“Hey, sweetie…”
“Oh, I’ve got it,” Jolie says. “That bitch called me a bitch.”
“She’s walking with a limp,” Aric says.
“A fall down a set of porch steps will do that,” I say.
Taz stops walking and turns to face Nicole. He kisses her. Her hands grab at the back of his shirt.
They’re in a perfect position…
Jolie throws the egg.
It smacks Nicole right in the back of the head.
Yolk splatters in her hair.
“Yes!” Jolie yells.
Both Nicole and Taz look at us.
“Fuck you, bitch,” Jolie yells.
She lunges forward and almost goes over the wall.
I pull her back as I start to laugh.
“You’re assholes,” Taz calls out.
“Now she smells like egg and fish,” Jolie cries out as she laughs again.
I fall to the ground and take her with me.
She put her head to my chest.
Aric climbs the wall. “You two have some fun. I’ll go find more eggs.”
He jumps off the wall and it’s just me and Jolie now.
We look at each other.
“I like having fun with you, Mac,” she says.
“Yeah, it’s not all that bad, right?”
“I just threw eggs at people.”
“You never did that before?”
“No.”
“You never did anything like that before?”
“Nope,” Jolie says.
“Wow… I have a lot to teach you.”
“We’re kind of too old for some of that stuff though, aren’t we?”
“Not even close,” I say.
“How are you such a bad guy… but you can have fun…”
“I blame you for that, sweetie,” I say.
I stroke her cheek.
I’m smiling at her.
But her smile fades.
“Mac…”
“Jolie…”
“I’m drunk.”
“Yes you are.”
“I’m never going to see my father again, am I?”
“I don’t know.”
“He’s going to end up dead.”
“Yeah, I know,” I say.
“And my mother…”
“She seems to be clear of it all,” I say. “Which is good.”
“Doesn’t matter. She’s got to be hurt. Crushed. And I have to go see her soon.”
“Whenever you want, sweetie.”
“Mac…”
“Jolie…”
“What happens now?”
“With what?” I ask.
“Mama Dae. Ado. All of this.”
I sigh. “Everything will work out.”
“I’m so sorry about Mama Dae. I don’t know her enough to judge her the way I want to… but nobody should have to go through that.”
“I agree,” I say. “But it’s reality, Jolie. That’s the thing about it all. It’s reality. We’re here one second and gone the next. So that second you’re here you better fucking enjoy it at least a little bit.”
“Do you enjoy it, Mac?”
“I enjoy everything,” I say. “But I enjoy you the most.”
“You would say that,” Jolie says. “You just want to get into my pants.”
“I already know I’m getting into your pants.”
“Oh… do you now?”
“If it’s not you, it’ll be someone else.”
“Fuck you, Mac,” she says with a smile.
I slide my hand into the back of her hair and I pull her toward me for a kiss.
I keep her body tight against mine.
We’re hiding under the stars, kissing, pretending everything about us is innocent.
We’re not innocent.
And the crazy shit happening is far from over.
It’s nice to see Jolie able to just be free.
No need to hide in a big hoodie or under a hat on her head.
Of course when she walks through the kitchen in the morning, she’s wearing sunglasses and looks like she’s trying to hide.
“Coffee, sweetie?” I ask with a smile on my face.
Jolie lets out a groaning sound.
“I take that as a yes,” I say. “You really like those sunglasses, don’t you?”
Jolie shows me both of her middle fingers.
Les is sitting on the counter.
He shakes his head. “I guess that whole freedom thing bit her in the ass.”
Jolie moves her middle fingers toward Les.
I pour her some coffee and put it on the counter so I can kiss her good morning. Again.
I slowly lift the sunglasses and rest them on the top of her head in her messy hair.
Her eyes look tired and hungover.
“I’m fine,” she says. “Just groggy.”
“I bet,” I whisper. “You want anything to eat yet?”
“Coffee first. Then a shower. Then something greasy.”
“Not a problem, sweetie,” I whisper.
I brush my lips against hers.
“Oh, hey, there they fucking are,” Taz’s voice announces as he enters the kitchen. “It’s the fucking egg farmers.”
Jolie turns around. “If you yell at me one more time, Taz, I’m going to smash a coffee mug off your fucking head.”
Taz curls his lip at Jolie.
Then he looks at me.
“Jolie needs her morning coffee,” I say.
“Yeah, well, thanks for last night,” Taz says. “Nicole took off after you threw eggs at her.”
“That poor girl,” Les says. “And your poor dick. What did you do?”
“First off, fuck you,” Taz says. “Second, I had a decent night.”
“Decent?” I ask.
“I tried texting Nicole to apologize,” Taz says. “You know, do the right thing.”
He reaches for Jolie’s coffee on the counter and she punches his hand.
“My fucking coffee,” Jolie says.
“Damn, darling, sorry,” Taz says.
I reach behind me for a mug and throw it to Taz.
He catches it midair and goes to pour himself some coffee.
“I just wanted to make sure she was okay,” Taz says.
“You wanted to smooth her over,” Jolie says. “Don’t be a dick about it.”
“Fine,” Taz says. “I wanted to blame you assholes and then fuck her.”
“Did it work?” Les asks.
“No,” Taz says. He finishes pouring the coffee and starts to drink it. “But… Nicole gave her phone to her roommate. Nicole went to take a shower. It took me all of five minutes to get her roommates number and…”
Taz looks forward and smiles.
We all look and here comes a girl wearing Taz’s t-shirt from last night.
She gives a wave and smiles.
“This is Anna,” Taz says.
“Hey,” Anna says.
“Oh, god,” Jolie says. “I can smell the regret and disease on her already.”
“What did you just say?” Anna asks.
I slide in front of Jolie and block her path to Anna.
I smile. “Hey… let’s go upstairs, sweetie. We have a lot to talk about.”