Thrive

by Krista Ritchie

“Works for me,” Julian says, standing next to Daisy’s chair. He motions for her to stand up so he can take the seat.

  I’m pissed, but Ryke’s narrowed eyes flash hot, unquestionably murderous.

  In France, Julian blatantly admitted to us that he was only with Daisy for the sex, but he’s waiting until she turns eighteen, legal. It was both moral and despicable all at once.

  Daisy reluctantly rises to her feet and then hesitates, swaying on her heels as she realizes there aren’t any other open chairs left.

  Julian ignores her as he speaks. “I hate to break it to all of you, but I’m an amazing bowler.” Awesome.

  Ryke clears his throat like he’s trying to swallow an insult. “Excuse me,” he coughs into his hand. “I’m going to get something to drink. Dais, you can take my chair.” He rises, and Daisy walks towards his open seat.

  “Thanks,” she whispers.

  He nods stiffly, and she slumps down onto the chair.

  “Make it a double,” I call out to him.

  He gives me a sharp glare and the middle finger before leaving, passing Lily and Rose as they approach our lane.

  Rose places the bowling ball in the return machine and holds out her hands like they’ve been infected with H1N1.

  “Why didn’t you just buy a brand new ball?” Daisy asks as she swivels in the chair. “You already bought new shoes.”

  “She tried,” Lily answers for Rose. “None of them fit her fingers.”

  “This is just confirmation of what we already know,” I say, “Rose is a witch. Witch fingers are supposedly very skinny.”

  Rose rakes me with a long yellow-green-eyed glare. “I hope you get athlete’s foot.”

  Lily’s eyes widen. “Don’t curse him, Rose.”

  I break out into a grin. There aren’t many times Lily sides with me over her sister. She likes to stay neutral for the most part. Rose, offended, turns on her sister, hands on her hips and her glare focused.

  “I’m. Not. A. Witch,” Rose says slowly and distinctly.

  Lily shakes her head and cringes. “Sorry. It slipped.” Funny thing is, I think if Rose were really a witch, Lily would love her even more.

  Rose still has her hands out like she’s trying not to infect her clothes.

  “Here, darling…” Connor swivels in his chair and squirts some hand sanitizer on her palms.

  “That only kills 99.99% of the germs, Richard. What about the .01%?”

  “It’s called an immune system, Rose.”

  Her eyes flash angrily, and his grin overpowers all of his other features. They start talking in French, the moment Lily plops onto my lap.

  I groan from the impact of her bottom, and she gasps. “I didn’t hurt it, did I?” she whispers with fear flickering in her eyes.

  God, I love her.

  “My dick is fine,” I say and scoot her over just a little so that the bony part of her bottom isn’t digging into my cock. “How’s your ass?”

  She squints at me and then looks around, checking to see if anyone pays attention to us. They’re all busy fixing their laces. Rose removes the lid off a box, neatly folding the tissue paper after she picks out the brand new pair of shoes.

  When Lily realizes we’re in our own world, she rotates back and cups her hands around my ear. “Are you making sexual innuendos for later?”

  I rest my hand on her lower back, my thumb dipping below the band of her jeans. She inhales sharply, but she leans away to examine my expression, truly curious about my motives.

  I motion for her with two fingers to come closer. Her lips immediately part, dead-locked on those fingers. Yes, Lily, I’m teasing you for later.

  Sometimes I think I have to spell it out for her. I probably should have when we were pretending to be in a relationship…that time feels like ages ago.

  She finally scoots closer, and my lips brush the soft skin of her earlobe. Her breath hitches. “I’m going to slide deep into your ass tonight, love.” Subtly, my other hand slips between her legs, her jeans of course still there.

  She almost trembles.

  I would have never done this right when I returned from rehab, too afraid she couldn’t handle it. Now I trust her a thousand times more.

  “Lo…” she whispers. “Maybe…”

  I wait for her to collect her thoughts.

  “Maybe…we should do it both ways tonight,” she says, watching my lips. She kisses me suddenly. I hold the back of her head, deepening it before we pull apart.

  “You’re that wet?” I whisper, forcing myself not to harden at the thought.

