Page 47 of Scars Like Wings
“Marceline!” Simone and I said at the same time.
“Well! Who is she,Brydgette?” Maisie chuckled at our shocked expressions.
“You two are… incorrigible!”
“Oh, you know she is shook when she pulls out the words that got her that masters.” Maisie teased, making me and Simone laugh.
“Shut the fuck up, or I will never tell you!” I caught my breath and finally answered. “Her name is Quinn. She’s Cole’s cousin. She is the oldest of them all, and they are all close in age, so they grew up as siblings?—”
“Byrdie, honey, I love you. You know I do. But please, for the love of the gods above and below, skip to the good part,” Maisie asked.
“Maisie! Let the girl build up to it, damn! You have to set the scene!” Simone said, taking off her shirt to put on a bandeau. After Maisie rolled her eyes, Simone waved me on to continue.
I recounted the whole night to them while Simone completed her tube top with some shortalls and put her hair up in a pouf and Maisie finished her gothic makeup. I left out from them how much I liked her and the promise I had made in the shower this morning, since I wasn’t ready to vocalize those and possibly ruin the magic of all of this. But as I retold everything that had happened in the past few hours, I toyed with my mom’s necklace. I wondered which would end up lasting: the promise I made to not fall for Quinn or my growing like for this woman who literally fell into my life.
“Maybe you’re right after all, Bee,” Simone said when I finished. “Maybe they aren’t human if they have us all this obsessed.”
Maisie and I nodded in agreement.
Clear Moon
As the girls and I posted our best selfies, there was a knock on the bedroom door. I answered it to find Quinn leaning against the wall, that heart-stopping smirk ablaze on her face.
“Are you all ready there, sweetness?”
“Yep! We were just taking some pictures of our outfits.”
“Oh? Any you immediately moved to a hidden folder for me to see?” Quinn winked.
I shook my head, chuckling. “Do you ever stop flirting?”
“With you?” Quinn turned thatfreakingsmolder of hers to the max. “Never.”
I felt my face heat, and I think Quinn noticed my blush underneath my makeup somehow because her smirk grew to display her perfect white teeth.
I really wasn’t going to make it away from this woman alive.
Quinn’s eyes flickered above my head with her eyebrow raised. I turned around to see what she was seeing, and I just caught Simone and Maisie before they peaked back into the bathroom. I could hear their fit of giggles from here. I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop smiling.
“The boys are ready in the car, and Nat is almost ready. So, I figured I would come up to personally get you three.”
“Oh, cool! Let me and the girls put our shoes on! Are we going to have to take separate cars?”
Quinn gave me a look. “Did you forget we are rich and can order custom-built cars that fit all of us?”
I chuckled. “Just seeing if we need to bring our bags or if we are going to come back?—”
“Sorry, Quinn!” Simone came out of the bathroom now in some Converses with a light sweater she stole from my closet tied around her waist. “Byrdie is a planner and is allergic to spontaneity.”
“Hey! I am not! I just like to know what’s going on so I can act accordingly.”
“Yeah, Simone, you slightly missed the mark.” Maisie came out, now with both hers and Simone’s bags floating magically behind her. “Byrd is less someone who hates surprises and more like a Soccer Mom who likes to know where her kids are and where they are headed next so she can have snacks and juice boxes prepared in advance.”
“You didnotjust call me a Soccer Mom.”
“Youdohave a Soccer Mom Car,” Maise shrugged.
“For the last time, it’s anoff-roading SUV!”