into the trees. I’ve seen other couples do the same thing, knowing full well what they want to do.
King is at the bonfire too. He must have glanced at me twice before looking away, sitting there eating his s’mores or whatever he’s stuffing in his mouth.
I’m happy to have Zoe back though. As we go some distance away, still able to hear the soft music but more chatter overpowering it, people laughing, I stop Zoe as we stand. Then I squat to pee.
“Aren’t you afraid you’re going to get bitten by a snake or something right in your cooter?” she blurts out.
I can’t help but laugh almost falling over. “Cooter? Who says that?”
“I do,” she says, smiling.
“You’re so weird.”
“Oh, I’m weird?” she nods with an eyebrow raised at me.
“King and I lived out there in the forest for basically two weeks. I think I’m good.”
“No, you got lucky.”
As I get up after squatting a little bit to make sure every drip is out, I stand, pulling up my clothes. “Are you okay?”
She looks at me strange, wondering about the question.
“You’ve been a lot snippy as of late with Caleb,” I say.
“Can you blame me? The guy is terrible. He’s absolutely annoying.”
“I didn’t take you for an aggressive person, Zoe.”
Zoe opens her mouth, scoffing. “If you had to be around and work around Caleb all day, you would understand ’cause he’s always picking at me.”
“I mean, yeah, he teases you a little bit,” I reply.
Zoe cuts me off. “A little bit? He’s always on my back about every little thing, even things that don’t matter. You at least get to make deliveries so you’re not there all the time working alongside him. Every time I look to my right, he has a scowl on his face or has something mean to say to me.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe he’s going through something.”
Zoe squints her eyes at me in confusion. I blink and smile. “You want to know what I really think?”
She just crosses her arms. “Okay.”
“I think… Caleb has feelings for you.”
But it’s clearly not what she wants to hear. She snaps, “Someone who likes someone wouldn’t treat someone like that.”
“I mean, sometimes people can be like that. Honestly, I thought you liked him too ’cause you were being kind of mean to him as well.”
Zoe makes a huffing noise. “I most certainly do not. Like I said, it doesn’t make any sense if someone has feelings for someone to say that their face looks chopped or just be horrible to them. And I’m not going to do that to someone. I’m not you, Erica.”
The way she says it, with that venom, I have to step back a little, narrowing my eyes. “What does that mean?” I ask in an accusing tone.
Zoe turns up her nose at me. “You like King and you treat him like garbage.”
I blink twice and open my eyes kind of wide, wondering what the hell is going on. Then I look at her. “I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but you need to remove it pronto.”
But Zoe doubles down. “I’m telling the truth. It’s not my fault you don’t like hearing it.”
“Zoe, you know King isn’t a saint either, and excuse you, but I’ve been helping him out and taking care of him.”
“Yeah, because you’re trying to sleep with him!”
I’m confused. “What the fuck are you talking about, dude?”
“Am I lying?”
“That had nothing to do with what… wow. I don’t even understand how you got I was being mean to him. What you mean about the Bible shit when I ask questions? How the fuck does that translate in me being mean? Seriously?”
Zoe crosses her arms again. “Oh, so you didn’t call him a Bible thumper?”
I just stare at her.
Seriously, what the fuck.
Why would King tell Zoe that of all people? I understand he was angry with me because it’s not my fault he was eavesdropping, and yes, that was fucked up when I said it, but why the fuck would he go back and…
Oh fuck this. No way.
My anger soars. I march back past Zoe to the bonfire where I know King is sitting with dozens of other people. I walk around from my corner and go straight to him. He’s talking with some people, Sister Madysen on his left, all of them on that long log.
“Why are you always talking about me behind my back? Why can’t you just say what you want to say to my face?!” I yell at him, causing everyone to stop speaking and look at me.
King looks shocked for a moment, looking up at me as if he’s completely confused. His brows scrunch.
Oh, now he’s going to act like he doesn’t know what the fuck I’m talking about.
“I was right there. You could have said what you need to say to me, but you had to go behind my back to my friends? You know exactly what I’m talking about. If you had an issue about something I said, you should have—”
But Madysen steps in, putting her right hand in front of King like she’s trying to protect him. Then she stands up, stepping toward me.
“King didn’t say anything about you. Jun did. He told us what you said and how you think of us,” she yells. “You’re probably the one that caused the tornado with your negative satanic energy.”
People start murmuring.
My anger… the anger I feel right now.
Who does this bitch think she is?
“You really want to see satanic energy, mothe—”
King gets up faster than I can react, hooks my arm in his grip, and pulls me away from bitch-ass Madysen.
Then he turns to look over his shoulder to address her. “Sister Madysen, you need to go and repent for having a cantankerous spirit.”
Madysen’s face, even though she’s light-skinned, starts to turn red, rather than just the glow of the fire cast upon it.
“Why are you defending her after what she said?!” she shrieks like a child who can’t get her way.
King’s voice stays the same decibel, that assertive and commanding tone with a hint of gentle confidence.
“Because that’s what Jesus would do, Sister Madysen.”
Everyone is quiet for a minute.
I know that has to sting.
Madysen seems to process it for a little bit, but then her eyebrows sink back lower onto her face. She digs in, stepping closer to King and looking past him to me with a scowl like she wants to spit in my face.
“Not for someone who was so far from grace and repeatedly falling out of it!” she accuses, staring right at me.
But King steps in front of her, blocking me from her view. “I used to be that person, Sister Madysen.”
The way he says it is such resolute grace, no anger, no accusation, no scorn. Just a calm demeanor that draws everyone’s attention.
“I’m so glad that someone had mercy on me and didn’t give up on me and showed me the way,” King finishes with a tender look.
There has never been a better display of someone killing someone with kindness than the one I’ve seen just now.
I can tell this completely caught Sister Madysen off guard. She looks absolutely foolish in front of everyone. Her face softens, she licks her lips, and steps back. Her mouth turns downwards for a moment as if she wishes she could say more but knows it will make her look worse.
I can’t stand the woman, but I respect King for stepping up for me.