  She nods quickly. “Yes.” She squirms. “Or do you think it’s too much to do both?”

  “We’ll see.” I kiss her again, and then Ryke returns to our lane, handing me a bottle of water. Daisy is about to stand up, offering him the seat back, but Ryke waves her to stay there.

  “Can we start this fucking game?” he asks.

  Lily frowns, eyeing the alley. “Where are the bumpers?”

  “We’re not playing with bumpers,” Rose tells her, squirting more sanitizer on her palms, even though she just touched brand new bowling shoes.

  “Bumpers are the best,” Daisy concurs. “You can throw the ball really hard and try to ziz-zag it into the pins.”

  “Yeah,” Lily agrees.

  “Then you two go play on that lane.” Rose points to the empty one beside us.

  Lily springs to her feet. “Fine. We’ll be having more fun anyway.”

  Daisy hesitates for a second before rising, and then she nudges her douchebag boyfriend’s leg, who’s texting. “Do you want to come?”

  “What?”

  “Bumpers or no bumpers,” she briefly explains.

  “I’m not playing with the kid bumpers. They’re dumb.”

  “Hey, they’re grownup bumpers,” Lily says, “for grownups who don’t like gutter balls.”

  Julian looks at Lily like she’s a complete idiot.

  “Julius…” I start with what should be his rightful name, but I stop myself, remembering our promise to Rose. Be civil. Whatever. My lips close, but I grind my teeth harder than I like.

  “It’s Julian,” he says for the thousandth time to me.

  “How about we team up against Rose and Connor?” I flash Rose a look like is that civil enough for you?

  She nods in approval while Julian shrugs, seeming a bit skeptical about the olive branch I’ve extended. It’s not a trick. Then he says, “Sure, man.”

  “Great.”

  Lily kisses me quickly on the lips, and I pat her on the bottom. When she leaves to her lane, her entire face is bright red, and she tries hard to avoid the cameras.

  Ryke watches my girlfriend depart with her sister, and I can see his choice even before he takes a step in that direction. Julian being the same age as Daisy is ten times worse than Ryke. I can’t even trust Julian for a second. I have no reason to.

  “I’ll be—” he starts.

  “Whatever, go play on your bumpers, bro.” I can’t help but give him a hard time. It’s like a busted function in my brain.

  He rolls his eyes, wavers for a moment, and then follows Daisy to the other lane.

  Connor deletes some of the names, leaving just four. I laugh when I notice he took my tip to heart. He’s nicknamed all of us after Greek gods.

  I scan the remaining list:

  Zeus/Athena

  Hades/Dionysus

  Julian picks up a light blue ball from the carousel. “Who am I?” he asks. “Zeus?” He’s not the brightest anything.

  “You would be Hades. God of the underworld,” Connor says.

  “All around fantastic guy,” I add dryly.

  “Sweet.”

  Jesus.

  Ryke notices the screen from afar and glares at Connor. “You’re a real douche, you know that?”

  I don’t get it.

  Rose puts her hand on Connor’s shoulder. “Oh please, Loren would be Dionysus regardless if he drank or not.”

  Ryke just
keeps shaking his head until Daisy distracts him, holding up two giant green bowling balls to her boobs.

  I internally grimace. Do not think about that part of her anatomy. “Who is Dionysus?” I ask.

  Rose clarifies, “the god of wine, parties, and basically hedonism.”

  “He’s a man of chaos and pleasure,” Connor adds.

  “Sounds about right,” I reply. “Thanks, love.”

  He winks and motions for Julian to start us off.

  Daisy’s boyfriend steps up to the alley with his ball in hand, and my stomach constricts the longer I have to watch him. How do you withstand a guy you just don’t like? He knocks down all the pins but two and then pumps his arm.

  “That’s what I’m talking about.”

  We continue to play a few rounds, with Connor and Rose clearly in the lead. Connor forgot to mention that his boarding school had a bowling alley, and they’d bet on games with money and favors. So basically, he hustled us.

  I don’t mind at all. The more we lose, the more Julian’s competitive nature rises—glaring, huffing, a poor sport all around. Whenever I look to the other lane, Lily and Daisy are in fits of giggles, sitting on their knees and trying to spin the bowling ball before rolling it down the alley.

