Page 83 of Firefly
“You’re unhinged.” Bianca cackles loudly.
“She’s in love,” Stone says dramatically while placing a hand over his chest. “Tragic really.”
“Shut up. He literally killed a man just outside these damn doors. He owes me a goddamn explanation,” I say, but despite the teasing… it hurts because Hayden still hasn’t answered me.
Not one message. And every minute that passes makes the ache inside my ribs grow sharper.
So I throw back another shot.
Bad idea.
“Romeo and Juliet,” Stone says in the worst Shakespearean accent I’ve ever heard as Asher pours another shot.
I swipe it from him and grin.
“Hey, that’s mine,” he protests, making me laugh.
“I got an idea.” Bianca suddenly shoots up from the couch shouting.
Ten minutes later, we’re all outside behind the warehouse shooting at old beer cans lined up across the broken crates.
Again. Normal teenage activities.
Teenagers who happen to carry illegal weapons and know how to clean blood out of concrete.
Stone dramatically misses every target possible.
“You suck,” Bianca tells him cheerfully before nailing three cans in a row.
“Women love humble men.”
“Women love accuracy.”
Asher hands me another gun. “Your turn, Barbie.”
I line up the shot while laughing too hard to properly focus.
Bang.
Direct hit.
Everyone cheers obnoxiously like I just won the Olympics.
“THAT’S OUR PSYCHO BARBIE!” Stone shouts, and I bow dramatically.
For a little while, we’re just kids.
Broken kids. Dangerous Kids.
But still kids underneath all the violence, trauma, and blood staining our hands. Sometimes we just need it. Let it all out and be ourselves.
By three in the morning, the boys are passed out in their rooms in the back while me and B sit outside on the roof wrapped in hoodies while cold air brushes against our skin.
The city lights glow beneath us. Beautiful in the saddest kind of way.
“I used to think if I loved someone hard enough,” Bianca says quietly, “they’d stay.”
I glance toward her as she stares straight ahead.
