I nod, she’s a good liar. She hardly hesitated before launching into the story. It had just enough detail but not too much.
“There’s only one little problem with your story,” I say.
Phoenix frowns.
“Langston didn’t get his first bike until he was twelve. I was there the first day he learned to ride it. He made me hold on to it while he rode it, and when I let go, he fell and skinned both of his knees. And yes, he did cry, but he didn’t break an arm. That didn’t happen until he was fifteen, was drunk, and fell out of a tree.”
Phoenix bites her bottom lip, caught in her lie.
I hold out my drink.
She refills both mine and hers.
I hold out my shot glass. “To being good liars.”
She clinks her glass to mine, and we both do the shot together.
“Sorry I lied.”
“I’m not. And I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks Langston is a crybaby.”
We both start laughing.
“He’s also a control freak,” she says.
“A sadistic bastard.”
“Fucking secretive asshole.”
“An obnoxious liar.”
We give each other a knowing look.
“But hot as hell,” we both say at the same time before cracking up laughing again. It’s probably the tequila warming me to Phoenix. I don’t have girlfriends; I don’t even have girls that I like. My only friends have been boys. So why do I feel an instant connection to Phoenix? Like in a different life, we could have been best friends?
“You ever slept with him?” I ask, jealousy hanging in the air.
“You think I’m going to answer that question honestly?”
I sigh. “Nope. I wouldn’t either.”
We both sit silently after that.
I don’t gain any answers about who Phoenix is. I don’t know if she’s on my side or not. I don’t know anything about her, but I feel a strange connection to my soul. The fact that we can sit silently under the stars, having just met and it not be awkward, tells me all I need to know.
Phoenix isn’t being honest. She’s a pretty good liar. And yet, she might be the one person in this house who could save me. She might be the key to me getting off this island alive.
I just have to figure out how.
“Liesel, I think—”
“Move, and I’ll shoot you,” Joel says, interrupting Phoenix.
I freeze, assuming a gun is pointed at the back of my head.
“I’m here talking with Phoenix under Langston’s orders. I’m not going anywhere. The gun isn’t necessary. I’ll lock myself up in my closet for the night, so leave me alone.”
“I don’t think so. You’re a conniving bitch. Langston put me in charge of security. You broke in where you weren’t supposed to go. I think I’ll use extra rope this time,” Joel says.