  Daisy even covers Ryke’s eyes so he has to bowl blind. He’s actually grinning. My gaze shifts to Lily. She practices her bowling stance by the swivel chairs and every time she goes to mock throw, the weight of the ball causes her to careen unsteadily on her feet. Her brown hair hangs in her eyes and she brushes it away before trying again.

  I love her.

  The world seems empty whenever I watch her. It’s a peaceful existence. But I know a life with just the two of us, alone, is a future better as a fantasy. Friends. Family. They’re not easy to leave behind anymore.

  Laughter beside her lane breaks my focus. Ryke lifts Daisy by the legs, hanging her upside down, and she can’t catch her breath, her laughs echoing through the bowling alley.

  “Hey!” Julian shouts. Shit. He storms over to my older brother. “I’m sick of you always hanging around my girlfriend, man.”

  Ryke only drops one palm, holding Daisy perfectly upside down with one hand, clutching her calf. She swings in the air, blood rushing to her head, but her smile is huge.

  “Then maybe,” Ryke says, “you shouldn’t leave your girlfriend with another fucking guy.”

  Julian is about to shove him, but Lily intervenes. Shit. I shoot to my feet, sprinting to the lane while she blocks Julian with two hands. He swats them away.

  “Back off,” I sneer at Julian.

  He takes a couple steps in a safe direction. “Daisy…” Julian says. “Play with me.” It sounds like an order.

  Ryke grips Daisy by the waist and flips her right-side-up, her body meshes with his, sliding down his chest slowly before her feet touch the ground. She breathes heavily, her lips parted. Ryke has a way with women. There’s no denying that.

  He fixes her shirt that rides up her stomach. “What do you want?”

  She swallows hard like she’s never been asked that before. And then she shrugs.

  Ryke looks around at all of us as we watch him. I don’t know what to make of anything anymore. I’d wish for people to be simple—just so I can understand everyone—but then they wouldn’t be real.

  “I think it’d be better if I just went home,” Daisy says. “I’ll see you all tomorrow?”

  “Daisy—” Ryke starts.

  “No, it’s cool.”

  “I’ll drive you home,” Julian says.

  “No, I will.” Lily steps up from behind me.

  And then Rose rises from her seat. “You guys can finish up.” She tosses her empty bottle of sanitizer in the trash on her way towards the door. Daisy skips to keep up with her older sister and Lily is right there with them in a quick second.

  After the girls are gone, Julian says to Ryke, “You want to fuck her, that’s fine. Just stop getting in my way.”

  Ryke charges forward, “You motherfucking…” And then Connor steps between them.

  “We’re in public,” he announces.

  “Let’s go outside then,” Julian says. “He wants a fight—”

  “You’re not fighting my brother, Julius. Leave it alone.” I grab Ryke by the arm. “We’re going.” I drag him towards the exit.

  “How can you put up with him?” he growls at me, turning his back on them with rigid joints.

  “I can’t,” I say. “That’s why I’m heading out this door. I walk away from fights all the time. You should try it once in a while.” I push open the door and squint at the bright sun.

  “Yeah?” he says, shielding his eyes with his hand.

  “Yeah.”

  Between Scott and Julian, I’ve reached my limit on dealing with people I don’t like.

  That’s Connor’s game, not mine.

  { 29 }

  0 years : 08 months

  April

  LILY CALLOWAY

  Lo and I curl on the couch, rereading Avengers: The Children’s Crusade together. Even though this is our fifth read-through, Lo flips the pages so slowly, allowing my mind to take mental detours.

  Not the sexual kind.

  The wedding infiltrates my brain, especially since Rose asked me what color bridesmaids dresses I preferred this morning. Like always, I told her to choose.

  I can’t believe I’m just twenty-one, on the path to marriage when all I really wished was to walk down the aisle with my head on straight. Emotionally ready for something so serious.

  My wishes have not come true.

  Everyone fears I’ll become the runaway bride. No one says it, but I see it in their eyes. But it could just be my own fears, my own reflection staring back at me.

