Thrive

by Krista Ritchie

  He looks more like Lo. I don’t like it one bit.

  “Hey, guys,” Daisy says with a bright, beaming smile. She playfully twirls her plastic gun and aims it at no one in particular. “Have you seen any aliens that I need to kill?”

  “Yeah,” Lo says, “Connor should be around here somewhere with your sister.”

  I nudge Lo in the side. “Batman and Catwoman aren’t aliens.”

  Lo tilts his head at me. “But Connor Cobalt and Rose Calloway might as well be.”

  I cover his lips, but it’s too late. Those names have already drifted in the air and penetrated a few ears. I grimace. Penetrated. Ears. Ew…bad one.

  “Fine, only Connor Cobalt then,” he mumbles through my palm.

  “Don’t say ‘you know whose’ name.” I drop my hand.

  His brows harden. “Voldemort.”

  I punch him in the arm. Though I fell into that Harry Potter reference-trap too easily.

  He mock winces. “Ow.”

  I take a deep breath and glance at my little sister. She now sits on Ryke’s shoulders. He grabs her by the waist and lifts her off his body, dropping her on her feet—a lot less carefully than Lo usually does to me.

  She lands perfectly fine, thankfully.

  “She’s a girl,” Lo tells Ryke, motioning to Daisy who twirls her gun and searches the area for our older sisters.

  “I didn’t notice,” Ryke says with thick sarcasm.

  “Just don’t be rough with her,” Lo tells him, less defensively. He’s trying not to jump down his brother’s throat about Daisy.

  “If she can’t handle me, then I wouldn’t have let her on my shoulders.”

  “I can’t handle you, but you still hang around me. What do you call that?” Lo asks.

  “Tough love.”

  Lo nods a few times, and that conversation is cut off by loud bickering.

  “You can’t just take my whip, Richard,” she says. “It’s part of my costume. You’re breaking the convention’s protocol.”

  “And you’re making up rules. Are the fictional costume police going to jail me in their invisible prison?”

  “Ugh! You are so…” She growls. They come into view, only about ten feet away. Rose stands with her hands perched on her hips, her black leather pants and leather jacket just as badass as her Catwoman eye-mask and ears. Her hair is sleeked back into a pony. Even in her stiletto boots, Connor stands four inches above her, appearing to have an advantage.

  Batman and Catwoman are flirt-fighting.

  The fangirl inside of me is singing right now.

  “You love me,” Connor tells her, still holding her black whip, the source of their argument.

  “The more you say it, the more untrue it becomes.”

  “It’s just the opposite.” He takes a step nearer.

  Rose raises her chin, not recoiling. She snaps, “So now it’s Opposite Day?”

  I’m fairly certain that beneath his Batman mask, a single brow arches. He has that arrogant look in his eyes, the one he wears a lot better than most people. “I didn’t declare an unofficial, kind of pointless, holiday, but if you want to, go ahead. I doubt anyone will listen.”

  She smacks his chest. “Don’t insult me, Richard.”

  Ryke asks, “Are we going to keep watching them?” He stands right beside me.

  Lo and I nod at the same time, fixated on the couple who provide too much entertainment. No one on this planet are like these two. “Maybe you’re right,” I whisper to Lo. “Maybe they are extraterrestrials.”

  “It would explain a lot,” Lo agrees.

  “Like why Connor never stutters.”

  “Why Rose makes babies cry when she walks past them,” Lo adds.

  I nod. “And why Connor never has a bad hair day.”

  Lo laughs. “That’d be his hundred-dollar hair products.”

  “Oh.” I pause. “Maybe his shampoo comes from space.”

  Ryke shakes his head at us. “You two are so fucking weird.”

  At that fact, Lo squeezes my hand. Today is definitely a good idea. I don’t think I’ve felt like this since Cancun—before the media hoopla.

  I don’t want it to end.

  I watch Rose point a threatening finger at Connor. “You’re just bitter because I beat you at chess four times in a row last night. Now you’re stealing my things out of spite.”

  Connor raises her whip, half of the black leather wrapped around his hand. “I only stole this because you were minutes from snapping it at that guy, which would have sent you to real jail.”

