Really?
Okay, Captain Feminist
It’s on. Next time, I’m gonna
WRECK you
A new gif popped up. A little girl smugly wiping her hands. The text over the gif readMy work here is done.
Zach grinned. Oh yeah. He liked this girl a lot. While Jay snapped his bedside light off and slid down under the scratchy motel covers, Zach settled in to get to know this prickly-sweet desert rose.
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~oOo~
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The next morning, afterChristian came back with a massive armload of McDonald’s breakfast, the Bulls sat at one of the peeling picnic tables next to the leaf-strewn, suspiciously murky motel swimming pool. Eight stood at the end of the table; his bad leg was stiff in the mornings, and once he was up, he said he needed to keep the blood flowing while he could, before he sat astride his bike for hours at a time.
Hours at a time. Right. They’d only get about four hundred more miles today, stopping every hundred or so for Eight to walk out his leg. They were stopping in Amarillo this evening, for another night in a crappy motel.
As Zach worked his way through a McMuffin, his phone vibrated against his thigh. He set the sandwich on its paper and hunted the phone out of his pocket.
When he saw the text, he smiled. Lyra.
Morning. Sleep well?
Morning. Yep. You?
I did. I liked talking last night. It
made me feel better. And it was nice
to get to know you
I liked getting to know you, too
She sent a blushing smile emoji.
She liked emojis and gifs. Mostly, Zach avoided them; he got frustrated going through the menus and usually gave up before he found one he wanted.
“Aw, how sweet!” Jay said and snatched Zach’s phone from his hands.
“Fuck off, Jacob!” Zach snarled. He tried to grab it back, but Jay was quick and bolted to the other side of the table, behind Gargoyle.
“Look, Gargo. You think it’s twoo wuv?”
“Fuckoff!” Zach yelled. He leapt up and reached over the table, finally getting his phone back. “Asshole.”
The others were laughing or rolling their eyes, but Eight was still. Zach could feel his president’s eyes on him, as if that gaze had actual weight. He looked up and met it.
“That Ben’s girl?”
He was surprised Eight didn’t know. The guys had given him shit about Lyra yesterday. But Eight had been talking to Ben at the time, he guessed. Or maybe he just hadn’t been paying attention before.
“Lyra. Yeah. We ... hit it off the other night.” When Eight said nothing in reply, Zach began to feel like he had to explain it away. “It wasn’t anything big. I didn’t bang her.”
“Yet,” his brother helpfully supplied.