  The front door blows open, and dressed in his usual button-down and slacks, Connor shuts it behind him. At the same time he sets his sights on the staircase, Rose’s heels clap down it. She latches onto his wrist, her eyes pulsing with hot fury.

  I thought if Rose lost her virginity to Connor, their relationship would be less volatile, filled with even less verbal sparring and wit that tosses my brains. Wrong. They still fight in French, and she still looks at him like she could rip off his balls.

  I crane my neck over the couch to watch them, too curious.

  Connor pries her gingerly off his wrist. “I think I know where the bedroom is.”

  “We’re not having sex right now.” She doesn’t even attempt to lower her voice.

  So the fight is about sex?

  “All I meant was that I can lead myself upstairs. I said nothing about sex.”

  Oh. Never mind.

  Connor slides past Rose mid-stair and disappears out of my view. Shit.

  Rose huffs and says, “We don’t have time to accommodate your ego.” She stomps upstairs behind him, out of earshot.

  I sit up, untangling myself from Lo while he continues to read the comic. I check the internet on his phone, popping up Twitter, and Lo watches me out of the corner of his eye. When I search #LilyCalloway, brutal messages appear.

  @NorthGuy77: Do you know how many diseases #LilyCalloway must have? I wouldn’t go near that twat.

  @DaniellaESP: #LilyCalloway’s vagina has to be huge.

  A lump rises to my throat. I have to switch to a different hashtag.

  @RealityTV89: Lily and Lo are the absolute cutest AND sexiest couple on TV. If you’re not watching #PoPhilly, you suck.

  It’s a bit disheartening that people don’t like me, by myself, but when they talk about me with Lo, they gush. But I’ll take the good with the bad. I’m not that choosy.

  “Lil,” Lo says, closing his paperback comic. “Stop going on Twitter. It’s not healthy.”

  “That’s the first time I checked it all day,” I defend before logging off. I pull up Celebrity Crush and my heart does an extra pump at the headline: RE-POLL: Who Should Lily Calloway Be With? Loren Hale or Ryke Meadows? by Wendy Collins.

  Great.

&nbs
p; Of course I remember the poll months ago where Lo lost to his brother. Wendy Collins most likely wants to see if opinions differ after the show aired. I swallow the lodged pebble in my throat and click into the article.

  I scroll down to the poll and vote for Loren. The minute I click his name, the current results fill the screen.

  Ryke Meadows: 12%

  Loren Hale: 88%

  “Ohmygod!” I flinch back, nearly jumping on the cushions, and hit Lo’s arm repeatedly. “You’re eighty-eight percent!”

  Confused wrinkles crease his forehead. “Eighty-eight percent what?”

  I frown, not sure how to phrase it. “Eighty-eight percent of a winner against your brother…”

  He tosses his paperback comic onto the coffee table and leans into me to read the article. He laughs and meets my eyes. “I guess those rumors will start ending now.”

  I didn’t even realize…but yeah, they will. If people are starting to believe that Lo and I are an actual, real couple, not for appearance or for publicity but because we’re in love, then they’ll forget about Ryke as a three-way option.

  Today is a good day.

  “Lily, Lo!” Rose calls from the bottom of the stairs. We both turn our heads. Her expression flips between concern and pure rage.

  Any momentary smile just vanishes in an instant.

  “Can you come up here for a minute? We need to talk to you both.”

  We?

  Lo and I exchange looks. We’re both clueless what this could be about. For all I know, they’re calling us upstairs for a surprise party…

  Fat chance.

  { 30 }

  0 years : 08 months

  April

  LOREN HALE

  What the fuck is happening?

  The thought plays on repeat while Lily and I sit on Connor and Rose’s bed. The longer he spills these details, the more darkness spreads over my face, clinging to my emotions like tar. My leg jostles in irritation and anxiety while Lily shakes her head, as if their words are nothing but wrong.

  Connor and Rose locked up their alcohol—a bottle of wine and tequila—and it went missing.

  I sense where this is headed, even before Connor says, “We found the empty bottle at the bottom of your closet.”

  Their eyes, along with my brother’s, drill into me. Questioningly. Accusingly.