  “He smacked that girl’s ass! Just because she was dressed in spandex—it didn’t give him the right to touch her without her permission.”

  “I agree, but you can’t whip every person that makes your blood boil.”

  They’re only an inch or so apart now. “What if he did that to me?” she asks seriously.

  He stares in her yellow-green piercing eyes for a long, long moment, reading her gaze. I still wish I had that superpower—or that smart person ability.

  Finally he says, “I would’ve stepped in.” So far, Connor hasn’t really had the opportunity to protect Rose from a rude guy. Usually she does all the yelling and pushing herself before he even arrives.

  “Even if you’re not her boyfriend, you should have stepped in like I did.”

  “Clearly I’m not as moral as you, darling. You know this about me.”

  Rose’s eyes narrow even more. Then she stomps forward, almost challengingly, and pauses for dramatic effect. With so much confidence, she grabs the back of his head and licks his face slowly, starting from his chin all the way to his nose—like a cat.

  Connor stands poised, unmoving and unblinking. But his grin could shatter the world.

  My smile grows. “Did she just…”

  “Yeah,” Lo confirms, sounding impressed. She recreated a scene from Batman Returns where Michelle Pfieffer licks Michael Keaton’s face. I’m not sure if Rose has seen the movie or if it’s just a coincidence.

  “Daisy?” Ryke suddenly glances around. “Fuck. She ran off…” He whips around to go find her, and as he rotates, a sharper piece of his bow hooks onto the strings of my corset. With Ryke’s haste (and strength), my costume rips right down the middle.

  I gasp, my hands flying to my chest. Ohmygod.

  I am naked! Nearly naked. Half-naked. Topless.

  Shit.

  I try to hold the costume together with just my fingers. “Lo!”

  “Hey, it’s okay, Lil.” He spins me towards his chest and hides my body from view. Why is this happening? What Leprechaun did I piss off?

  “Fuck…” Ryke says again, his hands on his head. “I’m sorry…”

  “Can you go find Daisy?” Lo asks.

  Ryke frowns and rocks back with shock. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to help Lily, so…” He can’t go look for my sister himself. Neither can I now that I may have, sort of, flashed a crowd of superheroes.

  “I’ll catch up with you once I’ve found her,” Ryke says before he disappears.

  And then a couple Disney Princesses ask, “Hey…are you Lily Calloway?” Noooo.

  I shake my head at Ariel, envious of her shell-bra that I could definitely use right about now.

  “You called him Lo,” one girl says with a giddy smile, gesturing to my boyfriend / best friend / fiancé.

  This is not happening.

  I turn to look at Rose for more confidence. She points somewhere and mouths, Bathroom. Now.

  “Lo…”

  “I saw,” he says, already leading me to the bathroom. My knuckles whiten as I try to force this stupid corset together with just the strength of my fingers. The trek to the bathroom is surprisingly fast—maybe because I was thinking about side-boob the entire time.

  The door breezes open, and Rose clears out the stalls with one shout: “Can you believe it?! Michael Fassbender is outside!”

  I’ve never heard toilets flush that quickly in my li
fe.

  When the last girl exits, Connor and Lo enter.

  I am praying upon every star in the universe and galactic, habitable planets that my genius sister has a plan.

  { 8 }

  0 years : 02 months

  October

  LOREN HALE

  “Stop moving, Lil,” I order, trying to tie the strings together on her corset. Most of the hooks are torn apart, but I find one intact.

  It barely closes her top.

  “Let me see,” Lily says to Poppy, who’s checking the internet for photos of us while Sam guards the door. Captain America’s greatest duty is standing outside a girl’s restroom. It’d be hilarious if Lily’s eyes weren’t about to pop out of her head.

  “It’s just a couple photos,” Poppy proclaims, about to show Lily her cell.

  Rose snatches the phone out of her hand, censoring my girlfriend from the news. “It’s fine, Lily. Don’t freak out.”

  “How can I not freak out?” she asks. “People know we’re here. They could be swarming the area, ready to attack.”

  I raise my brows at her. “This isn’t Mortal Kombat. No one is going to attack you when we step through the doors.” I whisper, “You’re safe, Lil. I promise.”

