Page 104 of Shine For Me

Fox

“The universe is punishing me,” I say, staring at the silent phone in my hand. “And I totally deserve it.”

“The universe is not punishing you,” Everly says, pushing a glass of water toward me. “Drink this.”

I make a face at the glass. “Why?”

“Because you’ve had more than enough vodka. It’s time to sober up so we can make a plan.”

“I had a plan,” I tell my cousin. “A good one. But apparently June disagreed because it’s been two days and she hasn’t called me back.” I lower my head to the kitchen table. “This is my punishment for not answering her calls last week.”

“Or maybe she just turned her phone off because it was blowing up as much as yours with all this media attention,” she points out. “Drink the water, Fox. Your siblings will be here in a few minutes.”

I blink at her. “Why will my siblings be here?”

“I told you—we need a plan.”

“And you thoughtRiverwas the person to call for that?”

“I heard that, asshole.” I look up to see my older brother standing in the kitchen doorway, Rose at his side.

She winces. “You look even worse than I thought.”

“Thanks, Rosie,” I mutter. “I’m so glad you’re here to share that sterling observation.”

“How long has he been drinking?” another voice asks, and Ash and Violet push in past our older siblings.

“You brought the Littles?” I ask in disbelief.

“They heard we were coming and threw a fit,” River says, somewhat apologetically.

“Oh, we did not,” Violet says. “Excuse us for wanting to help our brother.”

“Honestly, man, you look like you can use all the help you can get,” Ash points out.

“He kind of has a point,” Rose agrees. “Drink that water, Fox. We need to make a plan.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Everly cries.

Twenty minutes later I’m feeling a little more like myself. Rose got me to eat a sandwich, River made coffee, and Violet convinced Everly to go to the store to get ice cream in order to cheer me up, effectively getting her out of our hair for a while. I explained to my siblings how I left June the message two days ago, with no reply.

“I still don’t understand that part,” Rose asks. “Why did you record a voice memo instead of calling her?”

“It’s a whole thing,” I explain, feeling tired. “That’s how she helped me with my lines— she recorded herself reading them. So I recorded myself readingherlines. But hers were all about being brave and how amazing she is.” I shake my head. Maybe I’m drunker than I thought, because that didn’t even really make sense to me. “It seemed like a really meaningful gesture at the time.”

“Why was June recording your lines?” Violet asks.

I wave a hand. “Because I can’t read. That part isn’t important.”

“What do you mean you can’t read?” River cuts in.

I tap the side of my head. “Dyslexic.”

“Yeah, but you got over that,” he says uncertainly. “Didn’t you?”

“Nope. I still suck. Just didn’t want to tell you guys.” I wave again. “Like I said, that part isn’t important.”

“Like hell it’s not,” Ash snaps. “You’ve been having trouble reading and you didn’t tell us?”