  “Technically,” Connor says to Lily—I straighten up with a glare—“they only know about you and Lo. No one thinks we’re here.”

  “Even better,” I chime in with a bitter smile.

  “I have a plan,” Rose proclaims, hands on her hips.

  Connor stares Rose down, his blue eyes popping among his black Batman attire. “Care to consult me first, hun? Our two brains are better than yours alone.”

  “No,” Rose snaps with finality. “My brain can solve this crisis just fine.”

  Connor leans his back against the sink counters and crosses his arms. “And if you add my brain to yours, we’d have a much higher IQ—”

  “Our combined IQs wouldn’t even be humanly possible,” she cuts him off.

  “Exactly. We defy the impossible,” he says with a smartass grin.

  We’ll be here all day if they don’t shut up. “Okay, we get it,” I interject. “You’re both equally intelligent.”

  “We’re not completely equal,” Connor says.

  Rose huffs. “So what? You have a higher IQ than me. I don’t even want to be that smart. You know why?”

  “Here we go,” I mutter under my breath. When I look down at Lily, she no longer concentrates on her wardrobe malfunction. She stops shifting and leans her weight into my body. I rest my arms on her shoulders, wanting her even closer, but this’ll have to be enough right now.

  Rose and Connor’s fights definitely push away her worries—for a moment anyway.

  I’ll take it.

  “Why?” Connor asks casually.

  “Because you see the world in a way that no one can understand.”

  I don’t know what she means. At all.

  “Why is that so bad?” he asks.

  “Because you can’t explain yourself without confusing people,” she says. “You have to keep all of your thoughts to yourself because there’s no one smart enough to understand you. I wouldn’t want that burden. I wouldn’t want to be so put off by societies’ constructs only to realize that, in the end, you have to follow them. I wouldn’t want to live as something lesser than I am.”

  The silence deafens the bathroom. I wear a heavy frown like Lily. I can’t imagine what Connor thinks about on a day-to-day basis. So contemplating his beliefs—it’s out of my reach.

  “You say there’s no one smart enough to understand me,” Connor breathes. “Maybe you should listen to your own words, Rose. You sound pretty understanding.” He pauses. “What’s the plan you had in mind for Lily? We don’t have much time.”

  Rose takes a deep breath, her collarbones sharpening. She closes that argument and focuses on Lily. “You’re going to the director’s panel.”

  “Rose,” I snap. I don’t want to give Lily false hope. She can’t go to a panel and have people bombard her the entire time. She’ll crawl into herself.

  Rose holds her hand at my face like shut up.

  I could smack it away, but I’m not letting go of my girlfriend.

  Her eyes fall to Lily’s. “We’re switching outfits.”

  “What?” Lily and I say in unison.

  Connor doesn’t look surprised, and Poppy is nodding like it’s the best idea she’s ever heard.

  “No one has pictures of me,” Rose reminds us.

  “Your boobs are bigger than mine,” Lily notes. “And so is your ass.”

  “I don’t care.” Rose already plucks Lily’s blonde wig off her head. “You can leave the bathroom as Catwoman and go watch the panel.”

  I stare hard at Rose. She’s gone insane. “They have photos of me.”

  “I never said you could go with Lily. I’d tell you and Connor to switch outfits, but he’s too tall for your tights.”

  “Spandex pants,” I correct her, though Lily looks down at my crotch. Her cheeks flush. The pants are form-fitting enough to show way more than what most guys are comfortable revealing.

  “Tights,” Rose retorts, just to aggravate me. “I think I know fashion better than you.”

  “Whatever.”

  Rose unzips her leather jacket and hands it to Lily. “So you’ll go with Connor, and I’ll stay with Loren.”

  “What?” I shake my head. “No. I’m not acting like you’re Lily. This is beyond insane, even for you.”

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Poppy chimes in.

  “Maybe that red wig is bleeding into your brain,” I snap. She’s out of her bohemian shirts and into a Black Widow costume.

  “Come on, it’s just pretend,” she tells me.

  “Just when I thought I liked you, Poppy.”

  She laughs. Poppy may be the hardest person to offend. Right up there with Connor Cobalt. And then she adds, “You’re good at pretend, Loren. You did it for three years with Lily.”

  My face contorts. She doesn’t even realize what we did to each other in those three years. I used to tease the hell out of Lily. I used to touch her—and there is no way in hell I’m groping Rose. I’d rather set my hands on fire.

  “It’s not like you have to kiss Rose,” Poppy says, reading my features well.

  I cringe again. “Don’t even talk about that.” I glance at Connor, who should reassure me about this stupid plot where we switch girlfriends.

  But he stays quiet.

  “So now you don’t have anything to say?” I ask him.

  “Rose and Lily aren’t twins, so it’s not like this’ll work out perfectly,” he tells me. “But it’ll buy Lily the time she needs to go see the panel, and that’s why we’re here.”

  “I don’t have to go—” Lily starts.

  “No.” Rose tosses her leather jacket to her younger sister. “You’re going.”

  “Rose, seriously, you won’t fit in my outfit,” Lily says, though she inspects the leather jacket with longing. Maybe this isn’t the worst idea.

  “Don’t worry about that.” Rose fishes out her sewing kit from her clutch purse. “Connor, Loren, turn around or leave while we change.”

  I knew that was coming.

  I kiss Lily on the lips, and she grips my belt, not letting me go. “What is it?” I ask.

  “I’m scared,” she whispers. “But I don’t want to disappoint anyone by giving up.”

  Without the wig, her hair’s in a messy bun. I tuck a flyaway strand behind her ear. “If anyone stares, it’s because you’re Catwoman, not because you’re Lily Calloway.” Or a sex addict. I kiss her forehead. “You can do this, Lil.”

  Her hand slides along my waist, and I snatch it before she clings to me. She can’t drown her anxiety with her vice.

  I know this better than anyone.

  “Okay?” I ask.

  “Yeah,” she nods more resolutely.

  I leave her side to go stand next to Connor by the sinks, our backs facing
the girls while they change. I imagine Rose pretending to be my girlfriend the moment we exit the bathroom, and I just shake my head at the mayhem. “Rose and I are going to kill each other five feet out the door.”

  “On the bright side,” Connor says, “Emma Frost doesn’t have a weapon.” He unfurls the whip and snaps it in the air. “That could’ve been your ass.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I banter.

  He grins widely, looking less like Batman and way more like Connor Cobalt. “So much it hurts,” he replies. “Just make sure you walk next to Rose and not ahead of her when you leave. She hates that.”

  Are you shitting me? “Anything else? I’m trying to avoid my heart being ripped out and fed to baby demons.”

  “I heard that,” Rose retorts.

  I almost spin around.

  But she shrieks, “Don’t you dare look, Loren! I’ll literally stab your eyeball with my needle!”

  “She’s topless,” Lily clarifies with a grunt, like she’s struggling to put on her boots or pants.

  I glare at the ceiling. “I’m definitely going to die today.”

  “You won’t,” Connor says. “You’ve lasted this long.”

  “True.” I let out a sigh and then nod to him. “I’m surprised you’re not going to try and catch a peek.” As far as I know, he’s never even seen Rose naked. They get off by talking more than they do by fooling around—it’s kind of nuts.

  “I know better,” he tells me, taking his mask off, his wavy brown hair still contained, not even close to being unkempt and out of control. I pull my red visor to the top of my head and think back to how Rose described him. He has more power in his eyes without the mask, I realize.

  “We’re finished,” Rose declares.

  We both turn towards the girls who stand beside the stalls. My gaze immediately falls on Lily, standing with way more confidence in her black leather jacket and pants, less revealing.

  I smile at how cute she looks in cat ears and a simple black eye-mask.

  “Is anyone going to say something?” Poppy wonders.

  Lily and I break our gazes at the same time, and the moment I see Rose, my jaw just fucking drops. I laugh. “Damn, Rose.” She sewed the strings back on the corset, but it’s much smaller on her chest, pushing up her breasts, and the silver spandex shorts might as well be underwear, riding up her ass. “You’d make a perfect Cowboy’s cheerleader.”